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A review by ponch22
The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual by Matt Besser
5.0
Took me six & a half weeks but I finally finished this... More of a review to (eventually) follow...
[This "more of a review" is being written over a year after reading the book--totally forgot to come back and write it]
Picked this book up at UCB during the Del Close Marathon last year a few weeks before it was officially released. Of course, DCM15 wasn't meant to read improv manuals, it was meant to watch a ton of improv. So I started the manual as I sat in line for shows, but didn't get far as 50+ hours of improv was too much of a distraction for me.
But I did read the novel over the next month and a half and found it interesting. I've since completed UCB 101, 201 & 301 but at the time I was in between 101 & 201. I knew about Game and the Harold and bunch of other topics taught in this Manual, but I still hadn't learned the Movie and it's always good to read and relearn the basics.
This is probably the best improv teaching book that I've read. There are great illustrations and all the basics are described with plenty of examples. [a:Matt Besser|7155487|Matt Besser|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-ccc56e79bcc2db9e6cdcd450a4940d46.png], [a:Matt Walsh|5849167|Matt Walsh|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-ccc56e79bcc2db9e6cdcd450a4940d46.png], & [a:Ian Roberts|12423567|Ian Roberts|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-ccc56e79bcc2db9e6cdcd450a4940d46.png] created a fantastic curriculum here and they don't ever get distracted with nostalgic stories of days gone by or petty arguments about which school of improv is the best. Obviously, the think the UCB style is best because it's worked for them for so long, and the present how they understand and teach it.
[This "more of a review" is being written over a year after reading the book--totally forgot to come back and write it]
Picked this book up at UCB during the Del Close Marathon last year a few weeks before it was officially released. Of course, DCM15 wasn't meant to read improv manuals, it was meant to watch a ton of improv. So I started the manual as I sat in line for shows, but didn't get far as 50+ hours of improv was too much of a distraction for me.
But I did read the novel over the next month and a half and found it interesting. I've since completed UCB 101, 201 & 301 but at the time I was in between 101 & 201. I knew about Game and the Harold and bunch of other topics taught in this Manual, but I still hadn't learned the Movie and it's always good to read and relearn the basics.
This is probably the best improv teaching book that I've read. There are great illustrations and all the basics are described with plenty of examples. [a:Matt Besser|7155487|Matt Besser|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-ccc56e79bcc2db9e6cdcd450a4940d46.png], [a:Matt Walsh|5849167|Matt Walsh|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-ccc56e79bcc2db9e6cdcd450a4940d46.png], & [a:Ian Roberts|12423567|Ian Roberts|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-ccc56e79bcc2db9e6cdcd450a4940d46.png] created a fantastic curriculum here and they don't ever get distracted with nostalgic stories of days gone by or petty arguments about which school of improv is the best. Obviously, the think the UCB style is best because it's worked for them for so long, and the present how they understand and teach it.