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Del Close
Del Close (March 9, 1934 – March 4, 1999) was an American actor, writer, and teacher who coached many of the best-known comedians and comic actors of the late twentieth century. In addition to an acting career in television and film, he was one of the influences on modern improvisational theater. Close is co-founder of the iO, or iO Chicago, (formerly known as "ImprovOlympic"). Life and career Early life Close was born on March 9, 1934, in Manhattan, Kansas. He ran away from home at the age of 17 to work in a traveling side show, but returned to attend Kansas State University. At age 19 he performed in summer stock with the Belfry Players at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. At age 23 he became a member of the Compass Players in St. Louis. When most of the cast—including Mike Nichols and Elaine May—moved to New York City, Close followed. He developed a stand-up comedy act, starred as the Yogi in the Broadway musical revue ''The Nervous Set'', and performed briefly with an imp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manhattan, Kansas
Manhattan is a city and county seat of Riley County, Kansas, United States, although the city extends into Pottawatomie County. It is located in northeastern Kansas at the junction of the Kansas River and Big Blue River. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 54,100. The city was founded by settlers from the New England Emigrant Aid Company as a Free-State town in the 1850s, during the Bleeding Kansas era. Nicknamed "The Little Apple" as a play on New York City's "Big Apple", Manhattan is the home of Kansas State University and has a distinct college town atmosphere. History Native American settlement Before settlement by European-Americans in the 1850s, the land around Manhattan was home to Native American tribes. From 1780 to 1830, it was home to the Kaw people, also known as the Kansa. The Kaw settlement was called Blue Earth Village (Manyinkatuhuudje), named after the river which the tribe had named the Great Blue Earth River, today known as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
How To Speak Hip
''How to Speak Hip'' is a comedy album by Del Close and John Brent, released by Mercury Records in 1959. Description The album is designed as a satire of language-learning records, where the secret language of the ' hipster' is treated as a foreign language. Part of the joke, however, is that it actually does a good job of describing the Beat Generation/Beatnik sub-culture: Basic concepts such as "cool" and "uncool" are taught, as well as vocabulary building ("dig", "dig it", "dig yourself, baby", "dig the chick", "dig the cat", "What a drag!"). Many of the phrases and expressions survived to become elements of the counterculture vocabulary. Social notes are presented as for many language courses, and later in the album, the teacher (Close) is taken on field trips into the secret life of the hipster (Brent). However, the hipster rebels against participating in the teaching tool, leading to a humorously compromised teaching style. Track 12 contains an excerpt of ' We Free ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charna Halpern
Charna Halpern (born June 1, 1952) is an American comedian who is co-founder of the ImprovOlympic, now known as iO. Upon iO's founding, in 1983, with partner Del Close, she began teaching Harold to many students in the Chicago theater community. Many prominent comedians performed at iO, from Neil Flynn ('' The Middle'') to Jack McBrayer (''30 Rock''). Also appearing were up and coming comedic minds such as Craig Cackowski (''Drunk History''). Halpern opened the iO West located in Hollywood, California, in the early 2000s. In February 2018, she made the decision to close the theater citing the reasons as the neighboring nightclub and lack of attendance. She and Close co-authored the book ''Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation'' with editor Kim "Howard" Johnson in 1994. She published ''Group Improvisation'' in 2003 and ''Art by Committee'' in 2006. The remaining theater in Chicago, originally located in the Wrigleyville neighborhood was forced to relocate due to neigh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves as the program's showrunner. The show premiere was hosted by George Carlin on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title ''NBC's Saturday Night''. The show's comedy sketches, which often parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers the opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, with featured performances by a musical guest. An episode normally begins with a cold open sketch that ends with someone breaking character and proclaiming, " Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!", properly beginning the show. In 1980, Michaels left the series to explore other opportunities. He was re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, jazz, bluegrass, blues, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, world music, and psychedelia; for live performances of lengthy instrumental jams that typically incorporated modal and tonal improvisation; and for its devoted fan base, known as "Deadheads". "Their music", writes Lenny Kaye, "touches on ground that most other groups don't even know exists." These various influences were distilled into a diverse and psychedelic whole that made the Grateful Dead "the pioneering Godfathers of the jam band world". The band was ranked 57th by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in its " The Greatest Artists of All Time" issue. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and a recording of their May 8, 1977 performance at Cornell University's Barton Hall was added to the National Recording Registry of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merry Pranksters
The Merry Pranksters were comrades and followers of American author Ken Kesey in 1964. Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters lived communally at Kesey's homes in California and Oregon, and are noted for the sociological significance of a lengthy road trip they took in the summer of 1964, traveling across the United States in a psychedelic painted school bus called '' Furthur'', organizing parties, and giving out LSD. During this time they met many of the guiding lights of the 1960s cultural movement and presaged what are commonly thought of as hippies with odd behavior, tie-dyed and red, white, and blue clothing, and renunciation of normal society, which they ironically dubbed The Establishment. Tom Wolfe chronicled their early escapades in his 1968 book ''The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test'', and documents a notorious 1966 trip on ''Furthur'' from Mexico through Houston, stopping to visit Kesey's friend, novelist Larry McMurtry. Kesey was in flight from a drug charge at the time. Not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Larry Hankin
