Improv Nation: How We Made a Great American Art by Sam Wasson (review)

The rebellious spirit of improv rests at the heart of Improv Nation: How We Made a Great American Art, Sam Wasson's sprawling history of the genre. For Wasson, not only is the improv performance onstage made up, but so too was the form itself. Refuting the idea that improvisation has always existed in some form or another, he states that improv needed to be "invented," and that it was done so "in America, by young, mostly middle-class amateurs, performers and producers, who, in the true spirit of the form, were making it up as they went along" (xi). Indeed, Wasson frames the development of improv as the story of contemporary American comedic entertainment, going so far as to say that improv is an extension of American democracy—created by, for, and of the people. He positions improv as the quintessential American art, calling it "America's farthest-reaching indigenous art form" (ibid.). While at times Wasson stretches to prove his point about the singular Americanness of improv, both in terms of influence and its democratic values, the overall narrative that he weaves demonstrates the vast and growing influence of improv on the last half-century of American comedy.

Wasson structures the book around three major movements: "We the Jews (1940–1968)," "We the Punks (1969–1984)," and "We the Nerds (1984–)." While the book has an overarching chronological structure, he highlights and investigates individuals and trends with great depth rather than adhering to a strict timeline. For instance, in "We the Jews," Wasson frames much of the early development and expansion of improvisation around the comic duo of Mike Nichols and Elaine May, focusing at times almost exclusively on the career trajectory of Nichols. While Wasson naturally spends a good deal of time with many of improv's most famous practitioners—Viola Spolin, Mike Nichols, Del Close—he also digs deeper into the influence of lesser known improvisers, such as Severn Darden and Ted Flicker.

In "We the Jews" Wasson charts the origins of comedic improvisation. Most historians agree with David Shepherd, co-founder of the Compass Players, the first contemporary improv theatre, when he points to commedia dell'arte as the direct ancestor of comedic improv. Wasson, however, refutes this idea, arguing that Shepherd was purposely tying his new revolutionary theatre to commedia in an attempt to "legitimize an inchoate experimental free-for-all, as if, by giving the Compass an instant history, he could grant it cultural stability" (33). Wasson actually is giving the Compass Players more credit than Shepherd did. Wasson maintains that Compass improv was more original, organic, and was in and of itself the performance, whereas the improvisation in commedia "was closer to adlibbing" or simply adding topical or local humor to an already firmly established plot and/or character (ibid.). While both assertions are true, so also is the fact that the Compass Players "borrowed" the scenario play format from commedia to create their very first performances (26).

After charting Spolin's invention of improv exercises based in her belief in the power of play (and the necessities of her job), Wasson spends much of "We the Jews" focused on Nichols, often comparing and contrasting his philosophy and work with those of Spolin's son, Paul Sills. The two were hugely influential in the development of the Compass Players, and their careers, buoyed by improvisation, would directly influence the development of improvisation onstage (Sills) and in film (Nichols). Wasson details Sills's use of improvisation in developing story and relationship in "people scenes, bite-sized plays about relationships unfolding at the un-jokey pace of real life," which would be brought to popularity through the satire of Second City (72). Nichols, by contrast, would use his improvisational background as a film director, unleashing its magic to unlock the comic truthfulness of such films as The Graduate and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Within the context of these two, Wasson also tells the...