Mr. Wasson is not the first to chronicle the innovative comedians of the period (see Gerald Nachman’s Seriously Funny from 2003), but he makes fine use of improv as a prism for understanding the development of American comedy, and it’s a pleasure to encounter his acute characterizations of such talents as Alan Arkin, Bill Murray and Del Close, the self-destructive guru of the genre little known in the wider world. Mr. Wasson also captures the big picture, showing the evolution of improv from its utopian beginnings to a more commercial and aggressively funny style—from Elaine May, in other words, to John Belushi. Yet the original spirit lives on, dispersed into an array of spaces nationwide.
Wasson masters the art of the monograph by locating a sharp argument within a sweeping, messy, compelling history ... The creative process is like democracy in action. (The book cleverly posits this theory against the backdrop of, among other political moments, the chaotic 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.) Wasson’s dizzying style drives the point home. Though he jumps around, he never gives a player short shrift, and his conversational tone captivates. The book’s focus tightens as its narrative strands converge, but it maintains a loose unpredictability throughout. It holds the element of surprise—true to the spirit of its subject.
Sam Wasson may be the first author to explain its entire history in comprehensive detail. For that reason alone, it’s a valuable book, benefiting from dogged reporting and the kind of sweeping arguments that get your attention ... What mars this book, however, is not its overreaching claims or narrative ambition, but its fuzzy conceptual framework. It’s like a lively scene with great jokes but no direction ... Improv Nation is at its more assured in the pre- and early-history of the form, when the number of improvisers was small enough that telling the story of the art through a collection of personalities is more manageable ... To do justice to the impact of improv comedy, you need a wider lens, one that explores the increasing importance of improv theaters in the comedy ecosystem, the various schools of pedagogy and how the principles of improvisation have infiltrated the business world, traditional acting and popular culture.
In his studious but breezy book, author Sam Wasson tracks the relatively young craft of creating humor in the same time it took Neil Simon to sharpen a pencil, making readers feel like they’re sweating on stage with its quick-witted practitioners. ... Wasson has far less to say about the lack of diversity in the improv world. More on the influence of In Living Color and the recent success of Key & Peele would have made sense ... Those shortcomings aside, Wasson has assembled a loving tribute to one of entertainment’s most daunting challenges, with lots of laughs to boot.
The book is not encyclopedic. There are omissions (Ace Trucking Company), while some stellar ensembles, such as The Groundlings (which spawned Will Ferrell, Phil Hartman, Kristin Wiig and Melissa McCarthy) and the Upright Citizens Brigade (whose alumni include Amy Poehler, Kate McKinnon and Horatio Sanz) get comparatively short shrift ... Wasson also hews to one of Second City’s primary directives: 'Play to the height of your intelligence.' He etches vivid portraits of comedy’s best, brightest and most off-center...It is thrilling to read how future icons fumblingly found their artistic voices through the trapezelike improv process and performance ... Come to Improv Nation for the entertaining and enlightening anecdotes, but stay for the wisdom that can be used to enrich our everyday lives.
For any true fan of American comedy, Improv Nation is a sweeping and highly entertaining anecdotal history. Moreover, the book offers a dizzying procession of top-tier comedians and actors, led by the godparents of improvisational comedy, Mike Nichols and Elaine May ... Without being ponderous, Improv Nation chronicles the trajectories of such well-known names as John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Robin Williams, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Martin Short, Adam McKay, Christopher Guest, John Candy, Judd Apatow, Kristen Wiig, and much of the rest of American comedy’s Sgt. Pepper cover.
Sorry, jazz. Improvisation has supplanted your status as 'America’s farthest-reaching indigenous art form,' argues author Sam Wasson in his engaging new history, Improv Nation: How We Made a Great American Art ... As he notes, jazz and humor share the literal term 'offbeat.' But only improv, Wasson exalts, can 'alchemize empty space into art' ... Human behavior often yields comedy. That’s how improv has progressed over the last seven decades, the time frame through which Wasson vividly weaves portraits of its big-name players... Wasson (author of 2013’s acclaimed biography Fosse) also digs into the sense of play intrinsic to improv ... The sense of fun that fueled the work also makes Improv Nation an exuberant read. Wasson’s zesty writing conveys the transcendental thrill of on-the-fly soul-baring, of seeking of ever-deeper authenticity. It’s especially compelling in those Chicago explorations.
There’s a natural flow to the author’s writing—a conversational tone and a way of capturing our interest—that transforms what could have been a dry recitation of people, places, and facts into a compelling, absolutely unputdownable story. Wasson has interviewed a tremendous number of people for the book, and he supplements those interviews with well-chosen material from numerous previously published sources ... A remarkable story, magnificently told.
Wasson makes a thoroughly entertaining case that improvisational comedy has 'replaced jazz as America’s most popular art' and represents the best of democracy ... Wasson brilliantly weaves together the disparate strands of improv’s first decade, when players with different philosophies and skill sets persevered in defining their art ... In the spirit of an improv performer, Wasson takes care to never let the stars take over the show.
While comedians today take up a large space in public life, Wasson reminds us that a lot of hard work has been done for them to get there. An entertaining book, recommended for aspiring comedians who want to historicize their practice.
