85-464: Comedy Bang! Bang! (formerly Comedy Death-Ray Radio ) is a weekly comedy audio podcast , which originally began airing as a radio show on May 1, 2009. Popularly known as Humanity and the Animal Kingdom's Podcast , it is hosted by writer and comedian Scott Aukerman , best known for his work on the 1990s HBO sketch comedy program Mr. Show with Bob and David , creating and hosting
170-446: A choreographic tool: Improvisation is used as a choreographic tool in dance composition . Experimenting with the concepts of shape, space, time, and energy while moving without inhibition or cognitive thinking can create unique and innovative movement designs, spatial configuration, dynamics, and unpredictable rhythms. Improvisation without inhibition allows the choreographer to connect to their deepest creative self, which in turn clears
255-504: A year may be designated for a particular purpose, such as Golden Week in China and Japan , and National Family Week in Canada. More informally, certain groups may advocate awareness weeks , which are designed to draw attention to a certain subject or cause. The term "week" may also be used to refer to a sub-section of the week, such as the workweek and weekend . Cultures vary in which days of
340-487: A formation *tъ(žь)dьnь (Serbian тједан , tjedan , Croatian tjedan , Ukrainian тиждень , tyzhden , Czech týden , Polish tydzień ), from *tъ "this" + *dьnь "day". Chinese has 星期 , as it were " planetary time unit ". An older Chinese form is 禮拜 , meaning "week, religious ceremony." A week is defined as an interval of exactly seven days , so that, except when passing through daylight saving time transitions or leap seconds , With respect to
425-414: A good deal of improvisation because the mind is addressing its own thought and creating its unrehearsed delivery in words, sounds and gestures, forming unpredictable statements that further feed the thought process (the performer as the listener), creating an enriched process that is not unlike instantaneous composition with a given set or repertoire of elements. Where the improvisation is intended to solve
510-407: A layout for the band's upcoming Super Bowl appearance, complete with sponsors' logos. Various people through websites including Twitter and Facebook at first were fooled by the song, although many quickly realized that it was a parody. The song was written and performed by Daly and musician Cyrus Ghahremani. Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith Tweeted his approval of the song. The podcast begins with
595-553: A method of training improvisational acting. Her son, Paul Sills popularized improvisational theater, or IMPROV, by using Spolin's techniques to train The Second City in Chicago, the first totally improvisational theater company in the US. However, for some particularly gifted performers, no preparation or training is needed. Improvisation in any life or art form can occur more often if it
680-572: A musician to relax the control filters in their mind during this exercise. It often incorporates insults similar to those in the African-American game The Dozens , and complex rhythmic and sometimes melodic forms comparable to those heard in jazz improvisation. In the realm of silent film music, there are a small number of musicians whose work has been recognized as exceptional by critics, scholars and audiences alike; these include Neil Brand and John Sweeney, among others who are all performers at
765-443: A problem on a temporary basis, the "proper" solution being unavailable at the time, it may be known as a " stop-gap ". This applies to the field of engineering. Another improvisational, group problem-solving technique being used in organizations of all kinds is brainstorming , in which any and all ideas that a group member may have are permitted and encouraged to be expressed, regardless of actual practicality. As in all improvisation,
850-700: A seven-day week; referring to the Jews during the Babylonian captivity in the 6th century BCE, after the destruction of the Temple of Solomon . While the seven-day week in Judaism is tied to Creation account in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible (where God creates the heavens and the earth in six days and rests on the seventh; Genesis 1:1-2:3, in the Book of Exodus , the fourth of
935-575: A significant contribution in music, dance, cooking, presenting a speech, sales, personal or romantic relationships, sports, flower arranging, martial arts, psychotherapy, and much more. Techniques of improvisation are widely used in training for performing arts or entertainment; for example, music, theatre and dance. To " extemporize " or "ad lib" is basically the same as improvising. Colloquial terms such as "playing by ear", "take it as it comes", and "making it up as [one] goes along" are all used to describe improvisation. The simple act of speaking requires
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#17330847906431020-476: A specific topic, or rules on what can be written. This forces the writer to work within stream of consciousness and write without judgment of the work they produce. This technique is used for a variety of reasons, such as to bypass writer's block , improve creativity, strengthen one's writing instinct and enhance one's flexibility in writing. Some improvisational writing is collaborative, focusing on an almost dadaist form of collaborative fiction . This can take