Larry Hankin (born ) is an American character actor, performer, director, comedian and producer. He is known for his major film roles as Charley Butts in '' Escape from Alcatraz'' (1979), Ace in '' Running Scared'' (1986), and Carl Alphonse in ''Billy Madison'' (1995). He had smaller roles as Doobie in '' Planes, Trains and Automobiles'', Sergeant Larry Balzak in ''Home Alone'', Mr. Heckles in ''Friends'', and Joe in ''Breaking Bad'' and '' El Camino''. Early life and career Hankin grew up in a Jewish family in Far Rockaway, Queens. He graduated from Far Rockaway High School and Syracuse University, where he befriended Carl Gottlieb. He was homeless at one point. Notable film and television roles Hankin was an early member of the Second City, training with improvisational theater legends Viola Spolin and Paul Sills, and in 1963 moved to San Francisco to co-found another influential improv troupe, The Committee. His first notable supporting role was as Pt. Romero in ''Viva Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Howard Hesseman
Howard Hesseman (February 27, 1940 – January 29, 2022) was an American actor known for his television roles as burned-out disc jockey Dr. Johnny Fever on ''WKRP in Cincinnati'', and the lead role of history teacher Charlie Moore on ''Head of the Class''. He appeared regularly on television and in film from the 1970s to 2010s, with other noteworthy roles including Sam Royer (the husband of lead character Ann Romano) in the last two seasons of '' One Day at a Time'', and a supporting role as Captain Pete Lassard in the film '' Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment.'' Early life Hesseman was born in Lebanon, Oregon, on February 27, 1940. His parents divorced when he was five, and he was raised by his mother and stepfather, a police officer. He graduated from Silverton High School in 1958. Hesseman attended the University of Oregon, and was later a founding member of the San Francisco-based improvisational comedy troupe The Committee with fellow actor David Ogden Stiers. Ear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Bonerz
Peter R Bonerz (, born August 6, 1938) is an American actor and director. Early life Bonerzwas born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Elfrieda (née Kern) and Christopher Bonerz. He grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he attended Marquette University High School. Here, performing with the Prep Players, he gained his first theatrical experience. At Marquette University, he participated in the Marquette University Players. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1960, he decided to seek a career in theater, starting in New York City in improv with a troupe called The Premise. After compulsory service as a draftee in the United States Army, he worked with an improv troupe in San Francisco known as The Committee, whose members included Rob Reiner, David Ogden Stiers, Howard Hesseman and Hamilton Camp. Career Bonerz's first network television appearance was in 1965 on ''The Addams Family'' in the season-two episode "Morticia, The Writer". He had several more TV appear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Gottlieb
Carl Gottlieb (born March 18, 1938) is an American screenwriter, actor, comedian, and executive. He is best known for co-writing the screenplay for '' Jaws'' (1975) and its first two sequels, as well as directing the 1981 film '' Caveman''. Early life Gottlieb was born to a middle class Jewish family in New York City, the son of Elizabeth, a medical administrative assistant, and Sergius M. Gottlieb, an engineer. Gottlieb studied drama at Syracuse University where he befriended character actor Larry Hankin. After graduating, he was drafted into the Army, serving as an entertainment specialist in the Special Services division from 1961 to 1963.Writer Carl Gottlieb on serving in the Army - TelevisionAcademy.com/Interviews [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gary Goodrow
Garry Goodrow (November 4, 1933 – July 22, 2014) was an American actor known for his role in the original stage production of the Obie Award-winning play ''The Connection'' (1959) and its 1961 film version, and as one of the original members of The Committee improvisational group. In ''The Connection'', Goodrow played the young, intense, morose, would-be jazz musician Ernie, a heroin addict whose horn is more often than not at the pawn shop. Career The Malone, New York-born Goodrow was a member of the Living Theater and appeared in the stage and film productions of '' The Connection''. He was a founding member of San Francisco's satirical improvisational group The Committee (improv group) and went on to over 50 screen appearances, including film roles in ''Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice'' (1969), ''Gold'' (1972), ''Steelyard Blues'' (1973), ''Stay Hungry'' (1976), '' American Hot Wax'' (1978), ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' (1978), '' Escape from Alcatraz'' (1979), ''Cardi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Committee (improv Group)
The Committee was a San Francisco-based improvisational comedy group founded by Alan Myerson and Jessica Myerson (formerly known as Irene Ryan and Irene Riordan, later known as Latifah Taormina). The Myersons were both alums of The Second City in Chicago. The Committee opened April 10, 1963 at 622 Broadway in a 300-seat Cabaret theater that used to be an indoor bocce ball court in San Francisco's North Beach. Garry Goodrow, Hamilton Camp, Larry Hankin, Kathryn Ish, Scott Beach and Ellsworth Milburn were the cast. Jerry Mander handled the group's PR, and Richard Stahl, who later joined the improv troupe, was its first company manager. Jessica Myerson joined the company in May. Arthur Cantor took the company to Broadway in New York in 1964 for a limited engagement at the Henry Miller Theater. This occasioned a second group to hold the fort in San Francisco. Morgan Upton, Peter Lane, Leigh French, Chris Ross, Howard Hesseman (who was then using the name Don Sturdy), Nancy Fish, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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