There are a number of performing arts groups at Columbia dedicated to producing student theater, including the Columbia Players, King's Crown Shakespeare Troupe ( KCST ), Columbia Musical Theater Society ( CMTS ), NOMADS ( New and Original Material Authored and Directed by Students ), LateNite Theatre, Columbia University Performing Arts League ( CUPAL ), Black Theatre Ensemble ( BTE ), sketch comedy group Chowdah, and improvisational troupes Alfred and Fruit Paunch.

In the 1970s, Canadian Keith Johnstone invented Theatresports that has become a staple of modern improvisational comedy.

They were the first organized troupes in Chicago, Illinois and from their success, the modern Chicago improvisational comedy movement was spawned.

Modern improvisational comedy, as it is practiced in the West, falls generally into two categories: shortform and longform.

In creating their improvisational comedy series On the Campaign Trail with Larry & Lenny Lumberjack and talk show Tra5hTa1k with ILL Will, the ILL Clan blended real and virtual performance by creating the works on-stage and interacting with a live audience.

Other works filmed using puppetry are the ILL Clan's improvisational comedy series On the Campaign Trail with Larry & Lenny Lumberjack and Rooster Teeth Productions ' Red vs. Blue.

In North America, contemporary sketch comedy is largely an outgrowth of the improvisational comedy scene that flourished during the 1970s, largely growing out of Chicago's The Second City.

* ACME Comedy Theatre, a sketch comedy and improvisational theater located near Hollywood

Mornington Crescent is an improvisational game, featured in the BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, which satirises complicated panel games.

On November 18, 2010, the Game Show Network announced that Drew Carey would host a new improvisational comedy show entitled Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza in the Spring of 2011.

or WLIIA ) is a short-form improvisational comedy TV show.

The Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza show also premièred in 11 April 2011 in another improvisational comedy show featuring Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, Greg Proops, Brad Sherwood, Jeff Davis and Chip Esten.

Manu Chao and Tonino Carotone performed the theme song " La Trampa " for the short-lived improvisational comedy Drew Carey's Green Screen Show.

Wheaton has performed improvisational and sketch comedy at the ACME Comedy Theater in Hollywood.

While at the school, she became involved with the school's improvisational comedy group alongside actor Sam Rockwell.

Impressions of Cartman are done by Wayne Brady on the improvisational comedy show, " Whose Line Is It Anyway?

With an invitation from his older brother, Brian, Murray got his start at The Second City in Chicago, an improvisational comedy troupe, studying under Del Close.

A comedy club is a venue, typically a nightclub, bar, or restaurant where people watch or listen to performances, including stand-up comedians, improvisational comedians, impersonators, magicians, ventriloquists and other comedy acts.

" She was also a member of the improvisational comedy group The Groundlings for ten years.

Ryan Lee Stiles ( born April 22, 1959 ) is an American actor, comedian, director, and voice actor whose work is often associated with improvisational comedy.

By 1989, Stiles had gained the attention of the producers of the British improvisational comedy show, Whose Line Is It Anyway ?.

* World Humor Organization, an American improvisational comedy company

Some key figures in the development of improvisational theatre are Avery Schreiber, Viola Spolin and her son Paul Sills, founder of Chicago's famed Second City troupe and originator of Theater Games, and Del Close, founder of ImprovOlympic ( along with Charna Halpern ) and creator of a longform improv format known as The Harold.

* East Bay Improv, an improvisational troupe, performs at the Pinole Community Theater.

In 1984, she co-founded An Impulsive Thing, an improvisational comedy troupe, with Holly Wortell, Andy Miller and John Gripentrog.

In the argot of the improvisational theater of Istanbul the stage was called " sahano ", backstage was referred to as " koyuntu ", backdrops depicting countryside as " bosko ", the applause as " furi ", and the songs sung as solos or duets between the acts and plays were called " kanto " ( as was the case with their Italian counterparts, the Turkish troupe members played songs and music before the show and between the acts to peak people's interest and draw in customers ).

The Groundlings are an improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles, California.

He also spent time as a member of the improvisational comedy troupe, The Groundlings.

* The Second City, an improvisational comedy troupe

Her 1970s stage work eventually included the Toronto branch of the improvisational comedy troupe The Second City, a group which produced almost the entire cast of SCTV.

The Reduced Shakespeare Company is a touring American acting troupe that performs fast-paced, seemingly improvisational condensations of huge topics.

At one time, she was a member of The Groundlings, a California improvisational comedy troupe.

Mathieu was one of the founders and the musical director for the Second City in Chicago, the first on-going improvisational theater troupe in the United States, and was later the musical director for the Committee, an improv theater in San Francisco that was an off-shoot of the Second City.

In 1988, while still working as an accountant, Sweeney enrolled in classes with the improvisational comedy troupe The Groundlings, eventually being selected to be part of the troupe's Sunday Company.

" Sailing with Flippancy " is an improvisational comedy troupe.

Robertson is an alumnus of the Vancouver TheatreSports League improvisational comedy troupe.

In 1979, she joined the Los Angeles-based improvisational troupe, The Groundlings, where she created a Valley girl-type character upon whom the Elvira persona largely is based.

He founded an improvisational troupe in the 1920's.

Douglas performed off-Broadway at the Village Gate Theater with the critically acclaimed improvisational comedy troupe Noo Yawk Tawk in the late 1980s.

From the 1960s through the late 1970s, next to Legal Seafoods one could find the home of the improvisational troupe The Proposition.

Boston's oldest continuously operating improvisational theater troupe, ImprovBoston, has recently moved from its longtime home in Inman square to nearby Central square on Prospect street.

He said he was writing theater reviews for the University of Chicago student newspaper when he was asked to pen material for an improvisational troupe that included Alan Arkin and Mike Nichols.

" Since the three believed in their material, which they had honed in front of the audiences in their 140-seat improvisational troupe billed as Kentucky Fried Theater, they decided to make the movie on their own.

Several panelists were members of the improvisational comedy troupe Respecto Montalban.

Second Nature is a long-form improvisational theatre troupe based in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California.