1105-517: A term for the full moon . The Sumerian term has been reconstructed as rendered Sapattu or Sabattu in Babylonian , possibly present in the lost fifth tablet of the Enûma Eliš , tentatively reconstructed "[Sa]bbath shalt thou then encounter, mid[month]ly". However, Niels-Erik Andreasen , Jeffrey H. Tigay , and others claim that the Biblical Sabbath is mentioned as a day of rest in some of
1190-415: A theme song composed and performed by Reggie Watts, followed by the reading of a listener-submitted catchphrase, under the pretense that one will eventually replace the show's original catchphrase, "What's up, hot dog?" The show's format mixes conversation between the host and guests with comedy songs and occasionally game segments. Some guests play characters or impersonate certain celebrities, sometimes for
1275-420: A variety of forms, from as basic as passing a notebook around a circle of writers with each writing a sentence, to coded environments that focus on collaborative novel-writing, like OtherSpace . Improvisation in engineering is to solve a problem with the tools and materials immediately at hand. Examples of such improvisation was the re-engineering of carbon dioxide scrubbers with the materials on hand during
1360-523: A wish", and at least the 28th was known as a "rest day". On each of them, offerings were made to a different god and goddess. Though similar, the later practice of associating days of the week with deities or planets is not due to the Babylonians. A continuous seven-day cycle that runs throughout history without reference to the phases of the moon was first practiced in Judaism , dated to the 6th century BCE at
1445-473: Is a theatre art performed throughout the world and has had an on-again, off-again status throughout history. Some of the more famous improv theatres and training centers in the world include: i.O. (formerly ImprovOlympic) in Chicago and Los Angeles, The Second City in Chicago and Toronto, The Players Workshop in Chicago, National Comedy Theatre in San Diego, New York and Phoenix, Upright Citizens Brigade ,
1530-455: Is a unit of time equal to seven days . It is the standard time period used for short cycles of days in most parts of the world. The days are often used to indicate common work days and rest days, as well as days of worship . Weeks are often mapped against yearly calendars . Ancient cultures had different "week" lengths, including ten in Egypt and an eight-day week for Etruscans . The Etruscan week
1615-540: Is named in many languages by a word derived from "seven". The archaism sennight ("seven-night") preserves the old Germanic practice of reckoning time by nights, as in the more common fortnight ("fourteen-night"). Hebdomad and hebdomadal week both derive from the Greek hebdomás ( ἑβδομάς , "a seven"). Septimana is cognate with the Romance terms derived from Latin septimana ("seven mornings"). Slavic has
1700-756: Is no precise parallel to the Israelite Sabbatical week. This leads to the conclusion that the Sabbatical week, which is as unique to Israel as the Sabbath from which it flows, is an independent Israelite creation. The seven-day week seems to have been adopted, at different stages, by the Persian Empire , in Hellenistic astrology , and (via Greek transmission ) in Gupta India and Tang China . The Babylonian system
1785-403: Is practiced as a way of encouraging creative behavior. That practice includes learning to use one's intuition , as well as learning a technical understanding of the necessary skills and concerns within the domain in which one is improvising. This can be when an individual or group is acting, dancing, singing, playing musical instruments , talking, creating artworks, problem-solving, or reacting in
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#17330847906431870-784: Is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of improvisation can apply to many different faculties across all artistic, scientific, physical, cognitive, academic, and non-academic disciplines; see Applied improvisation . The skills of improvisation can apply to many different abilities or forms of communication and expression across all artistic, scientific, physical, cognitive, academic, and non-academic disciplines. For example, improvisation can make
1955-548: The feria prima or the first day of the week; yet, at the same time, figures as the " eighth day ", and has occasionally been so called in Christian liturgy. Justin Martyr wrote: "the first day after the Sabbath, remaining the first of all the days, is called, however, the eighth, according to the number of all the days of the cycle, and [yet] remains the first." Improvisation Improvisation , often shortened to improv ,
2040-648: The Comedy Bang! Bang! TV series , and co-founding the weekly Comedy Death-Ray stage show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Hollywood . Comedy Death-Ray Radio was formerly broadcast from Southern California 's Indie 103 studios, but since the summer of 2010 has been broadcast as part of the Earwolf comedy podcasting network, being recorded in studios owned by the company. Comedy Bang! Bang!
