As an impro nerd, it's great to see impro being referenced in the mainstream media, outside of the specific shows that use it (like Whose Line Is It Anyway & Thank God You’re Here). Unfortunately, it's usually to make fun of it.

There’s one specific example I remember, from early this century (wow, has it really reached the stage where I can say that?) in a short lived sit-com com called “That’s My Bush”. Put together by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (of South Park fame), it was a spoof on George Bush, (in the short window of time after he was elected but before it became un-American to make fun of him).

I clearly remember an episode where an impro troupe was featured and was lampooned mercilessly. Unfortunately, this series seems to have disappeared into the mists of time, so I can’t find the episode online, but I remember one character being quite scathing about the lameness of impro in general.

Of course, this is true of most things - after all, 90% of everything is crap, as the saying goes.

Having said that, sometimes there are lessons to be learnt from making fun of impro:

Example number 1: I just saw this this week. Conan O'Brien's new show, we have the fake Ted Turner on his stuffed buffalo Ted Junior (I can’t explain, just go with it).

Fake Ted actually gives a great summary of what I think makes great impro - building on existing ideas. Of course he then proceeds to do the exact opposite in a amazing piece of bad impro.

Example number 2: Ah Mystery Science Theatre 3000. One of my favourite nerd shows ever - science fiction, comedy, puppets and b-movies all rolled into one. What's not to like? Of course the Joel and the bots would give impro a try at one stage, in series three when they spoof Master Ninja.

Here are the opening skits from the episode:

I particularly like how this little segment skews a whole spectrum of bad impro, from getting terrible offers from the audience, to the bots quickly discussing what they’re going to do before the scene starts, Joel’s lame jokes as MC, and especially all the banter in the “notes” afterwards, where the accusations fly along with the impro vocab. And of course, Frank messes everything up for Dr. F.

That’s all I could find, but if anyone has any other impro parodies they'd like to share, let me know!