| Nichols and May | |
|---|---|
 An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Playbill (1961) | |
| Medium |
|
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1958–1962, 1971, 1977 |
| Genres |
|
| Notable works and roles | Improvisations to Music (1958)An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May (1960),Mike Nichols & Elaine May Examine Doctors (1961),In Retrospect (1962) |
| Members | |
Nichols and May was an Americanimprovisational comedyduo act developed byMike Nichols (1931–2014) andElaine May (born 1932). Their three comedy albums reached theBillboard Top 40 between 1959 and 1962.[1] Many comedians have cited them as key influences in modern comedy.Woody Allen declared, “the two of them came along and elevated comedy to a brand-new level".[2]
Nichols and May met as students at theUniversity of Chicago in the early 1950s.[3] They began their career together atThe Compass Players, a predecessor to Chicago'sSecond City which includedPaul Sills,Del Close,Loretta Chiljian, andNancy Ponder.[4] Nichols dropped out of college in 1953 and moved to New York in 1954 to study acting withLee Strasberg.[5] May remained in Chicago at Compass, and Nichols returned in 1955. For a short time they worked as a trio withShelley Berman, but Nichols felt a duo worked better for their style.
Both Nichols and May held various jobs and pursued their craft until 1957, when Compass began an expansion toSt. Louis, Missouri. Nichols rejoined the company but was fired in 1958, because May objected to Nichols's treatment of Close, and because the producer suspected Nichols and May were honing an act they planned to take with them.[6] They soon auditioned for agentJack Rollins in New York, and within weeks they were booked onThe Steve Allen Show andOmnibus. Soon they were touring the country and doing voiceover work for ads, most notably a cartoon campaign forJackson Brewing Company[7] andNarragansett Brewing Company.[8]
On October 6, 1960, Nichols and May opened on Broadway inAn Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May atThe John Golden Theatre.[9] The show ran for 306 performances, and closed on July 1, 1961.
Their 1958 albumImprovisations to Music featured the pianist Marty Rubenstein playing improvisations to existing classical and popular songs, as well as original material, with humorous conversations by Nichols and May.[10]Their 1960 albumAn Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May was a recording of theirBroadway debut and won aGrammy Award forBest Comedy Performance. Their next albumMike Nichols & Elaine May Examine Doctors was also nominated for a Grammy. Nichols and May grew in fame quickly, and in 1962, forJohn F. Kennedy's birthday, they performed, alongside Marilyn Monroe.[11]They also recorded a series of short sketches for the radio programMonitor, which were aired over several years in the 1960s. Monitor Radio was an NBC radio broadcast before 1960, featuring Bob and Ray, as well. Nichols and May were heard on Monitor Radio in the late 50s.
The duo discontinued the act in 1961, with each pursuing different careers. Nichols worked as a film and theatre director, and directed such films asWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? andThe Graduate, for which he won theAcademy Award for Best Director. May appears in an uncredited cameo in "The Graduate." May primarily worked as a screenwriter, writing such films asA New Leaf, which she also directed, andHeaven Can Wait.
The duo continued to sporadically reunite after 1961. In the early 1960s they appeared several times onNBC'sThe Jack Paar Program. The duo reunited in 1972 at New York's Madison Square Garden for the all-starTogether For McGovern rally for Senator George McGovern's presidential campaign. They also took the stage at PresidentJimmy Carter's 1977 inaugural gala. They appeared together in a 1980 stage revival ofWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in New Haven, Connecticut.[12] May also wrote the screenplays toThe Birdcage (1996) andPrimary Colors (1998), both of which Nichols directed.
In 1996, thePBS seriesAmerican Masters released a 90-minute documentary film on Nichols and May, titledNichols and May: Take Two onPBS.[13][14] The documentary was directed by Phillip Schopper, and features several celebrities and entertainers such asSteve Martin,Robin Williams,Richard Lewis,Tom Brokaw,Arthur Penn,Jack Rollins andSteve Allen.[15] The documentary features rare clips of their comedy sketches in which their combination of great comic timing and natural improvisational ability is showcased.Steve Martin observed, "I had never actually heard someone deliver irony just in the tone of their voice."The Chicago Tribune critic noted, "Unlike many films of this kind it understands, too, the importance of including full-length routines, rather than mere snippets."[16] To this date, there remains no DVD or VHS copy available to own.
In an interview withVanity Fair, Nichols and May said their comic heroes wereSid Caesar,Imogene Coca,Lenny Bruce andMort Sahl.[2]
InVanity Fair, Woody Allen declared, "Individually, each one is a genius, and when they worked together, the sum was even greater than the combination of the parts—the two of them came along and elevated comedy to a brand-new level".[2]
InNetflix's comedy specialJerry Before Seinfeld,Jerry Seinfeld displayed his personal standup comedy albums he collected as a kid, which include Nichols and May'sImprovisations to Music.
In an interview withPitchfork, standup comedianJohn Mulaney, describedMike Nichols & Elaine May Examine Doctors (1961) as one of his favorite comedy albums of all time.[17] Mulaney stated, "I got this album for Christmas when I was in junior high. The last track, “Nichols and May at Work,” is an outtake from recording the album, they were just improvising dialog in a studio. They're trying to do a piece where a son goes to his mother and says that he wants to become a registered nurse. It's something you just have to experience, because two people that funny laughing that hard is really, really, really funny. I think it might be the happiest thing ever recorded."[17]