All language subtitles for Episode 02 Sketch & Improv

Sketch comedy, what is it?
The great thing about sketch

comedy is that it’s instant gratification.

You kick the door in, guns
blazing, whatever happens, happens.

He’s got my hand.

Stretches are a fun way to
talk about the culture with a if

I can turnaround.
In a sketch your satirizing life.

My brain hurts.

When you know people are
improvising, you’re on the edge

of your seats.
Oh god, don’t die.

Everything you see tonight is
being made up on the spot.

We can’t stress enough.
In sketch you go for it.

You have to commit.

We ‐‐ we’re going to do a sketch show.

Film comedy is like a concerto with all of its

complications.
Sketch comedy is like a sex

pistol song where people get in
and get out and somebody gets

hurt.
I’m so full of ‐‐ my genitals

are sucked up into my body cavity.

Sketch is a great way to
deliver comedy does you can say

so much.
The best come in with a point of

view about something they want to say.

If it makes you guys feel any
better, black people make me

really uncomfortable.
Thank you.

I’ve always liked being someone else.

I like being myself, but it’s
not an interesting character.

What street do you live on,
dear?

West Glen.
Do you know a dinky withers

at 83?
No.

Stretch a precise write relief form.

Are you guys improvising all the time?

No, no, we were working very hard on scripts.

What do you think you’re doing?

What’s up?
Fell asleep on the job.

No, I didn’t.
When you write a sketch, or

get to perform in a sketch and
it works, it’s about as much fun

as you can have in comedy.
Sketch comedy started on

Broadway, what they called a review, r

review, r‐e‐v‐u‐e.
A lot of the comedians that

started in radio in the ’30s and
’40s started on the Broadway

stage in revues.
My parents loved comedy.

It was always on the radio.
You dedicated your entire

life to the accumulation of money.

It’s my fond hope when I die
i’ll go to fort Knox.

All sketch comedy on radio in
the ’40s was part of a variety

program genre.
You would have an opening

monologue.
Jack Benny might talk and then

somebody would sing a song, not
comedy, just a straight singer.

That continued in television.
The best sketches I ever saw

were on the show of shows with see

Caesar.
All they did was look at society

and skew it a little bit.
You laughed at yourself being

ridiculous.
It’s on the other side of our

hit record.
This side is selling more than

the other side.
The show of shows had comedy

geniuses gathered together
almost like a Manhattan project

for comedy.
You had Carl reiner moving back

and forth between acting and
writing at this time, and side

Caesar who would do all the
roles and all the accents.

The audience fell in love with
the people doing that show.

Name the dates ‐‐ battle of Hastings.

Battle of water loob.
1277.

Battle of rush.
It was done live and they

would do like 33 or 36 episodes a year.

That is a schedule.
That’s a real schedule.

I think the hardest job in
the world is to be a comedy

writer for a variety show.
Because they have to come up

with four or five sketches,
different characters, every week

our writers have to sit down to
a blank sheet of paper and be

funny and it’s a whole new sketch.

I wonder if you could come in.

Hello.
Mrs. Softwigans, I wonder

if ‐‐
hello.

Mrs. Wig ‐‐
hello, hello.

I can’t tell a joke to save my soul.

I was a clown, and also a
comedic actress who liked to say

things funny.
A dime.

A whole dime.
Carol Burnett was the

ultimate sketch performer.
And she had sets and costumes

and props.
And I would sit and watch it.

I loved it.
I loved it.

I wanted to find certain
sketches that we could repeat.

Like side Caesar used to do the
German professor.

So I was hoping we could find
some familiar sketches that an

audience would look forward to.
See, this elephant had this

little dwarf trainer, and he
used to put a little ballerina

skirt on that elephant.
They weren’t so respectful of

the form that weren’t afraid of
making mistakes, breaking,

making each other laugh, having fun.

The fact that they were
laughing in the sketch made you

at home laugh even more because
you felt like you got a secret

moment.
You felt like you were part of

it.
There’s a rumor going around

the circus that that dwarf and
the elephant were lovers.

