History Main / Improv

** A few notable rappers write songs by freestyling them off-the-dome, with Music/LilWayne and Music/JayZ being the two most prominent great lyrical rappers who do this. (Note that this doesn't mean that what we hear on their records is their ''first take in real time'' - these rappers record a few bars, then pause, then record more, then learn the song and perform it properly.) Music/{{Eminem}}, the other superstar lyrical rapper of the 2000s, ''attempted'' this technique on his album ''Encore'', [[ContestedSequel but not everyone liked the results]]. (He did, and still does, write lots of his songs by improvisationally combining pre-written lines, notably "Rap God".)

* ''WesternAnimation/FetchWithRuffRuffman'': In "How to Break the Ice and Also Waddle on it", Brian, Bethany, and Liza are sent to learn about the art of improvisation.

* Music/{{Genesis}} had, by 1983 especially, recorded their albums "clean slate" (i.e.: no pre-written material) simply by jamming and improvising in their private studio, often using minimal sketched ideas or riffs by one of the band members (guitarist/bassist Mike Rutherford [[WordOfGod once claimed in a TV documentary]] he sometimes isn't even told what key to play in), collecting the best ideas from the jams to make songs from. This even extended to writing lyrics [[WordSaladLyrics out of the words and phonetics]] Phil made up on the spot while singing melodies over the jams. [[JustifiedTrope Apparently this was done as]] the bandmembers felt most of the magic from previous albums came from group-written jams, and they wanted to maintain a group dynamic and collective spirit.

[[folder:FanWorks]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

-->-- '''Reviewer''' on ''Film/{{Victoria 2015}}''

-->'''Ringo:''': Is it cold in here, or are we just practicing to be Canadians?

* Most of Cerator/RLeeErmey's dialogue]] in ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' was improvised, thus making him one of the very, very few actors allowed to go off-script in a Kubrick film. [[UrbanLegend Allegedly]], after the first take featuring the line "I'll bet you're the kind of guy that would fuck a person in the ass and not even have the goddamn common courtesy to give him a reach-around!" Kubrick approached Ermey and asked what the term meant. Ermey explained. Kubrick's reply was something to the effect of "Oh. Do some more of that."

* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'' is famous for blurring the line between ad libs and scripted dialogue, with nearly half the dialogue cited as ad libs by the cast. Examples include the famous "Twinkie" scene, Peter's response of "so do I" when Egon says he blames himself for not testing their proton packs, and Egon's response of "that would have worked if you hadn't stopped me" when Peter refers to a NoodleIncident involving Egon trying to drill a hole in his head. Creator/SigourneyWeaver's ad libs include comparing Peter to "a game show host" (the original line was "a used-car salesman", but she observed that he actually bounces around like a game show host), and much of Creator/RickMoranis's dialogue as Louis welcomes people to his party is improvised.

-->'''Garth:''' Did... Did you ever find it attractive when WesternAnimation/BugsBunny dressed up like a girl bunny?\\
'''Wayne:''' No.\\
'''Garth:''' Neither did I, I was just asking...

* So is ''Podcast/{{Mission to Zyxx}}'', which was directly inspire by ''Hello From the Magic Tavern''.
* And ''Podcast/{{Voyage to the Stars}}''.

--->'''James Lipton:''' IMPROV!

-->'''Morty:''' Huh, seems like TV from other dimensions has a somewhat looser feel to it!
-->'''Rick:''' Yeah, [[LampshadeHanging it's got an almost improvisational tone]].

** BattleRapping is freestyled, and is generally based on short pre-written lines that the rapper has stockpiled in advance, but combined improvisationally. Rappers are also expected to mix in off-the-dome lines, to respond to the opponent's insults or make specific personals about things that the rapper hadn't prepared a line for.
** A few notable rappers write songs by freestyling them off-the-dome, with Music/LilWayne and Music/JayZ being the two most prominent great lyrical rappers who do this. (Note that this doesn't mean that what we hear on their records is their ''first take in real time'' - these rappers record a few bars, then pause, then record more, then learn the song and perform it properly.) Music/{{Eminem}}, the other superstar lyrical rapper of the 2000s, ''attempted'' this technique on his album ''Encore'', [[ContestedSequel but not everyone liked the results]]. (He did, and still does, write songs by improvisationally combining pre-written lines, notably "My Name Is" and "Rap God".)

[[folder:Music]]

** Organists are expected to be able to improvise, in part so that the organist can play basso continuo parts; improvisation is a component of high-level exams in most conservatories.
* It is rumored, but not true, that Music/JohannSebastianBach improvised most of his fugal works. Bach was a genius improviser, able to improvise three-part fugues, and once did so on command for Frederick the Great, but while a few of his fugues might be written-out improvisations, most of them were through-composed.

