Achieving a depth of character : long-form improv practices in US comedy podcast culture Smith, AN http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2040610X.2019.1623500 Title Achieving a depth of character : long-form improv practices in US comedy podcast culture Authors Smith, AN Type Article URL This version is available at: http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/51264/ Published Date 2019 USIR is a digital collection of the research output of the University of Salford. Where copyright permits, full text material held in the repository is made freely available online and can be read, downloaded and copied for non-commercial private study or research purposes. Please check the manuscript for any further copyright restrictions. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at:
[email protected]. Achieving a depth of character: Long-form improv practices in US comedy podcast culture Anthony N. Smith Long-form improvised comedy – or long-form improv – has been enduringly significant across media cultures since its development in 20th Century North American theatrical contexts. The comedic mode has been formative to the early development of various successful and influential comedy performers, writers and producers in recent decades, including Mike Myers, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Adam McKay (Fotis 2014, 7). It has influenced the scripting and performance processes of many US film comedies, including Anchorman and Knocked Up, and US television sitcoms, such as 30 Rock and Curb Your Enthusiasm.1 It has furthermore recently spread into podcast culture, underpinning various popular podcast series, including Comedy Bang! Bang!, which garners upwards of two million episode downloads per month (Wilstein, 2017).