It was a golden age back then.

We were all so new to it.
We didn’t know what to expect.

Then as I became less and less
comfortable with the existing

form of television, started
doing different things.

And now from beautiful
downtown burbank’s bird

sanctuary and rifle range, nbc
presents Rowan and martin’s do.

Some of the sketches we did
were ten seconds, some five

minutes.
Personally, I like brevity.

Do you believe in the hereafter?

Of course I do.
Then you know what i’m here

after.
A lot of the pacing and

everything was because we cut it
up into little bits.

And that’s the truth.
And even ernestine.

They would cut her up.
Is this the party to who I am

speaking?
They did anything additional

to make the pace frantic and fabulous.

Help.
Some of the nation’s

freshest, funniest variety, join Sonny and Cher.

Everyone in america had a variety show.

The solo singers of the ’50s
were extremely popular.

They could host their own show,
bring on a comedian, and then be

the straight man to the comedian.

In america there were very few
programs in that era, if any,

that were just pure non‐stop sketch comedy.

But the UK has always been its own animal.

And that was something completely different.

Over these streets hangs a
pole of fear, fear of a new kind

of violence, which is terrorizing the city.

Yes, gangs of old ladies attacking fit young men.

I remember looking for
something to watch on TV, and

never thinking i’m going to stop
on channel 13, which was the pbs

station.
And stumbling into python on a

little black and white TV.
I was mesmerized.

I had never seen anything like that.

It was simultaneously silly and smart.

Shut your festering ‐‐
your type makes me puke.

You toffee‐nosed ‐‐ oh, i’m
sorry, this is abuse.

The most difficult thing is
any sketch person will tell you

is the punch line at the end how does it end?

That all kind of changed with
monty python’s flying circus.

They would do a sketch as
long as it was interesting.

The minute they were done it
would take a sharp right or

sharp left.
Top of the mill.

That’s all.
I didn’t expect a kind of

Spanish inquisition.
Nobody expects the Spanish

inquisition.
We were just stunned by that.

It’s as if they had come from the future.

We just dis covered it was
quite adequate to cut away from

someone saying that’s enough of
that, and then another sketch

would start.
You two, stop that sketch,

it’s silly.
It’s on film.

That doesn’t make any difference to the viewer at

home, does it?
The thing with monty python,

they’re the Beatles of sketch
comedy, the comedic periodic

table of elements, almost
everything i’ve done contains

pythonian in some form.
It had a huge influence on

the new generation of comedy
coming up in america who saw

that and we’re like holy, we’re behind.

Live from New York, it’s Saturday night.

There is a game of dominos
you can play from your show of

shows to 1975, and Saturday night live.

On another level, though,
"Saturday night live" was a

whole new era.
Boom‐baa‐boom.

The tone of the show was very
much influenced by younger

people.
So now we had our music on,

stuff we liked.
Let’s go, jets, let’s swing.

Lorne had made the show hip,
he made america less square with

"Saturday night live," it was just the time.

It was time for it.
We hadn’t had anything like it.

It was just talk shows you
watched as you fell asleep.

This was the idea that late
night was a place where you

could do things that might get
you in trouble with standards

earlier in the day.
Captain, the enemy star ship

is within electro scanning distance.

What does it look like?
Their ship is not as big as

we had hoped.
The one rule we had was let’s

make each other laugh.
We’ll put it on television and

somebody will find us and maybe
tell their friends.

This is the gumby story, I am
gumby, by gum, all right?

One of the things I loved
about "Saturday night live" that

it was a place to work on
software, how people talk, how

people think.
That will be $38.25.

I have a gift card.
Yay, gift card.

I have an adult doll house, and
sometimes I use these as bath

mats.
People go on snl with

fantastic characters they’ve
developed essentially at home

and you put it in a sketch,
other people to play off, give

them a story, middle and end,
and say good night.

Yeah, i’ve heard about that.
Why would you think that?

I’ve never even met your wife.
That’s not true.

You were the best man at our wedding, Nathan.

No, I wasn’t.
Yes, you were.