* Most Creator/JuddApatow productions rely heavily on it. In fact at least ''Film/{{Undeclared}}'' hired its cast based entirely on their skills in it. Apatow even said that he nicknamed the camera technique the "Segel Cam" after how long the actor Jason Segel could go on improvising.

** In ''Three Ages'', Buster attempts to jump from one rooftop to another using an improvised springboard and doesn't quite make it. Instead of reshooting they kept the fall and created a sequence involving multiple awnings, a drainpipe and a firefighters' pole to get the character to ground level in one piece.
* Nick Frost ad-libs during the scene in ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'', where Ed describes the pub regulars in an effort to cheer Shaun up. There are several different takes of the scene where he describes the old woman as an ex-pornstar, all apparently unscripted. Simon Pegg's laughter is genuine as a result of this.
* Certain short, one-or-two-minute scenes in the ''Film/AustinPowers'' movies were edited together from literally hours of footage of the actors improvising off each other. One scene of note was the initial scene at the Evils' table in ''Goldmember'', where Seth Green and Mike Myers [[OverlyLongGag just kept on playing]] until the cameras ''ran out of film''.
* In ''Film/GiveMyRegardsToBroadStreet,'' many of Ringo Starr's lines are ad-libs. Possibly the majority.

** Stanley Kubrick used three cameras to shoot his ''Film/DrStrangelove'' scenes so the best material could be edited together; most famously, much of the hotline telephone monologue is said to be improvised, as is the behavior of his EvilHand in the second-to-last scene.

* Most of [[DrillSergeantNasty R. Lee Ermey's dialogue]] in ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' was improvised, thus making him one of the very, very few actors allowed to go off-script in a Kubrick film. [[UrbanLegend Allegedly]], after the first take featuring the line "I'll bet you're the kind of guy that would fuck a person in the ass and not even have the goddamn common courtesy to give him a reach-around!" Kubrick approached Ermey and asked what the term meant. Ermey explained. Kubrick's reply was something to the effect of "Oh. Do some more of that."
* Most of the dialogue in ''Film/IronMan1'' was ad-libbed with encouragement from director Jon Favreau who approved of the "naturalistic feel." The film was subjected to so many numerous re-writes that the script changed daily. In the end, scenes were shot with a skeletal script outlining important plot points and action with the actors creating the lines as they went. Creator/RobertDowneyJr, who joked about balling up the script and throwing it against the wall on numerous television appearances, was credited for improvising many of the movie's notable moments, including [[Film/IronMan1 Tony Stark's]] speech for the "Jericho" demonstration and getting the reporters to sit on the floor at the press conference.
** Creator/JeffBridges had ''no idea'' what to make of this approach, as he was used to meticulous learning of lines and parts, and struggled horribly with Robert and Jon's improv skill... until he retrained himself to think of it as "making a $200 millon student film".
* In ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'', Fenster's bizarre mumbling accent was entirely improvised by Benicio del Toro, who felt the character as written was boring and one-dimensional. With the change, it ended up being del Toro's first breakout role.
* Pretty much all of Bill Murray's dialogue in ''Film/{{Tootsie}}'' is supposedly improvised.
** Ditto for ''Kingpin''

* According to the commentary track on ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'', Rick Moranis ad-libbed the entire "Dark Helmet playing with his action figures" scene.
* Apparently, Rick Moranis also ad-libbed a few of Wayne's scenes with Adam in ''Honey, I Blew Up The Kid'' whenever the child playing Adam refused to co-operate, including Wayne pretending to be a waiter when the kid starting insisting he wanted to go to a restaurant.

** As it turns out, the entire exchange was improvised. Dana Carvey, Garth's actor, visibly snickers right before asking the initial question and Mike Myers bursts out laughing after responding. The director decided it was too funny to cut and so left it in the final version.
* The famous "you talking to me?" monologue in ''Film/TaxiDriver'' was completely improvised by Robert De Niro. The original script just said "Travis looks in the mirror".

* While not a great film, ''Film/TheScore'' did have its moments. Several of them were the back and forth between Robert [=DeNiro=] and Marlon Brando, who were purposely given only key points to hit in dialogue and then simply left in front of a camera.
* In the film of ''Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' (as opposed to the TV series) this also comes up in what is probably the film's single genuinely funny scene. Buffy, played by Kristy Swanson, stakes the BigBad's (Rutger Hauer's) second in command, who is being played by Paul Reubens. The scene as written simply required Reuben to say "You're gonna wish you died" and then slide out of shot. Which he did. And then, two seconds later, stood up again with stake still in his chest, putting on a bunch of fake but hilarious "ah, ooh, eee, ah, ooh!" noises and even looking directly at Swanson for one second before going off at it again. The fact the shot was ad-libbed is clearly visible in Swanson and Hauer's faces: Swanson ''turns'' to someone offscreen as if querying what's going on -- and the shot ''cuts'' to Hauer, on whom another camera was already rolling, and who has a vaguely amused look on his face and who ''shrugs'' as if to say "Just roll with it." Which they did, and the shot stayed in. A part of the performance even got into a postcredits sequence.
* In ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'' the script had very little written for the Gremlins, so the voice actors made up a bunch of stuff they thought was funny for them to say; Frank Welker (voice of Stripe and others) said that he just made a bunch of random noises into the microphone. The recording staff thought it was so good they [[ThrowItIn decided to leave it in]] and had the others follow on his example.

