Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation by Charna Halpern, Del Close, and Kim “Howard” Johnson

I LOVE improv. Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation by Charna Halpern, Del Close, and Kim “Howard” Johnson (I will now only refer to them as “the authors,” because writing out all their last names would take far too long), is a surprisingly interesting book about all the ins, outs, and basics of improv. Honestly, I thought this book was going to be super boring (because it’s nonfiction and nonfiction generally is boring, fight me) with 150 pages of text written all monotone, and the information would be given in the dullest way possible; however, it turned out to be far more engaging than I imagined.

I don’t usually read informational nonfiction books, and I have never read another book about improv, so I don’t have much to compare this to, but the writing is lively and witty, and the book provides lots of fun games for improvisationists to play. The authors do a very good job of making the book read like a conversation. They vary the sentence structure and tone quite a bit, using em dashes, ellipses (the three dots, not the oval shaped shape), and putting stuff in ALL CAPS to add emphasis or more fervor and passion to the writing. The authors also provide a lot of anecdotes or short stories, which help to break up all the information and add some more jollity and amusement to the manual. It’s also quite interesting to read some of these stories. There’s one about how the Harold, a structured style of long form improv that changed the genre forever, got its name, and multiple others about Close’s time teaching at the ImprovOlympic (an improv theatre in Chicago). 

I have a YouTube channel where I animate some of my book reviews! Be sure to check it out at: www.youtube.com/@theeccentricbookshelf.

Like I mentioned before, the book also includes plenty of games to practice everything it teaches, which I found incredibly helpful. What’s the use of having all this wonderful, powerful knowledge if you don’t even know how to use it? It’s a lot of fun just to be able to play the games, and none of them have been boring (yet)!

The entire book was also very informative. There’s so much stuff packed into those 150 pages, and I probably took some notes on every single page—though that could also just mean that I’m a bad notetaker…. I’m just going to say that it’s the former and not the latter! The one thing I feel could be improved is the organization of all the information in the book. A lot of stuff gets mentioned multiple times and sometimes something gets mentioned before you entirely know what it is. However, I’m definitely nitpicking and it’s a great book. If you’re someone who’s interested in improv, whether you’ve already started, you’re an experienced improvisationist, or you have never heard of improv in your life (start today. Go sign up. Stop reading! GOGOGOGO), this book can teach you something!