Nichols and May

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Nichols and May
An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Playbill (1961)
Medium
NationalityAmerican
Years active1958–1962, 1971, 1977
Genres
Notable works and rolesImprovisations 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 American

Billboard 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]

Partnership

Nichols and May with Dorothy Loudon (r.) in 1959

Development

Nichols and May met as students at the

The Compass Players, a predecessor to Chicago's Second City which included Paul Sills, Del Close, Loretta Chiljian, and Nancy Ponder.[4] Nichols dropped out of college in 1953 and moved to New York in 1954 to study acting with Lee Strasberg.[5] May remained in Chicago at Compass, and Nichols returned in 1955. For a short time they worked as a trio with Shelley 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 to

Omnibus. Soon they were touring the country and doing voiceover work for ads, most notably a cartoon campaign for Jackson Brewing Company[7] and Narragansett Brewing Company.[8]

On Broadway

On October 6, 1960, Nichols and May opened on Broadway in An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May at The John Golden Theatre.[9] The show ran for 306 performances, and closed on July 1, 1961.

Comedy albums

Their 1958 album Improvisations 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 album An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May was a recording of their

Best Comedy Performance. Their next album Mike Nichols & Elaine May Examine Doctors was also nominated for a Grammy. Nichols and May grew in fame quickly, and in 1962, for John F. Kennedy's birthday, they performed, alongside Marilyn Monroe.[11]
They also recorded a series of short sketches for the radio program
Monitor
, 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.

Disbandment

The duo discontinued the act in 1961, with each pursuing different careers. Nichols worked as a film and theatre director, and directed such films as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Graduate, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director. May appears in an uncredited cameo in "The Graduate." May primarily worked as a screenwriter, writing such films as A New Leaf, which she also directed and played the lead role, and Heaven Can Wait.

Reunions

The duo continued to sporadically reunite after 1961. In the early 1960s they appeared several times on

Together For McGovern rally for Senator George McGovern's presidential campaign. They also took the stage at President Jimmy Carter's 1977 inaugural gala. They appeared together in a 1980 stage revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in New Haven, Connecticut.[12] May also wrote the screenplays to The Birdcage (1996) and Primary Colors
(1998), both of which Nichols directed.

Nichols and May: Take Two

Main article: Nichols and May: Take Two

In 1996, the

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.

Influence and legacy

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Nichols and May said their comic heroes were Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl.[2]

In Vanity 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]

In Netflix's comedy special, Jerry Before Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld, displayed his personal standup comedy albums he collected as a kid, which includes, Nichols and May's Improvisations to Music.

In an interview with Pitchfork, standup comedian John Mulaney, described Mike 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]

Discography

References

  1. ^ Holland, Bill (September 28, 1996). '50s trailblazers brought social satire to the masses. Billboard, p. 1.
  2. ^ a b c "Exclusive: The Reunion of Mike Nichols and Elaine May". Vanity Fair. December 20, 2012.
  3. ^ Staff report (Nov 21, 1960). Fun with human foibles: Nichols and May's satire prickles and tickles. Life
  4. ISBN 978-0-226-11345-6
    . p. 128
  5. ISBN 978-0-520-23377-5
    . p. 265
  6. ISBN 978-0-8230-4786-4
  7. ^ Rice, Robert (April 15, 1961). "A Tilted Insight, The Improvisational Genius of Nichols and May". The New Yorker.
  8. ISBN 978-0-7385-4905-7
  9. ^ "An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May Broadway @ John Golden Theatre - Tickets and Discounts".
  10. ^ a b Anon. (December 15, 1958). "Sold Out". Billboard. p. 17. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  11. ^ Marks, Peter (May 18, 1996). "The Brief, Brilliant Run Of Nichols and May". The New York Times.
  12. ^ Hill, Lee (June 2003). "Great Directors Critical Database: Mike Nichols". Senses of Cinema. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
  13. New York Times
  14. ^ "Nichols & May | About Mike Nichols and Elaine May | American Masters | PBS". PBS. January 8, 2005.
  15. ^ ""American Masters" Nichols and May: Take Two (TV Episode 1996)". IMDb.
  16. ^ "American Masters: Nichols and May -- Take". Chicago Tribune. May 22, 1996.
  17. ^ a b "John Mulaney on His 5 Favorite Comedy Albums". Pitchfork. September 27, 2018.

External links

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