The Groundlings

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "The Groundlings" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Groundlings
The Groundlings building on Melrose Avenue
Genre	Sketch comedy Improvisation
Date of premiere	1974; 50 years ago (1974)
Location	Los Angeles, California, United States
Official website

The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles, California. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improvisational theater techniques were taught by Del Close and other members of the Second City, located in Chicago and later St. Louis.^[1] They used these techniques to produce sketches and improvised scenes.^[2] Its name is taken from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act III, Scene II: "...to split the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumbshows and noise."^[3] In 1975 the troupe purchased and moved into its current location on Melrose Avenue.

The Groundlings School holds new sessions every six weeks with over 300 students per session, with more than 2,000 students per year going through the program. The competitive program, with admission by audition, consists of five levels (Basic, Intermediate, Advanced Improv, Writing Lab, and Advanced Writing Lab). Participants must satisfy instructors' requirements in order to advance from the first three levels. For Writing Lab and Advanced Writing Lab, students are voted on by then-current members of the Main Company as to whether they will move on. This vote is based on the students writing and performing Groundlings style sketch shows.

The program can take several years to complete. Students may be asked to repeat Basic and Intermediate classes multiple times. Upon completion of Advanced Writing Lab, students may be voted into the Sunday Company, where they may remain for no more than 18 months. (Sunday Company members are cast for six months at a time, and can be voted into Sunday Company for a maximum of three six-month periods.) Sunday Company members are eligible to be voted into Main Company (or "The Groundlings") at the end of each six month term of Sunday Company.

Many Groundlings performers have found success in movies and television, including several who have become cast members and writers on Saturday Night Live, MADtv, Reno 911!, and the network G4 while also being active on the internet, mainly YouTube.^[4]