I know that.
Sketch is an opportunity to

show everyday people as heightened characters.

Somebody like Molly shannon’s un‐50.

I know how to kick, stretch and kick.

I’m 50.
We know that person.

We know a version of that person.

Snl is really the only show that
I can think of that is based on

a revolving cast where the
performers and the point of view

don’t matter. That’s a bizarre thing when you

think about a show.
The fact that it’s live, that’s

the point of view of that show
is like it’s what’s happening

now.
If you watch "Saturday night

live" you may not laugh the entire show.

But when you do, you will be
talking about it the next day.

And that’s what they were really
good about is creating a water

cooler moment in every show.
Wall street journal, are you

okay?
In "Saturday night live"

you’d have an idea and sometimes
it wouldn’t even be an idea that

you had a lot of faith in.
And then carpenters come in and

they start building and costumes are made.

And it’s scary.
But if it works, the payoff is

so exhilarating.
Guess what?

I gotta fever.
And the only prescription is

more cow bell.
Tv’s been on for 70 years,

and snl’s been on for 45 of them.

That’s incredible.
Lon Michaels is a mantastic

comedy curator.
He has a great eye for talent.

That’s self‐serving because I was on the show.

When you leave the show and you
see how many new fantastic

comedy performers you go there
has to be some common element.

That’s lorne.
Lorne got first look at

everybody coming up.
These people came from all over

the place.
Second city and groundings,

great repositories of people
learning how to do mostly sketch

comedy.
A lot of my characters from

the ground lings, the whole
speech I have in there is from

the groundlings.
Veeyou’re blocking.

That kind of stuff was celebrated.

My name is Philip hartman, i’d like to

good evening, ladies and
gentlemen, welcome to the second

city.
Tonight, we’re very pleased to

bring you scenes from the second
city, directly here in Chicago

in the cabaret nightclub, enter
your theater in the home.

The big schools of improv
right now are the groundlings,

ucb, second city.
And what they all have in common

is their roots in 1955 from the
compass players in Chicago.

The compass theater was the
precursor to what became the

second city.
And they were basing their

structure on a woman named viola spun.

And her motif was not comedy
necessarily such as improv games

for actors to generate scenes.
From there, this revolution

happened.
The bird does have a toe in

the back of the foot there.
And as you probably know, man

has no toe ‐‐
yes, yes, I do know that.

Second city is a revue style
show that has songs, two acts,

two person, three person, four person cast scenes.

The first part of show is two
acts, scripted material, a third

act of improvised material.
We need suggestions from the

audience.
We’d like for you to suggest a

character, not a proper name, a
real person, but a kind of

person, an occupation, a walk of life.

Peanut vendor.
A peanut vendor, thank you.

They will take suggestions
from the audience, the cast goes

backstage for 15, 20 minutes whoot

while the audience orders more drinks.

You come out and improvise based
on the suggestions.

I’m.
Those are peanut shells.

The end of a few months, when
it’s ready to write a new show,

we take the improvised scenes
that were successful and we hone

them and write them.
They become the new set show.

We won’t be defeated.
Tens of thousands of normans.

The world of improve is a safe playing field.

Everybody is on the same ground.
You don’t come prepared.

There’s no sets or props.
There literally is a backdrop

and a couple of chairs.
In some ways it feels like an

adult sand box.
Where you been?

I’ve been gone for six months.
After school there was a

party.
And then everybody went to

Denver.
There’s the basic improv 101

rule of the end, whatever comes
your way, whatever your improv

partner says, you agree to it and build on it.

Someone comes in and says
your horse has escaped, you

don’t say I don’t have a horse, my horse is gone.

You know where that’s going to take you.

That’s a good rule.
No idea that you were stoned

on pot.
Flying high under the effects of

a reefer.
Come on, son, you always were

a bit of a wimp.
I used to be terrified of

improv, until you realized you
just had to keep talking, and

be ‐‐
and listen.

And listen.
Yeah.

That’s why I said the
reaction is as important as the

action.
Because you’re writing it on

the spot you’re not sure where it’s going to go.

