[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'157957\' date=\'Jul 19 2007, 06:18 PM\']
Mark Jeffries to the white courtesy phone... :-)
[/quote]
Heerrrreeee I ammmmm...
"The Improv Match Game" has been going on for a few years at the IO, formerly the Improv Olympic, which has been a breeding ground for people to Second City and in some cases, like Amy Poehler, directly to "SNL," "MADtv" or some other big time. The people who have been through there are too many to name, but
here's the web site if you want the info. "Improv MG" started on Monday nights very late and has become popular enough to move to Saturday nights at midnight. They charge no admission for the show, in order to get the people who've been there for the earlier shows to stick around and drink.
The format itself is "PM" three rounds with just the head-to-head match at the end (didn't see the one time I saw it which tiebreaker they use)--the contestants are picked from the audience, the six-member panel are improvers with a few ringers (the media writers or TV critics for both Chicago papers have served as panelists at one time or another). The one night I saw it, Prouty was not there and someone else was emcee (yes, with a fake antenna hand mike). For the questions, he basically recycles from the TV show, I guess because he figures he can't improve on DeBartolo & Co. There don't seem to be regular panelists and definitely no Brett/Charles dynamics here (Molly Erdman in the WGN clip is Prouty's wife). I had a good time, but not enough to come back every Saturday for the price of a beer--it's getting late for me these days.
I am assuming that they consider themselves safe under fair use parody, but if Fremantle's ignoring the "WML?" show in LA, they'll ignore this.
Their web site, with a link to their MySpace page (with the TV edit of the theme as their page music):
http://www.improvmatchgame.com/
