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The Immediate Gratification Players performing with comedian Jeff Garlin. Their distinctive red and yellow ties are featured.

The Immediate Gratification Players (IGP) are a collegiate improvisational comedy troupe based out of Harvard College. They specialize in long form, free-form improvisation with musical accompaniment.

History

The Immediate Gratification Players were founded by Harvard freshmen in the fall of 1986. Unlike the majority of collegiate troupes, the Immediate Gratification Players do not charge for admission to their shows. Their red-and-yellow striped ties are one of the troupe's hallmarks.

Each year, the Immediate Gratification Players host the Laugh Riot improvisational comedy festival at the American Repertory Theater. The invitational festival, begun in the spring of 1999 and now entering its 12th year, includes many troupes from other colleges, such as Cornell, Wesleyan University, and Columbia University.[1][2][3] On the weekend of the annual Harvard-Yale football game, the Immediate Gratification Players either host or travel to a show which also stars an improvisational comedy troupe from Yale.[4][5] Along with on-campus shows, they frequently play at Boston's Improv Asylum and at comedy clubs in New York City.[6] Beyond the Northeast, the Immediate Gratification Players have played in Florida, Los Angeles, Texas, Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area, and London.[7][8][9][10]

Apart from a traditional long form, free-form, the Immediate Gratification Players annually perform shows in specialty forms such as the “dinner party” and “radio show” formats. In 2007, they were selected out of the numerous Boston-based improv troupes to star in a several comedy sketches produced by the Boston Globe in its Peter Post etiquette section.[11][12]

Immediate Gratification Player of the Year

In 2010, the Immediate Gratification Players began honoring great comedians with a background in improvisational comedy as their Immediate Gratification Player of the Year. The award is not strictly annual, with the troupe's leader remarking that the group is "hoping to give this award as much as possible, devaluing it to the point where it basically means nothing."[13] The award recipient performs the monologue portion of an Armando form show, where several scenes are based on the themes brought up in the monologue, which itself is formed from a crowd suggestion. Upon completion of the show, the honoree receives their own red-and-yellow striped tie.[14]

The inaugural award recipient is comedian Jeff Garlin of Curb Your Enthusiasm and WALL-E fame.[15][16]

Notable alumni

Name Class year Notability Reference(s)
Farai Chideya 1990 Journalist, former host of NPR's News and Notes [17]
Nate Dern 2007 Comedian, Reality Show contestant, season 3 of Beauty and the Geek [18]
Sarah Haskins 2001 Comedian, Current TV's Target Women [19]
Todd Kim 1994 First Solicitor General of Washington, D.C., First contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Justin Krebs 2000 Creator of Drinking Liberally [20][21]
David Modigliani 2002 Director and Producer; Crawford (film) and Trust Us, This Is All Made Up [22]
Nicholas Stoller 1998 Director and Producer; Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Fun with Dick and Jane [23][24][25]

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=522070
  2. ^ http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~hrdc/htdb/displayproduction.php?productionid=680
  3. ^ http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=506019
  4. ^ http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/2500
  5. ^ http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2008/11.20/11-thegame.html
  6. ^ http://www.thetanknyc.org/?q=content/improvision-/-igp
  7. ^ http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=90987
  8. ^ http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=97495
  9. ^ http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/media/storage/paper853/news/2000/03/31/Campus/Improv.Groups.Opens.Festival-1903925.shtml
  10. ^ http://www.pantheater.com/about-pan/pressrelease-pantheater-harvard-immediate-gratification-plays-comedy-show-sanfrancisco.htm
  11. ^ http://multimedia.boston.com/pub/m/13912248/peter_post_the_kisser.htm?pageid=36
  12. ^ http://multimedia.boston.com/pub/m/13912247/peter_post_the_clipper.htm?pageid=36
  13. ^ http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/2/22/garlin-coming-to-harvard/
  14. ^ http://www.prlog.org/10542166-jeff-garlin-named-immediate-gratification-player-of-the-year-harvard-improv-troupe-honors-comedian.html
  15. ^ http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/2/23/garlin-comedy-levingesundheit-year/
  16. ^ http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2010/03/09/for_tune_another_step_in_time/?page=full
  17. ^ http://www.theroot.com/blogs/rock-and-roll/former-npr-host-farai-chideya-kisses-sky
  18. ^ www.natedern.com
  19. ^ http://current.com/topics/88813968/target_women/new/0.htm
  20. ^ http://democracyforum.blogspot.com/2006/03/justin-krebs.html
  21. ^ http://www.thetanknyc.org/
  22. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1370803/
  23. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/09/fashion/weddings/09vows.html?_r=1
  24. ^ "The Dark Side" WHRB radio interview, 2008
  25. ^ http://www.harvardwood.org/?HH200804
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