"With Saturday Night Live looming ever larger in the pop culture landscape, it''s time for a history of improv comedy. Wasson delivers, moving nimbly from improv''s origins in 1950s Chicago to movies like Caddyshack and TV shows like The Colbert Report. " -- Entertainment Weekly "A compelling, absolutely unputdownable story . And, in case you''re wondering, yes, the book is funny. In places, very funny. A remarkable story, magnificently told." --Booklist "Improv Nation masterfully tells a new history of American comedy . Wasson masters the art of the monograph by locating a sharp argument within a sweeping, messy, compelling history .
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. Grade: A-" -- Entertainment Weekly "Sam Wasson''s Improv Nation examines one of the most important stories in American popular culture . Wasson may be the first author to explain [improv''s] 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 . "-- New York Times Book Review "[A] winning history of the subject .
[Wasson] 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." --Wall Street Journal "In his studious but breezy book, Improv Nation: How We Made a Great American Art , 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. Like the best of his subjects, which include Stephen Colbert, Bill Murray and Tina Fey, Wasson has perfect timing . Wasson has assembled a loving tribute to one of entertainment''s most daunting challenges, with lots of laughs to boot."-- Minneapolis Star-Tribune "A fast-paced, thoroughly engaging road map of how improv -- that rapid-fire art of entirely unscripted performance -- came to infiltrate and shape the American pop-culture landscape . A whirlwind of quick, sharp anecdotes, never lingering too long yet still giving the reader a full sense of the people and the history shaping improv into what it is today." -- Seattle Times "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 .
[and] nicely foreshadows future events and collaborations and does an admirable job of making simultaneous events easy to follow . In the spirit of an improv performer, Wasson takes care to never let the stars take over the show."-- Publishers Weekly, (starred review) "Wasson, author of the stellar biography Fosse (2013), brings his spellbinding prose style to this history of improvisational comedy . 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 . And, in case you''re wondering, yes, the book is funny. In places, very funny. A remarkable story, magnificently told."-- Booklist, (starred review) "A refreshing look at the ways in which comedians, artists, writers, and actors started getting involved in improvisation .
An entertaining book, recommended for aspiring comedians who want to historicize their practice."-- Kirkus "The perfect gift for extreme comedy nerds and students of the craft."-- HelloGiggles "Engaging . An exuberant read. Wasson''s zesty writing conveys the transcendental thrill of on-the-fly soul-baring, of seeking of ever-deeper authenticity."-- Newsday.