Improv Media
Television, podcasts, and films with direct roots in improv performers, institutions, or improvisational process.
Very Important People
A Dropout interview format where a heavily costumed guest improviser discovers their character live while the host treats the conversation as a serious profile.
Make Some Noise
A Dropout improv panel show built around prompts, character work, sound effects, and challenge rounds that reward fast comedic invention.
I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson
Tim Robinson, a veteran of iO Chicago's Harold Night and a former Saturday Night Live writer and cast member, created this sketch comedy series with Zach Kanin. The show employs a commitment-based improvisational logic — characters escalate their positions to absurd extremes rather than backing down — that draws directly from long-form improv principles. I Think You Should Leave has developed a devoted following and spawned significant internet culture.
Documentary Now!
Fred Armisen and Bill Hader, both veterans of Saturday Night Live, created this IFC mockumentary anthology series that parodies specific documentary films. Each episode involves detailed character work and improvisation within strict formal constraints. The show is produced by Seth Meyers and Lorne Michaels and has been praised for the specificity of its performances, which draw on the performers' extensive backgrounds in character-based improv.
Broad City
Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer developed Broad City as a web series growing out of their UCB New York work before Amy Poehler brought it to Comedy Central. The show drew on their improv backgrounds to create an improvisational, character-driven portrait of young women navigating New York City. Broad City ran five seasons and earned praise for both its comedic writing and its willingness to portray female friendship with specificity and absurdism.
Review
Andy Daly stars as Forrest MacNeil, a critic who reviews life experiences for a fictional television program. The show's improvisational approach to character — Daly stays in the heightened reality of the premise even as the consequences become extreme — reflects long-form improv principles about commitment and 'yes, and.' Review ran three seasons on Comedy Central.
Whose Line Is It Anyway? (US)
The CW revival of the American Whose Line format, centered on short-form improv games performed by a rotating panel of veteran improvisers.
Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza
A studio improv showcase hosted by Drew Carey and built around stage games, audience participation, and performers drawn from the Whose Line performance tradition.
Thank God You're Here
An Australian improvised scene format in which each guest performer is dropped into a scenario with no script, no rehearsal, and only the line "Thank God you're here!" to start the scene.
Nick Cannon Presents: Wild 'N Out
A long-running improv and battle-rap television format built around competitive short-form games, freestyle challenges, and rotating comedy teams.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Larry David's HBO series is produced almost entirely without a written script. Actors receive an outline of each scene's events and emotional beats, then improvise the dialogue in character. The show's long run — twelve seasons and counting — demonstrates the viability of improvisation-driven production at the highest level of American television. The approach was influenced by David's work on Seinfeld and his deep familiarity with the stand-up and improv comedy community.
Upright Citizens Brigade
The television series created by the Upright Citizens Brigade — Amy Poehler, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh — transferred their anarchic, anti-establishment improv sensibility to sketch television. The show ran three seasons on Comedy Central and helped cement the UCB's reputation before the troupe shifted focus to their expanding theatre and training program.
The Kids in the Hall
Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson formed The Kids in the Hall in Toronto, trained in the Second City tradition, and developed their absurdist sketch comedy style before being discovered by Lorne Michaels. The original series ran five seasons and established the troupe as a defining voice in Canadian comedy. A revival season aired on Amazon Prime Video in 2022.
Whose Line Is It Anyway? (UK)
The original British panel format created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson, establishing the televised short-form game structure later adapted internationally.
SCTV
Second City Television launched the careers of John Candy, Martin Short, Catherine O'Hara, Rick Moranis, Eugene Levy, Harold Ramis, Andrea Martin, and Dave Thomas. The sketch-driven series emerged directly from the Second City Toronto company and its improvisational training tradition. SCTV became one of the most influential sketch comedy programs in North American television, and its alumni shaped film and television comedy through the 1980s, 1990s, and beyond.