The Definitive Guide to Comedy
We’re getting our first wave of winners from the new scholarship program that Saturday Night Live has introduced in partnership with four of the biggest improv/sketch programs across America. The Second City last week announced its first four scholars, having had to pick from upward of 1,300 applicants. They are …
In the build-up to season 46 of Saturday Night Live, NBC announced that the sketch-comedy TV institution would be partnering with select comedy theaters and schools across the country to offer scholarships. Now we’re starting to see how that’ll look, and it looks like each of the four institutions involved …
A classically trained theater major who grew up in New Orleans and Minnesota’s Twin Cities, Lyric Lewis took her degree from Syracuse and headed straight for Hollywood, where she auditioned for The Groundlings. Over the course of several years, Lewis worked her way up the ranks, eventually reaching the cast …
Heather Anne Campbell is one of America’s great improvisers. She has studied under the legendary Del Close in Chicago, performed overseas with Boom Chicago in Amsterdam, appeared on MADtv, written for Saturday Night Live, and helped jumpstart FOX’s ADHD Animation Domination High-Definition. In Los Angeles, you’ve seen her or taken …
Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, there were two places to go to find the best sketch comedians and improvising funny people in America: The Second City in Chicago and The Groundlings in Los Angeles. Gary Austin put The Groundlings on the map, founding the sketch and improv troupe …
Mike Birbiglia says that his new movie about an improv group, Don’t Think Twice, uses plenty of real-life influences and anecdotes. Jimmy Fallon’s life isn’t among them, although Fallon shared a funny note about what happened when he himself got the call from Saturday Night Live — when Fallon called …
When Viola Davis accepted her Emmy Award last night for Outstanding Lead Actress in a TV drama series, she said: “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You can’t win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.” Powerful, moving words. Even more …
In 2007, Stephanie Courtney was a regular performer with The Groundlings and booking small parts in TV commercials, but you likely had no idea who the 37-year-old actress was. Then Courtney filmed her first TV spot for Progressive Insurance as a saleswoman named “Flo.” Now you know. But it took …
During Monday’s SXSW panel on “Creating the Shows That We Like,” Will Forte — co-creator and showrunner on the new FOX series he stars in, The Last Man on Earth — recounted an old, very NSFW bit he used to run with while a member of Los Angeles sketch group, …
Congrats to Groundlings main company member Tony Cavalero, who will star in the upcoming TV adaptation of School of Rock for Nickelodeon. “I am so honored to be part of the rad legacy that is School of Rock,” Cavalero said. “Jack Black is one of my biggest comedy influences and I am …