* In ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'', the whole anecdote about the girl and the barn was ad libbed by Matt Damon.
* In ''Film/RomyAndMichelesHighSchoolReunion'', Lisa Kudrow made up the entire glue formula on the spot.

* Another famous example of improv is the {{Mockumentary}} ''Film/ThisIsSpinalTap''. The movie had no script; the actors simply got into character and improv'ed for hours. Rob Reiner shot several hours of footage which was distilled down into the movie itself; hours of outtakes have been included on the various DVD sets.
** Christopher Guest, [=Michael McKean=], and Harry Shearer found they enjoyed this formula so much that they went on to make a number of other improv-ed mockumentaries, including ''Film/WaitingForGuffman'', ''Film/BestInShow'', ''Film/AMightyWind'', and ''Film/ForYourConsideration''. Most of the ensemble cast in these movies started out in improv comedy groups such as the famous Creator/SecondCity.

* ''Outnumbered'', a British sitcom about life with three kids, uses a fair amount of improvisation. It produces remarkably realistic acting from the child actors, as they're allowed and encouraged to say things in their own words.

* When auditioning for ''Series/{{Cheers}}'', John Ratzenberger originally read for the role of Norm. After badly botching his audition, he asked the producers if the show included a bar know-it-all, and proceeded to wander around the room ad-libbing lines that might be appropriate for such a character. A week later, he was called back and offered the newly-written role of [[KnowNothingKnowItAll Cliff]].
* Finishing recording the first ever episode of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's ''Series/NotOnlyButAlso'', the producer decided that since Dud was a pianist, they should record a play-out to go over the end credits. He had the credit roller set up, a grand piano placed in the middle of the set, and instructed Pete and Dud to say goodbye to the audience and then play until the credits ran out. Dud sat at the piano, Pete stood behind him, Dud struck a chord, sang a demi-falsetto "Now is the time to say goodbye..." and proceeded to compose their hit signature tune "Goodbyeeee!" on the spot.
* The Janitor on ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' was not originally supposed to be a recurring character, so many of his scenes were improvised by Neil Flynn, which added to the {{Cloudcuckoolander}} behavior of the character. In many other instances the other actors would also improvise reaction lines and other moments.

* [[SaturdayMorningKidsShow Saturday Morning Kids Shows]] are often only semi-scripted, because they're live and the kids are going to throw everything off anyway. ''[=SMTVLive=]'' interspersed scripted sketches (with lots of ThrowItIn and LampshadeHanging of forgotten lines) with unscripted chat, while ''Series/DickAndDomInDaBungalow'' was pretty much entirely {{Improv}}- WordOfGod is the hosts just had a running order, no script. A couple of actors played lots of recurring characters who would come in each week, and would have a few prepared jokes when they first entered, but they would then have to improvise as they interacted with the hosts and the children.

* Jimmy Smits supposedly left ''Series/NYPDBlue'' because David Milch insisted on the actors often improvising scenes without a script at all.

* George Gershwin found out about his being booked to write and perform a new piece for an upcoming concert only three weeks before the concert was supposed to go on. The score he turned in for "Rhapsody in Blue," which he'd composed in those three weeks, had blank spaces where his piano solos were supposed to go, with the notation "Wait For Nod" to tell the conductor when to bring the rest of the orchestra back in.

* Ella Fitzgerald was performing "Mack the Knife" for her live Berlin album, but forgot all the words after the first verse. She quickly improvised new lines and a scat solo, keeping up perfectly with the rhythm section. The final cut was so good that she got a Grammy for it. This is, incidentally, why most performances of "Mack the Knife" are now largely incomprehensible: the song's origins as a murder ballad from Creator/BertoltBrecht and Music/KurtWeill's ''Die Dreigroschenoper'' are now forgotten by singers who sing it as an opportunity to mention everyone else who's ever sung it.

* The vocal on Music/PinkFloyd's "The Great Gig in the Sky". It was originally planned and recorded as an instrumental track, but producer Alan Parsons thought it could do with something more, and suggested they get vocalist Clare Torry in for a vocals session. Roger Waters recalls the musical direction they gave her amounting to: "There's no lyrics. It's about dying — have a bit of a sing on that, girl." Clare had a listen through, and then overdubbed her vocals in one take. The entire vocal part was her own invention, improvised on the spot.

