Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh. Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual. Comedy Council of Nicea, 2013.
The codification of UCB's game-based approach to improv. Formalizes concepts that Del Close and Charna Halpern taught at iO into a structured curriculum with precise terminology.
Key concepts originating or codified here:
- Game of the scene — the pattern of unusual behavior, identified via the "first unusual thing"
- If-this-then-what — the exploration engine: "given this is true, what else is true?"
- Base reality — the grounded, believable world before game; established via CROW
- Straight man / voice of reason — the grounding player who makes game legible
- Heightening — escalation of the game pattern through repetition with variation
- Mapping — playing one scenario through the lens of another
- Point of view — the character's filter on reality that generates game automatically
- Group game — ensemble scenes within Harold structure
- Editing — sweep edits, tag-outs, structural scene transitions
The UCB debate: Will Hines (longtime UCB teacher) has evolved past some of the Manual's rigidity, arguing that "game" should be felt organically rather than analytically identified. The Manual represents the formalized teaching version; the best UCB performers often transcend its framework while retaining its vocabulary.