The Immediate Gratification Players

The Immediate Gratification Players (IGP) are a collegiate improvisational comedy troupe based out of Harvard College. They specialize in long form, free-form improvisation and are recognized as one of the top college troupes in the nation.

The Immediate Gratification Players were founded by Harvard freshmen in the fall of 1986. The Immediate Gratification Players do not charge for admission to their on-campus shows. Their red-and-yellow striped ties are one of the troupe's hallmarks.

Each year, the Immediate Gratification Players host the Laugh Riot improvisational comedy festival at the American Repertory Theater. The invitational festival, begun in the spring of 1999 and now entering its 18th year, includes troupes from other colleges, including Cornell, Wesleyan University, and Columbia University. On the weekend of the annual Harvard-Yale football game, the Immediate Gratification Players either host or travel to a show which also stars an improvisational comedy troupe from Yale. Along with on-campus shows, they also play at Boston's Improv Asylum and at comedy clubs in New York City. Beyond the northeast, the Immediate Gratification Players have played in Florida, Los Angeles, Texas, Chicago, San Francisco, and London.

Apart from a traditional long form, free-form, the Immediate Gratification Players annually perform shows in specialty forms such as the “dinner party” and “radio show” formats. In 2007, they were selected out of the numerous Boston-based improv troupes to star in several comedy sketches produced by the Boston Globe in its Peter Post etiquette section. In 2010, they were selected to roast Wyclef Jean when he was named Artist of the Year by the Harvard Foundation.Shakira was honored in 2011 as the Harvard Foundation Artist of the Year, and again the Immediate Gratification Players were asked to roast her.

In 2010, the Immediate Gratification Players began honoring great comedians with a background in improvisational comedy as their Immediate Gratification Player of the Year. The award is not strictly annual, with the troupe's leader remarking that the group is "hoping to give this award as much as possible, devaluing it to the point where it basically means nothing." The award recipient performs the monologue portion of an Armando form show, where several scenes are based on the themes brought up in the monologue, which itself is formed from a crowd suggestion. Upon completion of the show, the honoree receives their own red-and-yellow striped tie.

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