* {{Music/James}}'s propensity for the "let the band jam while Tim Booth sings nonsense until something clicks" method - during the ''Laid'' sessions in particular - struck legendarily precise and focused producer Music/BrianEno so much that he had them record ''everything'' with a view to making two albums at once, feeling the experimentations deserved to be heard as well. The resultant ''Wah Wah'' almost earned Eno co-credit.

* ''The Complete Works of William Shakespeare '' by the Creator/ReducedShakespeareCompany basically writes this into the script with places that essentially say "you improvise here", as well as numerous audience participation moments. Every performance ''has'' to invoke this trope.

* One word: Pantomimes. Main Actor needs a glass of water? He gets one then procedes to be silly about it. Actress playing the Fairy Godmother's wand breaks? She gets another one and then claims that she always carries a spare. They ''live'' off this trope.

* ''WebVideo/PopQuizHotshot''. The only things pre-written are the questions. Brad as the host was far snarkier at this, while Doug is more bouncy.

** Note that all of Jon Benjamin's own series' involve large amounts of improv, Dr. Katz, Home Movies, and more recently Archer.

** In the episode, "You Only Move Twice," much of Hank Scorpio's dialogue was improvised by Albert Brooks. This is particularly clear in the "hammock district" conversation, where Dan Castellaneta (Homer) is obviously just trying to keep up with Brooks.
* All the dialog from ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies'' was done this way to make it sound like 3 kids talking in real life. Even the scripts only had small notes on them and jokes to fall back on if the voice actors couldn't think of anything to say.

[[folder:Audio Play]]
* As ''Series/DoctorWho'' actor Creator/TomBaker was notorious for frequently going off-script during his tenure as the Fourth Doctor, Creator/BigFinish decided to roll with it when they got to him reprise his iconic role in ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'', and has intentionally left a blank space the scripts every once in a while, to allow Tom to improvise.

** Note that all of Jon Benjamin's own series' involve large amounts of improv, Dr. Kats, Home Movies, and more recently Archer.

* Formalised in {{Theatresports}}, [=ComedySportz=], and other dedicated improv troupes in most major cities.

Improv, short for Improvisation, is the act of going off-roading from the set script and making up entire chunks of dialogue or characterisation. This is similar to an ad-lib (a short -- usually one or two lines -- deviation), but here the connotations are that it happens frequently, if not actually the entire acting method. This varies wildly from individual lines to half of the script. When an entire production is based around improvisation, you're probably looking at a variant of {{Theatresports}}.

Many examples of ThrowItIn are because of this, with the actor just goofing around with the script in between takes. It can also be used to produce EnforcedMethodActing, if one actor is turned loose to improvise in order to get a realistic reaction from another actor.

* When Creator/NeilPatrickHarris hosted the 2009 Tony Awards, he closed the ceremony by singing a song (to the tune of [[Theatre/WestSideStory "Tonight"]] and [[Theatre/GuysAndDolls "Luck Be a Lady"]]), the lyrics of which were just one variation based on the winners that had just been revealed that night. The lyricists (Mark Shaiman and Scott Wittman) had come up with lyrics for several possible winning scenarios, although they weren't prepared for certain scenarios like ''Theatre/BillyElliot'' winning Best Musical, but Elton John losing Best Original Score, and thus were tweaking the lyrics right up until the song went on. Neil Patrick Harris, being CrazyAwesome, pulled it off with aplomb, even throwing in an odd little bit of PaintingTheMedium halfway through ("Credits? That's not gonna stop me!").

** ''Film/Ghostbusters2016'' is majority ad-libbed, with whole scenes being nothing but half an hour takes of the cast just talking to each other that has been trimmed down and put on screen. Depending on who you ask, [[BrokenBase the film suffered for it in the same way that the Titanic suffered when it hit the iceberg.]]

[[/folder]]

* Podcast/TheTritoneGambit: RPG games in general tend to be improvisational in nature, so this actual play podcast is certainly made up as the players go along.

* Music/KingCrimson have, since its inception, placed great importance in improvisation. Their style is unusual in that it is a collective effort, as opposed to individual musicians taking turns at soloing. One notable example is the infamous second part of "Moonchild", from ''In the Court of the Crimson King'', in which the band dabbles for nearly ten minutes. "Trio" and "Asbury Park", on the other hand, are fan favourites. Their improvisations are well documented in the live albums from 1973 to 1974.

* In ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', Patrick Warburton improvised when Kronk hummed his own theme song when he was carrying Kuzco in the bag to the waterfall. Disney legal department had Patrick to sign all rights to the humming composition over to them.