Off Book: The Improvised Musical is a podcast, starring Jessica McKenna and Zach Reino, where every episode is a full-length, fully-improvised musical.
A conversation with the Special Guest inspires the subject of the first song, and the plot kicks off from there. The story and songs are invented on the fly by the singers and piano player, and the improvisation continues until the musical reaches a logical conclusion. At the end of each episode is a improvised bonus song, an unrelated song with some sort of challenge in either its prompt (an existing movie that doesn’t have a musical adaptation, the last text on the guest star’s phone, etc.) or its structure (a Patter Song that gradually speeds up, etc.).
It inspired Welcome to Mountport.
Tropes:
General
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The first few episodes use prerecorded mini-songs to transition into the ad breaks.
- Improv: As implied by the title, nearly everything in the show is improvised. Each episode’s musical is made up on the fly by both the singers and the pianist, with only the initial conversation as a prompt, and the bonus songs are equally improvised from a slightly more challenging prompt. Even the ad reads are partially improvised!
- The Musical: Every episode is a new one.
- Special Guest: Nearly every episode has at least one.
- Title Drop: In most episodes, the final line of the musical is a title drop.
- Title: The Adaptation: The show's title ends in "The Improvised Musical", and most episodes’ full titles end in "The Musical", invoking this trope (despite most episodes not being adaptations).
2017:
Shrugging Destiny (w/ Paul F. Tompkins)
Four children, disowned by their parents for their terrible singing, set off on a journey to help the most talented member of the group create a successful music career. Guest starring Paul F. Tompkins.
- Abusive Parents: The parents of the main characters disown their children for singing terribly in the school play, not even allowing them to ride home in their cars.
- Animate Inanimate Object: During the song “No One Wants To Eat At Chipotle”, the floor of a Chipotle comes to life and sings.
- Dreadful Musician: Most of the main characters are so terrible at singing, their parents disowned them.
- Enfant Terrible
- Evil Orphan
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: The protagonist must choose between performing at a festival and fulfilling his dreams of becoming famous, or performing at his friends’ funeral.
- Patter Song: Performed at the end, as part of the bonus game “What’s the Patter?”
- Shout-Out: The song about “Tokyo drifting”.
Sham Wowowow (w/ Mary Holland)
A young girl dreams of becoming a demonstrator for Sham-Wow. Can she get her family to believe in her, and will she achieve her destiny? Guest starring Mary Holland.
- Goggles Do Something Unusual: The glasses from LensCrafters allow those who wear them to see a positive future.
- The Mall: The main setting.
- Moment Killer: The waitresses repeatedly ruin moments.
- Talkative Loon
- Toilet Humor
Pillaging For Your Dreams (w/ Drew Tarver)
A tale of pirates on the high sea, living the Jeep life, and family. Guest starring Drew Tarver.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Sharon doesn’t allow Brittany to date any of the pirates in her crew.
- Dodge the Bullet
- Friend-or-Idol Decision
- Human Disguise: Bears disguise themselves as workers at the dock.
- Pirate: Sharon and Brittany become these.
- Soundtrack Dissonance
Wolf/Tuck: LIVE! (w/ D’Arcy Carden, Paul Scheer)
D'Arcy Carden and Paul Scheer guest star in this live performance of a play about sexy, dangerous wolves.
- Comically Missing the Point: In “Find the Wolf Man”, the cast sets off to find the wolfman who founded the town, despite their friend’s assurance that he’s been dead for many years.
- Hearing Voices
- Human Disguise: Some wolves attempt to disguise themselves as humans to give advice. Their disguises work, but they have no idea how to pretend to be human.
- Killed Offscreen
Run to you Bride (w/ Fran Gillespie)
A couple’s engagement is disrupted by the return of a nasty ex-wife…and some Russian spies. Guest starring Fran Gillespie.
- Attention Whore: Valerie loves to make a scene, and once tried to get the entire state of Alaska to look at her at once.
- Barehanded Bar Bending: After realizing that he’s entirely muscle, Kevinry grabs Douglas’s pistol and bends it in half.
- Bond One-Liner: A non-lethal defeat example. After defeating Douglas by twisting him into a pretzel, Kevinry quips: “Now YOU look like a hard cookie with a soft jelly.”
- Death by Irony: It’s just Defeat By Irony in this case, but still an ironic fate. Douglas, a Russian spy, attempts to gain sensitive information from his fake girlfriend Katelyn, and all for the reward of a delicious hard cookie with a soft jelly center. Later, Kevinry defeats him by twisting him like a pretzel, and remarks “Now YOU look like a hard cookie with a soft jelly.”
- Dumb Muscle:Katelyn: Your voice sounds weak, but you're literally all muscle.Kevinry: Oh, I never noticed!
