In the new comedy series Murderville (based on the BBC series, Murder in Successville), veteran Netflix star Will Arnett (of Arrested Development and Bojack Horseman fame), teams up with various celebrity guests to solve a different murder in each episode. As Detective Terry Seattle, Arnett and his guest partners (which include the likes of late-night legend, Conan O’Brien, comedian Ken Jeong, and Schitt’s Creek main, Annie Murphy) guide the audience through scripted premises but mostly improvised murder-mysteries.
This format may be unique but improvisational comedy is certainly not new. After you sink your teeth into Murderville, why not check out these classic improv comedy series and marvel at the realization that your old favorites were a result of on-the-spot, spur-of-the-moment humor from some seasoned performers.
‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ (2000 – Present)
Curb Your Enthusiasm is one of the oldest and original single-camera HBO series that is the standard for modern improvisational comedy. It is often mimicked and lovingly memed during real-life awkward situations by fans, with its signature trumpet opening and closing musical theme. Larry David, who you may or may not know as the co-creator of hit 90s sitcom Seinfeld, and as the real-life inspiration for the character of George Costanza on the show, stars as a hyperbolized characterization of himself with many eccentricities and quirks that often get him into troubling and regrettable social situations.
Although Curb has a wealth of guest stars, from Ben Stiller through to Jon Hamm, who, in turn, also play exaggerated versions of themselves, adding to the ridiculousness of the situations David finds himself in, the main cast’s (David, Jeff Garlin, Susie Essman, J. B. Smoove, and Cheryl Hines) comedic timing and chemistry is a palpable stable in every episode. The ease in which they improvise is a reflection of their enduring relationships off-screen that evoke genuine laughs when they’re placed in farcical scenarios found in the everyday and mundane on-screen.
‘Reno 911!’ (2003 – Present)
Creators Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant bring their talents over from cult-classic sketch show, The State, and variety show, Viva Variety, to inhabit the Sherriff’s Department of Reno, Nevada in the popular Comedy Central, then Quibi, and soon to be Roku series, Reno 911! Lennon stars as the proud short shorts-wearing Lieutenant Jim Dangle who oversees a rambunctious group of deputies, including Garant, and Viva and State alum, Kerri Kenney.
The department morning briefings showcase the improv talents of the cast with their individual quips piping in between Dangle’s announcements. The best displays of off-the-cuff humor, however, come from the interactions between the Sherriff’s Department and offenders they pursue on the streets of Reno. Perps have been portrayed by notable guest stars: comedian Zach Galifianakis, Charlie Day from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, as well as recurring unforgettable performances by Nick Swardson, as roller-skating sex worker, Terry Bernadino.
‘It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' (2005 – Present)
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is FX's longest-running live-action comedy series, and the longest running live-action comedy series in The United States. It follows Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, and Danny DeVito, as “The Gang” who run a largely unprofitable Irish pub in Philadelphia. Their giant egos and general awfulness bring hours of entertainment to the show’s loyal and devoted fans.
Like Curb, It’s Always Sunny has garnered many memes that perfectly describe the ups and downs of life’s everyday occurrences, and some of the series most memorable moments were from the cast’s spontaneous jokes meant to make each other laugh. In the first episode of The Always Sunny Podcast that was released to coincide with the premiere of Season 15, Howerton reveals that his character, Dennis Reynolds’, flourishing line in Season 1, Episode 1, “The Gang Gets Racist”: “The boys are out tonight, huh?” was completely improvised as a gag for the other cast members’ eyes and ears only. Thankfully, McElhenney and Day thought it was hilarious enough to be left in for audiences to enjoy.
‘Dog Bites Man' (2006)
Before making it big on the silver screen, Zach Galifianakis starred as oafish and incompetent director, cameraman, and fledgling musician, Alan Finger, on the Comedy Central single-season comedy series Dog Bites Man. The show followed an amateurish local news team from Spokane, Washington as they filmed news stories around the country. Alongside Galifianakis, original member and founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade improv group, Matt Walsh, played reporter, Kevin Beekin, with comedian, Andrea Savage, and former head writer for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, A. D. Miles, also starring.
The cast’s excellent improvisation is all the more impressive as their vox pop interviews were legitimately riffing off of unwitting members of the public who believed they were an actual news crew. The show is one of the lesser-known gems of the popular “mockumentary” or “mock documentary” genre of the 00s.
'Outnumbered' (2007 – 2014)
The BBC sitcom, Outnumbered, is a portrait of a nuclear, middle-class family living in London. Comedian, Hugh Dennis (most recently of Fleabag), starred as dad and teacher, Pete Brockman, and Claire Skinner (Bridget Jones’s Diary) played mother and personal assistant, Sue. The couple was “outnumbered” by their three children, played by Tyger Drew-Honey, Daniel Roche, and Ramona Marquez. Teenager, Jake (Drew-Honey), was a sarcastic, hormonal teen, his brother, Ben (Roche), an overstimulated and morbid pre-teen, and the youngest sister, Karen (Marquez), was a very impressionable and melodramatic critic beyond her years.
What makes Outnumbered stand out from your conventional family sitcom is the way the children and adults are represented. Although Dennis and Skinner were provided with scripts prior to filming, the child actors were not given any dialogue. Instead, they were told simple directions right before filming commenced to produce authentic, laugh-out-loud reactions to the adults. The result is a much more realistic portrayal of a family dealing with growing children in all their glorious inappropriateness and burgeoning curiosities.
'The League' (2009 – 2015)
Another FX live-action improvisational comedy series is the fantasy football caper, The League. The show saw a group of friends (Mark Duplass, Stephen Ranazzisi, Nick Kroll, Paul Scheer, Jon Lajoie, and Katie Aselton) living in Chicago, Illinois, going to extreme lengths to win their fantasy football league. Their reward was bragging rights for the next year and the highly coveted “Shiva” trophy, named for their former high school's valedictorian, Shivakamini Somakandarkram, who had some "history" with Ranazzisi’s character, Kevin, that shall not be mentioned here.
In a sit-down interview with Comic Book Resources, the cast said that the scenes constantly changed from the script with actors' “live rewrites” on set. In scenes where the protagonists insult each other, the well-versed comedians that starred on the show, namely, Ranazzisi, Kroll, Scheer, and Lajoie, gave artful instant reactions to every action posited to them. In particular, Scheer’s character, Dr. Andre Nowzick, bore the brunt of the league’s wrath. He inhabited his character so much so that he could counter insults with improvised lines that cleverly fit within his naive and insecure trope, which, in turn, provoked the other members of the league to further insult Andre, much to his chagrin, and the others' and home viewers' delight.
'The Eric Andre Show' (2012 – Present)
Like Zach Galifianakis' Between Two Ferns before him, but on a completely heightened level of chaos and absurdity, comedian, Eric André, has redefined the celebrity interview format with Adult Swim's The Eric Andre Show. Consisting of interviews on a shoddily-assembled and constantly-replaced set with celebrities old and new, as well as street pranks around New York City, André and co-host, and fellow comedian, Hannibal Buress, have created an improvisational comedy behemoth with their expert tomfoolery and non-sequiturs.
André and Buress are the perfect duo who make the show’s guests increasingly uncomfortable as the interviews progress by exposing them to hilariously crude and off-putting scenarios, usually off-limit questions, and attributing just straight-out false and controversial statements to them. On the streets, André and Buress are a masterclass in semi-scripted premise, real-world improv. The Officer Eric and Officer Hannibal skits are particularly convincing and demonstrate their skill in inciting bewilderment from the New York civilians they confront, playing off of them to keep the skit going for maximum comedic value.