2125-559: The Apollo 13 space mission, or the use of a knife in place of a screwdriver to turn a screw. Engineering improvisations may be needed because of emergencies, embargo , obsolescence of a product and the loss of manufacturer support, or just a lack of funding appropriate for a better solution. Users of motor vehicles in parts of Africa develop improvised solutions where it is not feasible to obtain manufacturer-approved spare parts. The popular television program MacGyver used as its gimmick
2210-584: The Coptic , Julian , and Gregorian calendars, demonstrated by the date of Easter Sunday having been traced back through numerous computistic tables to an Ethiopic copy of an early Alexandrian table beginning with the Easter of 311 CE. A tradition of divinations arranged for the days of the week on which certain feast days occur develops in the Early Medieval period. There are many later variants of this, including
2295-662: The Day of the Sun ( dies Solis ) a legal holiday. The Zoroastrian calendar follows the Babylonian in relating the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th of the 29- or 30-day lunar month to Ahura Mazda . The forerunner of all modern Zoroastrian calendars is the system used to determine dates in the Persian Empire , adopted from the Babylonian calendar by the 4th century BCE. Frank C. Senn in his book Christian Liturgy: Catholic and Evangelical points to data suggesting evidence of an early continuous use of
2380-518: The Gregorian calendar : In a Gregorian mean year, there are 365.2425 days, and thus exactly 52 + 71 ⁄ 400 or 52.1775 weeks (unlike the Julian year of 365.25 days or 52 + 5 ⁄ 28 ≈ 52.1786 weeks, which cannot be represented by a finite decimal expansion). There are exactly 20,871 weeks in 400 Gregorian years, so 30 November 1624 was a Saturday just as was 30 November 2024. Relative to
2465-555: The Judson Dance Theater . It is a dance form based on weight sharing, partnering, playing with weight, exploring negative space and unpredictable outcomes. Sculpture often relies on the enlargement of a small model or maquette to create the final work in a chosen material. Where the material is plastic such as clay , a working structure or armature often needs to be built to allow the pre-determined design to be realized. Alan Thornhill 's method for working with clay abandons
2550-475: The Noah -like character of Utnapishtim leaves the ark seven days after it reaches the firm ground. Counting from the new moon , the Babylonians celebrated the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th of the approximately 29- or 30-day lunar month as "holy days", also called "evil days" (meaning inauspicious for certain activities). On these days, officials were prohibited from various activities and common men were forbidden to "make
2635-989: The Peoples Improv Theater , the Magnet Theater in New York, The Groundlings in Los Angeles, BATS Improv (Bay Area Theatre Sports) in San Francisco, Wing-It Productions in Seattle, Philly Improv Theater in Philadelphia, Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis, ComedySportz in Milwaukee, Theatresports in Calgary and Improv Comedy Copenhagen. There are also many well known university improv teams, including Theatre Strike Force at
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2720-589: The Pharisee and the Publican ( Luke 18:12 ) describes the Pharisee as fasting "twice in the week" ( Greek : δὶς τοῦ σαββάτου , romanized : dis tou sabbatou ). In the account of the women finding the tomb empty, they are described as coming there "toward the one of the sabbaths" ( Greek : εἰς μίαν σαββάτων, τῇ μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων ); translations substitute "week" for "sabbaths". The ancient Romans traditionally used
2805-552: The Podmass column, highlighting the best podcasts of each week, and the website named Comedy Bang! Bang! the best podcast of 2013. "It's perhaps the easiest show to single out as a juggernaut; the podcast is ten years in with over 600 episodes, a testament to creator Scott Aukerman's unparalleled collaboration prowess." — Vulture The show won in the Comedy category at the 2015 and 2017 Academy of Podcasters Awards. Week A week
2890-663: The Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy. Their performances must match the style and pacing of those films which they accompany and the knowledge of a wide range of musical styles is required, as well as the stamina to play for films which occasionally run more than three hours, without a pause. Improvisation, in theatre, is the playing of dramatic scenes without written dialogue and with minimal or no predetermined dramatic activity. The method has been used for different purposes in theatrical history. Improvisational comedy
2975-647: The Ten Commandments is to rest on the seventh day, Shabbat , which can be seen as implying a socially instituted seven-day week), it is not clear whether the Genesis narrative predates the Babylonian captivity of the Jews in the 6th century BCE. At least since the Second Temple period under Persian rule, Judaism relied on the seven-day cycle of recurring Sabbaths . Tablets from the Achaemenid period indicate that
3060-590: The University of Florida , Gigglepants at the University of Texas at Austin , and Erasable Inc. at the University of Maryland . Improvisation found a home at universities. The origins of the Second City was the Compass Players , an offshoot of theatre programs at the University of Chicago in the 1950s. Later, once improv had been established as an art form, improv groups sprung up on college campuses, starting in
3145-487: The lunation of 29 or 30 days basically contained three seven-day weeks, and a final week of eight or nine days inclusive, breaking the continuous seven-day cycle. The Babylonians additionally celebrated the 19th as a special "evil day", the "day of anger", because it was roughly the 49th day of the (preceding) month, completing a "week of weeks", also with sacrifices and prohibitions. Difficulties with Friedrich Delitzsch 's origin theory connecting Hebrew Shabbat with