- Food Slap: When Doug reveals that he was only dating Katelyn to gain intel and calls her an unmemorable person, Kevinry throws potato skins at him.
- The Missus and the Ex: The conflict of the plot starts when Katelyn, Douglas’s current girlfriend, meets his ex-wife, the attention-seeking, scene-making Valerie.
- Ode to Food: An entire song is devoted to singing the praises of hard cookies with soft jelly centers.
- Patter Song
- Pun: When asked if he likes a woman who makes a scene, John Cena replies "I like a woman who makes a Cena."
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: In the bonus song “Britannia Waives the Rules”, the British claim to be able to disregard any rule they wish.
- Toilet Humor
- Triumphant Reprise: A reprise of “Hell Yes” appears at the end, when Katelyn is invited to become a spy for her country.
Everything is Nature (w/ Mike Still)
In the redwood forests of California, nature swears vengeance on all humans, and only love can save them. Guest starring Mike Still.
- An Aesop: Everything will die eventually, so enjoy the time you have.
- Animal Talk: Zig-zagged. A raccoon, a squirrel, and a redwood tree all communicate with each other in what sounds like English to the audience, but the raccoon has trouble pronouncing the name “Terry” because it’s “from another language”. However, the tree and the squirrel can both pronounce the name easily, and are confused as to why their raccoon friend is struggling. Never mind the fact that the trio all have human names themselves, and the raccoon is named John.
- Animate Inanimate Object: The wind is sentient and able to speak and sing.
- Answer Cut: When Cynthia is imprisoned, she shouts “Who will save me?” Cut to Terry.
- As You Know: The crab reveals two things in this way: the ocean and the forest hate each other, and all crabs can see the future.
- Blow You Away: The wind appears as a character, and (logically) it has this power. At one point, it puts this power to use by launching the crab back into the ocean to prevent him from drowning Terry.
- Bond One-Liner: A random shark delivers one after suddenly eating the crab: “It’s Shark Week, motherfuckers!”
- Comically Missing the Point: Jesus appears to the sharks, and gives them a message of acceptance. The sharks agree with his message, and attempt to start a religious war, much to Jesus’s dismay.
- Face Hugger: The alien in the bonus song “Contact” wants to implant these in humans.
- First Contact: The bonus song, based on the film Contact, involves humans receiving a transmission from aliens for the first time.
- Kill All Humans: The goal of the forest’s animals and plants.
- Kill It Through Its Stomach: In the bonus song “Contact”, the alien wants to implant eggs in humans’ stomachs.
- Misplaced Wildlife: Somehow, a singing crab appears in the redwood forest to spark the love between two people.
- Mundane Made Awesome: In the song “Everything is Nature”, Terry shows Cynthia the nature-esque wonders of a regular office building.
- Nature Lover: Terry adores all parts of nature.
- Nested Mouths: In the bonus song, “Contact”, the alien has “a mouth inside of [his] mouth”.
- Obliviously Evil: The crab attempts to drown Terry in the ocean because he wants a merperson friend and doesn’t realize that humans can’t breathe underwater.
- The Power of Love: By kissing Reginald the redwood tree to show their love of nature, Cynthia and Terry get the forest to forgive humanity for all the harm they’ve done to nature.
- Precognition: Apparently, all crabs have this power. One crab foresees a fire starting and the earth splitting in two if Terry and Cynthia do not fall in love with each other. Possibly subverted when it’s revealed that the crab was actually trying to trick Terry into living in the ocean with him and becoming his friend.
- Rascally Raccoon: John the Raccoon is purported to steal trash.
- Rhetorical Question Blunder:Terry: When you’re behind a desk…are you really behind a desk?Cynthia: Yes, I’m really behind a desk.
- Running Gag: Sam the Squirrel putting nuts in people’s mouths.
- Screwball Squirrel: Sam the Squirrel talks fast and keeps sticking nuts in people’s mouths.
- Second Coming: Near the end, Jesus returns to Earth, this time in the deep ocean (presumably as a shark). He tries to give the sharks his message of love and acceptance, but they misinterpret it and start a religious war, resulting in all sharks being wiped out by a holy light. This causes problems for the Discovery Channel.
- Shout-Out: Multiple references are made to The Little Mermaid, such as the crab’s song, “Kiss and Hug the Girl”.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Terry understands the crab’s speech, and claims to be able to talk to all sorts of animals.
- Spoof Aesop:
- After declaring that they need to enjoy their lives because global warming will eventually kill everyone, the cast realizes that Jesus may be the bridge between all of nature, and believe that he will save them and they don’t have to care about global warming at all. Jesus himself says that they’ve misinterpreted Christianity entirely.
- A second terrible aesop from Jesus himself: Everything is something, and that something is also a thing!