You’re trusting your instincts
and your ability as an actor to

take it and to formulate it and
get the laugh, eventually.

You go out with something to offer.

At the same time, you’re willing
to let every bit of it go.

Ultimately you want to get to
a point where this fn called

group mind occurs, a single
organism performing at once.

When you see it, it is so
astonishing, you cannot imagine

that they didn’t script it.
You can’t imagine it.

I’m 35 years old.
I am divorced, and I live in a

Van down by the river.
That’s great when you’re just

starting out is the amount of
flight hours on stage you get.

And you get to try stuff out.
One of the things when you get

to snl is that you have to dig
in trunk, working at second

city, you get to make a trunk.
I think you’re looking at

someone who does.
I had done Wayne Campbell on

stage at second city.
I brought that character with me

to Saturday night live.
Welcome to wayne’s world,

here’s your host, Wayne Campbell.

Fire it up.
The improv world was very

important to the performers on snl.

It was the same structure,
especially with the groundlynx, I

do a character, run off stage,
change your outfit, come back on

stage in the dark, hit your Mark, let’s go.

Your oxygen masks will be
released from their compartments

above you.
Please do not panic, okay?

The pilot is scared.
The big lesson I learned at

the groundlings was my first
teacher telling me don’t think

so much.
Sometimes take an action without

knowing where it’s going to lead.

Yeah, I love it too.
I really ‐‐

when people are looking for
talent, they go to the

groundlings, peewee Herman, laraine Newman.

I don’t mention lovitz, he will
see this, and it will bother

him.
He’ll be like, you mentioned

them all, but me.
You watching this at home,

worship me, I command you.
I joined the sketch comedy

group that taught sketch as
taught by the citizens brigade

theater.
Find what makes the scene funny

and heighten the game and also
manage to surprise the audience.

I think that I have a lot of
the symptoms that require

medicinal marijuana.
Let’s go over some of your

symptoms.
I’m bored all the time.

Last year, over 10,000 people took classes at ucb.

That’s not even second city.
And all of those other places.

So there’s a big comedy boom going on.

It blossomed because there
became the perception that you

could actually make a living.
If you got into these schools

and came through these
companies, you would get into a

community where you can build a career.

So let’s start.
Sdtv, ratings aside, we’re

number one.
Sctv was a show that would

come on at 11:00 in the morning.
There was no ads for it.

You didn’t know what was happening.

It almost felt like it was a mistakes.

Welcome to the great white north, cool.

The premise is great.
It’s so simple, they’re a cheap

cable network, and here are the
shows they do, and here’s the

people that ‐‐ it was great.
You have a television show

you’re supposed to be doing right now.

Between you and me, I don’t
think anybody watches it.

It was just good fortune that
the people who happened to be in

the second city cast at that
time got to be the cast for

sctv.
You think what i’m doing

could be important?
We are all, each of us,

especially ‐‐
oh, mommy Teresa, you’re so

special, it’s scary.
There was bit of jovial

poking fun at the slickness of
American show business.

Because Canadian show business is ‐‐
you’ve won a toaster.

You know what I mean?
The filthiest feature film

he’s ever made, and biggest gun
of all this time.

The difference between a movie and a play.

Saturday night live is a new
Broadway play, sctv is a new

movie every week.
Emergency, emergency, code

three, we have a party that’s out of food.

Let’s go, boys.
You know, they always used

the term the inmates were running the asylum.

There was a feeling that the
creative element of the show

were the bosses.
In the early shows, a lot of

sketches we did at second city.
Eugene and Joe doing the news,

that started on stage.
A large rabies ridden herd of

caribou was reportedly seen just
outside the city limits and the

suburbs have been evacuated.
The character of Edith

prickley was a suggestion from the audience.

Join me in my dramatic debut
as queen Elizabeth I, the woman,

the queen and a virgin.
Two out of three ain’t bad.

I was a huge fan of sctv, not
Marty, when you look at that

core of performers, all at the
same time in the same city, when

you name them, Eugene did, Katherine, Andrea, John.

