The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improv Manual

By: Upright Citizens Brigade

Narrated by: Upright Citizens Brigade

Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual is a comprehensive guide to the UCB style of long form comedy improvisation. Written by UCB founding members Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh, the manual covers everything from the basics of two person scene work (with a heavy emphasis on finding "the game" of the scene), to the complexities of working within an ensemble to perform long form structures, such as "The Harold" and "The Movie". 

A practical "how to" book, the guide provides exercises throughout to help the listener master each new concept and technique introduced. While the manual is written to be understood by beginners with no previous exposure to improvisational comedy, experienced improvisors will find it to be an excellent resource for honing their skills, clarifying concepts, and generally taking their work to a higher level.

©2020 Upright Citizens Brigade (P)2020 Recorded Books, Inc.

Awesome review

This book is an awesome review of all the fundamentals of improv. Great read as a refresher. If you haven’t done improv before, I’d suggest getting into a class or two before starting this book. Because it’s so dense it could easily become over whelming if you’re to new to improv. Highly recommended.

Great Book

I've read the book once and listened to it twice and every time I pick up something new. I'm on the journey to become a great improviser and this book has really paved the way for more. A send a special thanks to all the amazing improvisers involved. And thank you audible to making this so accessible.

The Gold Standard

I have the print version as well and questioned what I could learn from listening to it. A lot, apparently. This book is the gold standard for anyone embarking on an adventure in long form improv. While there are a lot of Improv books on my bookshelf, this does the best job at laying out the fundamentals of long form.

New to Improv

Great job of breaking down improv from the beginner to advanced techniques. Highly recommend for those who are new to improv.

A must read for improv & sketch

The examples really come to life in the audiobook. A great tool for anyone interested in fine-tuning their improv or sketch skills

Best Course on Comedy

Just about everyone knows of the, "yes and," technique in improv, but I didn't realize that it is only the start until you find the first unusual thing, and then you play, "if then," which says, "if x is true, then what else will be true in this fantasy world we've cooked up?"

This book is free when you have audible plus, but I'm putting it on my wishlist and will probably pick it up with a credit the next time I have one because this course is meaty, and worth having even in the months where I'm not doing audible plus.

Helped me understand principles of improv

I read this then went to see professional improv. Made a HUGE difference in my understanding and appreciation of the art of improv. I am starting improv lessons next week. Reason I didn’t give 5 stars is some of the example were really annoying to me and I didn’t like the acting of all of the comics. But stick with it! A must if you want to try improv yourself!

better than the print version

the audio lessons that were added for this make it better than the print version

A Dissertation on Long-form Improv

This book is a thorough explanation of long-form improv. It covers the UCB model of long-form improv. It explains why UCB uses their model and provides several examples of how to apply these techniques. It goes line-by-line through example scenes to explain in detail the purpose of each line of dialogue. It provides several examples of excellent and not-so-good improv tactics. This book is written like a college textbook. It does not take improv lightly, which is very refreshing. I have learned more from this book than the 100+ hours I have put into live improv classes. Highly recommended.

top 3 improv book to have

this book teaches you everything you need to know to start doing improve. its best read while practicing improve or join a improv workshop to obtain along the way.