Customer Reviews

The Ultimate Improv Book: A Complete Guide to Comedy Improvisation

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had thought that this book would be a good guide for beginner or experience improvisors to improve their skills; however the book is written with advice on how to start an improv team at a high school and has a great deal of focus on competiting in the Canadian Improv Games (two areas i was just not intersted in). The chapters are very short and try to drop in every improv term without going into depth on any. The book does have a nice list of exercises and suggestions at the end, but many again focus on performating them with younger improvisors and some descriptions weren't complete enough to attempt to use them.

This book would probably be most helpful to someone who is already very familiar with improv and who wants to teach it to high school students. But for the sake of those you are teaching, seek out more complete references like those by Viola Spolin.

ANYONE and EVERYONE involved with the Canadian improv games should own this book. Teams who are just starting out, teachers who are thinking of starting a team, and players who have been improvising for years can all benefit from the information. Great skill-developing games, lists of characteristics, genres, and so on to help teams practise, and conprehensive descriptions of each game. Outlines dos and don't of improv. I love this book more than life itself.

I'd recommend the Del Close book if you want a good read on improv. This is for kids

I love Improv. I've been studying it for a while to help me with my writing, because in a way that's what most Improv is--Improvised writing. Sure, there's a theater aspect, but many of the games are more about coming up with lines on the spot than coming up with actions.

At first I was turned off by the book's focus on high school and things like how to recruit other students to your group, run shows, and participate in competitions. That sort of thing goes on for more than half the book. But I was pleasantly surprised to learn a few things I didn't know before, like how the members of the group raise the stakes in a scene. That one gem was something I found particularly useful for my writing. (It's all about raising what the character wants to a need while providing more obstacles that are related to the goal itself.)

It's by far not the best book on Improv I own. (Those would be Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation and 101 Improv Games for Children and Adults.) But it's a great book if you're a high-school teacher interested in teaching Improv classes in your school. And even if you're not, you might still learn a thing or two.

This is the best improvisation book I have come across because it actually has instruction and rules about improvisation. It's not just a list of improv situations and games - it's a real "how-to" and "why" and "what appeals to an audience" book. I teach improvisation and even though other books are great resources, this one is a front runner just because of its instruction aspect of the whole concept of Improvisation.

Edward Nevraumont and Nicholas Hanson's Ultimate Improv Book provides a complete curriculum in 24 class-length units, covering the basics of improvisational skills, comedy basics, and improv work. Games and skits lend to honing skills as well as putting on productions.

If you are interested in becoming a "player" or coach with an improv team or troupe - this book is all you will ever need. It is organized for easy action and understanding. It is almost always hands-on, explains each technique with real-life examples and never misses the mark. It is like buying a teacher's manual and includes an awesome training schedule and system for whipping any group into a great improv team. I highly recommend this book. I have used it to take 2 teams to the Canadian Improv Games national finals in Ottawa! Buy it!