That’s great hearing your thoughts.

Anything else?
Grab your lady by the arm,

take her out behind the barn.
You capture something in

improv you can’t capture scripted.

Christopher guest created his
own genre of improv movies.

These are improvisers with
decades of experience behind

them.
So you can just give them a

premise, they’ll create a
character, and they’re going to

deliver.
And that’s the way it is?

Then I just hate you.
And I hate your ass face.

Waiting for guffin, a 12,
15‐page outline, exactly what

the whole story was.
You just show up on set and

you just roll.
No rehearsal, no discussion, you

just roll and try not to life.
Even when I was a kid doing

impressions, here’s looking at
you, babe, and you don’t hear

about anyone but yourself.
Who is it?

Henry Fonda.
I have to tell her who i’m

doing.
She laughs, and says who is

that?
A lot of people confuse

improv with add libbing.
Look at his face, could he be

sweeter?
Or more loving.

The group is all about attitude.
Look at this.

What, could you find a more likable attitude?

Because there’s no script, it
sounds, oh, why doesn’t

everybody make these kind of movies?

The fact is, you have to begin
with a certain talent for

improvisation.
Then I have to write a real

story.
It’s not just a random meeting

of people walking around and yapping.

We formed a group called the twobadoors.

The essence of chris’s work to me is trust.

He trusts his cast, and we trust
each other as actors.

That web of trust is so essential to the process.

And act.
I will not be intimidated by

a bunch of girl scouts.
Now, good day.

I once took an improv class.
And I remember a woman in the

class coming up to me.
Hey, you’re really good at that.

You know, and I went home, wow,
hey, i’m good at improv.

I also hate memorizing lines.
And so that combination of not

wanting to rem miezmemorize line
interested me and that was the

beginning of curb your enthusiasm.

Enigma.
Jesus Christ.

God.
Crazy?

Out of nowhere, right in my face, spritzing me.

What is that?
What a violation.

They’ll usually go away,
though, if you wave them away.

Did you wave her away?
Sort of.

I often find myself getting a
little bit annoyed when people

refer to curb your enthusiasm as
being partially improvised.

It’s almost all improvised.
There is no script.

Basically, Larry would say what
has to happen in this scene

which was i’m going to show you
this wire that has to be dropped

down, you’re going to say
somehow I can do that if you can

get me to meet Julia louis‐dreyfus.

I’m more than happy to call her up.

I can’t guarantee.
It’s hard to get anything

absolutely guaranteed.
You don’t know if it’s

guaranteed either.
Hard as it sounds, sometimes

they do write themselves.
If you have good, juicy ideas,

you don’t really need a script.
You can just wing it.

We have moved past the tightly scripted comedy.

The improv on curb gives it a
rawness and spontaneity that an

audience is really seeking, I
think, in the comedy they watch

these days. You met Julia Louie Dreyfus.

It was an

And now, ladies and
gentlemen, cleaned up and ready

for mass consumption, the cast of mad TV.

Snl was really hot in the
early ’90s, a good show, huge

movies, primetime specials
during the election year.

Everybody was looking with
dollar signs in their eyes.

TV network wanted their own version of snl.

Back in the early ’90s, cable
television embraced sketch in a

way they hadn’t before.
Sketch comedy had proven in

the ’80s that if you were really
good in asketchcomedyshow you

could be a movie star.
Die hungry.

How could the same thing
happen to the same guy so many

times?
He liked to do parody,

celebrity specific, Tom Cruise,
Bruce Springsteen, bono.

He notices Daniel day‐lewis runs everywhere.

Am I the only one, he’s running everywhere.

And then you get to go, okay, I
might not be the only one.

We’re going to do a sketch where
it’s the last of the mohicans

treadmill, and it has different
settings, like running from

bears.
Wow, workout like that will

sweat off your tribal tattoos.
He was the first person that

said we could take this to another level.

These sketches can really be
visually amazing in addition to

being super funny.
Deity or deities, forgive

this abuse of your ambassador,
but my calling is very specific.