- Suspiciously Similar Song: In an attempt to get Terry and Cynthia to fall in love, a crab with an accent sings the totally original song “Kiss and Hug the Girl”.
- Talking Animal: John the Raccoon, Sam the Squirrel, and many others.
- Triumphant Reprise: A partial reprise of “Everything is Nature” occurs in the final song, with various lyrical changes of increasing ridiculousness.
- Unusual Euphemism:Terry: Everything is nature!Cynthia: Do I have to look at Dave’s “nature”?
- We Will Meet Again: Near the end, the crab starts monologuing about how he’ll return and succeed in his plans in the future, until he gets eaten by a random shark.
- When Trees Attack: The redwood trees attack the humans with the intent to kill them all.
- Xenomorph Xerox: The alien in the bonus song “Contact” seems to be one of these, with Nested Mouths, Face Hugger spawn, and a desire to lay eggs inside of human hosts.
All of Our Business (w/ Erin Whitehead)
Robots and cats have both become sentient, and their plan to take over the world is in motion. But one cat objects to this wicked plot. In this musical human-cat-robot-dessert-office supply romance, even the most unlikely love is powerful. Guest-starring Erin Whitehead.
- Animate Inanimate Object: The talking desserts, and possibly some of the “robot” objects.
- Interspecies Romance: Exaggerated. Within one musical, there are romances between a human and a cat, a stapler and a flan, and a crème brûlée and a quarter.
Always Sad, Always Happy (w/ Will Hines)
Amsterdam is so delightful, you can’t help but laugh. For the protagonist and her ruptured organ, laughter is a health risk, so she’s forced to move to the depressing town of Sadsalot, where no one smiles. With help from an unlikely lover, can she find a safe way to feel joy in a town of sadness? Guest-starring Will Hines.
- Alliterative Name: Two characters have names like this, and they both mention how delightful it is.
- Bait-and-Switch: In a song introducing the townspeople of Sadsalot, most of which have grunts or similar sounds for names: “Her name is *cough cough* — sorry, I coughed. Her name is *cough cough* — sorry. Her name is Cherise.”
- Crapsaccharine World: Downplayed. Amsterdam really is that delightful, but excessive laughter at its delights can lead to serious medical issues.
- Crapsack World: Sadsalot is a gloomy, miserable place where no one smiles and everyone's name is a sad grunt or moan.
- Meaningful Name: In the town of Sadsalot, everyone is sad. A lot.
- Nobody Here but Us Statues
- Sugar Bowl: Amsterdam is portrayed as this, with every part of it being delightful enough to make its citizens laugh.
Electric Daisy Jamboree (w/ Matt Besser)
At an EDM festival hosted at the location of a canceled larping convention, an EDM-hating father reconciles with his distant daughter. Guest-starring Matt Besser.
When You're Here, You're a Machine (w/ Corrine Fisher, Krystyna Hutchinson)
When bathroom fixtures plot to force the human population to give in to their demands, one group of humans and a sewer rat with a dream are the only ones who can stop them. Guest-starring Corrine Fisher and Krystyna Hutchinson.
- Animate Inanimate Object: The objects in the bathroom become sentient and evil.
- Bait-and-Switch
- Hotter and Sexier: Due to the guest stars and their sex-themed podcast, there's a bit more sexual content in this musical.
- Ode to Food: An entire song about the cuisine available at Olive Garden, which turns out to all be breadsticks.
- Talking Animal: In this case, talking rats.
O Little Town of Doggywood (w/ Paul F. Tompkins, Nicole Parker)
Don't Ghost This Date (w/ Jon Cozart)
Some say love is dead, but can the dead find love? Two ghosts prepare for a date, each one nervous that the other will discover their secret. Experience this musical tale of sports leagues, struggling restaurants, and love from beyond the grave. Guest-starring Jon Cozart.
2017:
Hungry LOST Survival Games (w/ Beth Appel)
- An Aesop: Even if a show has convoluted plotlines, it can still be enjoyable and worth watching.
- Every member of the crew of a show works hard and should be appreciated. Even if a show is considered cheesy, the efforts to make it should not be disregarded.
- Character Catchphrase
- A Dog Named "Dog": The macaws are named Macaw 1 and Macaw 2.
- Interspecies Adoption: Two macaws adopt a human teenager.
- One-Steve Limit: Subverted. There are three Karens and two Macaws.
- Running Gag
- Shout-Out
- Take That!: Several insults to the convoluted plot of Lost.
- Talking Animal: Two talking macaws.
A Balloon in Paris (w/ Gilli Nissim)
Arctic March Madness (w/ Alison Rich)
- An Aesop: Love is stronger when it's a choice.
- Misplaced Wildlife
- Talking Animal
