improv

[im-prov]

noun

Informal.

1. improvisation.

improv

/ ˈɪmprɒv /

noun

1. improvised performance, esp by a comedian

Word History and Origins

Origin of improv¹

By shortening

Example Sentences

But all the while, starting as a teen, Johnson logged time on the secular comedy scene of open mics, stand-up sets and improv sessions around Nashville.

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Unlike the improv troupes in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York where “SNL” traditionally scouts talent, Kill Tony is affiliated with Joe Rogan’s comedy club in Austin, Texas, and welcomes politically incorrect material.

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When they were dating, they would go to the Comedy Store, the Improv, the Laugh Factory, all those places.

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On a recent night at the Hollywood Improv for the monthly show Hot Mic, presented by Kevin Hart’s LOL Radio, the late-night audience piles into the dimly lighted main room at 9:30 where CP wakes them up with his punchy, Detroit-bred delivery that cuts through murmurs and side chatter with a voice like a gas-powered chain saw.

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His impressive fact-finding mission includes interviews with three of the performer-decoys — two girls and a boy — who were barely adults themselves when they were hired for this high-wire, high-pressure improv gig.

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Related Words

• ad-lib 
• brainstorm 
• concoct 
• contrive 
• devise 
• dream up 
• invent 
• throw together