I’m cutting your head, i’m cutting your head.

If I hadn’t been so lucky to
be on snl, I would have dreamed

I was in the kids of the hall.
I’m the big kid.

Why didn’t you do something?
I thought you knew him.

On your show of shows, there
were writers that would hang out

in the corridors of nbc and they
would shout out jokes.

At side see ‐‐ we heard that
story and we were looking for a

name of that group, we should
call ourselves in the kids in

the hall.
On the outside breaking in.

The kids already have some great credentials.

Two have written for Saturday
night live in New York.

The others have worked for second city.

They’re trying to create their own brand of comedy.

One of my favorite sketches,
they’re at kind of a punch bowl

at a party.
Look, I don’t think there’s

any need to be sarcastic.
Oh, i’m not being sarcastic.

No.
This is just a little speech

impediment.
I can’t help it.

This is really ‐‐
what a great idea.

No other sketch troupe that I
know of can get that perfect

comedy tone of believing in the
reality that they’re doing a

commenting on the reality at the exact same time.

The thing we took is that we
just followed whatever idea we

thought was funny.
And we never worried about

whether or not people would get it.

Ladies and gentlemen, ivory.
As a comedian, there are only

two geeloals, the tonight show w
Johnny Carson and "Saturday

night live."
When I got the opportunity to do

anything I wanted to do, I was
like i’ve got to do a sketch

show.
I’m with the ice man.

Secret to success is right
here, and our new booklet, how

to make more money without using your money.

In the history of comedy,
it’s been a really white town,

especially sketch comedy.
So there was a real feeling of

it’s about time.
Hip hop onto television, the

dancing, the frag girls, the
culture the sketches were about.

Turning black culture upside do you know.

This is Calvin.
He’s a home boy, or the boy as

they’re known in the neighborhood.

What is he doing now?
This is what they call

chillin, Allen.
There’s nothing, I think,

more gratifying to an audience
than taking something that’s

disturbing, and making it funny.
As a comedian you have to take

advantage of that.
I don’t even understand, man,

the police arrested me for no reason.

Oh, come on.
The police don’t do that.

They’re your friends, they’re
here to protect and serve.

My friends drag dragged me
out of my crib butt naked.

What were doing buck naked in the baby’s crib?

The fact we were able to stay
on the air and do something

different, "in living color" was
more successful, so we said

there’s markets for other kinds of sketch comedy.

The next big interesting show was mister show.

Tonight our top story, fire
in the southland with the scoop,

our reporter Hayden Lewis is there, Hayden?

Hayden Lewis, i’m standing here
on the outskirts of ‐‐ where a

fire has joust broken out.
When we were on, Bob and

David wanted to approach sketch
almost as a reaction to other

sketch shows they had done before.

They wanted sketches that made a
point, and they wanted sketches

that said something about the world.

Every sketch didn’t have to have

a point, but there needed to be
a reason for it to exist in this world

hit her.

He said give her a kungfu.
Be a man.

Hit her, hit her, hit her.
Shut up, shut up.

You talk about sketch comedy being surprising.

And mister show is like the
deconstruction of a sketch

comedy show.
Hello.

I’m Dr. Sammy, Beverly Hills
psychoactualist and author of

the book old lady, biker, gay
guy, Japanese man, the four

voices within.
The structure of Mr. Show was

very influenced by monty python
of wanting to have a show where

sketches would lead in and out of each other.

It was one of the most fun parts about it.

You’d have all this stuff and
then we’d start putting shows

together.
What opening, this goes here,

and there were little puzzles we put together.

Well, I guess it’s all out in the open now.

We still love.
We support you.

We’re proud of you.
You’re gay, son.

One of the things I loved
about Mr. Show, when it was all

put together, each show would
have its own distinctive

personality.
When we were successful, a show

would start and when it was
over, you couldn’t believe it ‐‐

Who is Nick Cannon?
Nick Cannon is hilarious.

Because he just walked off
with your school clothes money.

I’m broke.
What "chepel show" did was a

sketch show about one guy.
He’s hilarious.

You acting like a little bitch.

He has a brilliant mind and
sketch shows are pieces of your

mind.
He chose some very

unconventional things like the
Charlie Murphy stories.

I wouldn’t have thought to do
that as a sketch.

After it was all over, he
took us in the house and served

us pancakes.

Pancakes.
Ask your doctor if your

healthy enough for sexual activity.

If you have an election lasting
longer than four hours, call me,

i’m Amy schumer and you can buy
lab coats on eBay.

You get a sense of what she believes.

"Chapel show" is the horror of
being a black guy in america and

Amy is a white girl in america.
People talk more about what’s

come in the open.
A

Amy schumer and rape in the military.

I wish to report it.
Are you sure?

I’m sure.
Did you know he has a family?

No.
Does that change your mind

about reporting?
No.

We didn’t have a single
female comedian as the focus of

a show since Carol Burnett.
Okay.

$2 on lot a.
$2 going once, twice, sold.

That surprises me.
He’s doing social satire in a

way that is so funny and true.
Finally a technology

specifically designed to help
you determine whether or not you

can drop the n bomb.
I can say it.

We can all say it.
Not in this lifetime.

What they did is take simple
things like calling your wife a

bitch behind her back.
Bitch.

You told me 6:45.
You said that?

Yeah, I said.
They found, you know, ten

different scenarios and I would
have thought oh, that’s a

one‐joke premise but the time I
guy lets himself into space to

say it is hysterical.
I said ‐‐

the chicken you’ll be enjoying tonight.

This is fantastic.
Absolutely.

His name was Colin.
Here are his papers, okay?

That’s great.
He looks like a happy little

guy.
I give shows a lot of credit

for being so honest in their pro portrayal.

All the great sketch shows are about point of view.

When you watch it, you go I
understand who is telling me

this.
I understand who is writing it

and i’m enjoying it because of that.

The world of sketch is reinvented.

There is a lot of people turning
the camera on themselves using

the simplest equipment doing
very cool things and putting it

on YouTube and reaching millions of people.

Today everything has got to happen much quicker.

Kids watch television on a cell
phone and they watch it in 10,

20, 30‐second bursts so the days
of the long sketch I think we

have had them.
I am a wizard.

You will all die.
He thinks he’s running.

Where we had minutes, they do it in seconds.

So you don’t get a lot of character comedy.

You get a lot of premise.
I see how animals go.

They take a premise and mind
that premise for as many jokes

as they can get out or one joke.
In my own experience, the

Internet was hugely beneficial
when I always felt like I would

be good in sketches but nobody
believes you in show biz until

you’re already doing it.
So the Internet became this

wonderful playground to prove it.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome
back to spontaneous nation.

It’s time to do the improve.
Pod casts are the most

significant technology invention
since the invention of the

album.
It’s so expensive to make a TV

show but to make a pod cast, you
can record it in the room and

put it on the Internet and
people all over the world can

see it.
Give me an arm.

Give me a vein.
I’ll give you a little heroin to

bring you down.
No, I think that will

me up.
A little bit of heroin.

Okay, just a little.
You see these actors doing

sketch and i’mmproviseing and it
becomes a goal, it becomes

something to aspire to.
Now it’s become a vocation, you

know, people become dentist and
they become improve artist.

It’s the immediate of it and daring of it.

Going back to sid Cesar on the
beach and getting buckets of

water thrown in his face and you
think "Saturday night live" and

Julia Childs bleeding to death
or the dead parrot sketch.

It’s over quickly.
But if it was great and really

worked, you get this nice little
memory, maybe a little piece of

videotape.
It’s the most exhilarating

feeling because my god, this sketch worked.

When imp vise’m pro impt’s li
beating, a slow‐motion beating.

It’s much better to be on
stage doing bad improve than be

forced to sit in the audience watching it.

Sitting in the audience is just ‐‐
sometimes you get to the

line that’s the trigger that’s
supposed to tell everyone what

the sketch is about and get the
first laugh and hit that and

nothing happens and you go home
that night and tell your wife