3230-518: The remainder after dividing the Julian day number by seven (JD modulo 7 + 1) yields that date's ISO 8601 day of the week. For example, the Julian day number of 30 November 2024 is 2460645. Calculating 2460645 mod 7 + 1 yields 6, corresponding to Saturday. In 1973, John Conway devised the Doomsday rule for mental calculation of the weekday of any date in any year. The days of the week were named for
3315-413: The (contemporary) Julian calendar, 6 February 60 was, however, a Wednesday . This is explained by the existence of two conventions of naming days of the weeks based on the planetary hours system: 6 February was a "Sunday" based on the sunset naming convention, and a "Wednesday" based on the sunrise naming convention. According to Islamic beliefs, the seven-day a week concept started with the creation of
3400-950: The 1980s where crowds were easy to find and teams could perform frequently. Now an improv group is a common staple of college extra curricular activities. Notable pioneers in the field of improvisation, comedic or otherwise, include Mike Myers , Neil Mullarkey , Paul Merton , Stephen Fry , John Sessions , Josie Lawrence , Viola Spolin , Paul Sills , David Shepherd , Del Close , Josephine Forsberg , Gary Austin , Martin de Maat , and Keith Johnstone . Notable performers include: Paul Merton , Stephen Colbert , Steve Carell , Bill Murray , Harold Ramis , Robert Townsend , Colin Mochrie , Ryan Stiles , Ross Noble , Eddie Izzard , Tony Slattery , Mike McShane , Sandi Toksvig , Wayne Brady , Jonathan Winters , T. J. Jagodowski , Robin Williams , Conan O'Brien and David Pasquesi . Dance improvisation as
3485-558: The 1st century CE, along with references to the Jewish Sabbath by Roman authors such as Seneca and Ovid . When the seven-day week came into use in Rome during the early imperial period, it did not immediately replace the older eight-day nundinal system. The nundinal system had probably fallen out of use by the time Emperor Constantine adopted the seven-day week for official use in CE 321, making
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3570-510: The Babylonian lunar cycle include reconciling the differences between an unbroken week and a lunar week, and explaining the absence of texts naming the lunar week as Shabbat in any language. In Jewish sources by the time of the Septuagint , the term "Sabbath" ( Greek : Σάββατον , romanized : Sábbaton ) by synecdoche also came to refer to an entire seven-day week, the interval between two weekly Sabbaths. Jesus's parable of
3655-520: The German Bauern-Praktik and the versions of Erra Pater published in 16th to 17th century England, mocked in Samuel Butler 's Hudibras . South and East Slavic versions are known as koliadniki (from koliada , a loan of Latin calendae ), with Bulgarian copies dating from the 13th century, and Serbian versions from the 14th century. Medieval Christian traditions associated with
3740-479: The Germanic tradition of names based on indigenous deities. The ordering of the weekday names is not the classical order of the planets (by distance in the planetary spheres model, nor, equivalently, by their apparent speed of movement in the night sky). Instead, the planetary hours systems resulted in succeeding days being named for planets that are three places apart in their traditional listing. This characteristic
3825-567: The Jewish week was adopted from the Babylonians while removing the moon-dependency. George Aaron Barton speculated that the seven-day creation account of Genesis is connected to the Babylonian creation epic, Enûma Eliš , which is recorded on seven tablets. In a frequently-quoted suggestion going back to the early 20th century, the Hebrew Sabbath is compared to the Sumerian sa-bat "mid-rest",
3910-564: The architectural considerations of turning the work are eased considerably but continued removal of material through the rejection of forms deemed too obvious can mean one ends up with nothing. Former pupil Jon Edgar uses Thornhill's method as a creative extension to direct carving in stone and wood. The director Mike Leigh uses lengthy improvisations developed over a period of weeks to build characters and story lines for his films. He starts with some sketch ideas of how he thinks things might develop but does not reveal all his intentions with
3995-464: The audience. One notable improvisational pianist is Franz Liszt . The origins of Liszt's improvisation in an earlier tradition of playing variations on a theme were mastered and epitomized by Johann Sebastian Bach , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , and Ludwig van Beethoven . Notable improvisational musicians from the modern era include Keith Jarrett , an improvisational jazz pianist and multi-instrumentalist who has performed many improvised concerts all over
4080-412: The cast who discover their fate and act out their responses as their destinies are gradually revealed, including significant aspects of their lives which will not subsequently be shown onscreen. The final filming draws on dialogue and actions that have been recorded during the improvisation period. Improvisational writing is an exercise that imposes limitations on a writer such as a time limit, word limit,
4165-596: The day called the day of Kronos (Saturday). Ravivāra/Bhānuvāsara/ Ādityavāra Somavāra/ Induvāsara Saumyavāsara Sthiravāsara An ecclesiastical, non-astrological, system of numbering the days of the week was adopted in Late Antiquity. This model also seems to have influenced (presumably via Gothic ) the designation of Wednesday as "mid-week" in Old High German ( mittawehha ) and Old Church Slavonic ( срѣда ). Old Church Slavonic may have also modeled
4250-622: The earliest layers of the Pentateuch dated to the 9th century BCE at the latest, centuries before the Babylonian exile of Judah . They also find the resemblance between the Biblical Sabbath and the Babylonian system to be weak. Therefore, they suggest that the seven-day week may reflect an independent Israelite tradition. Tigay writes: It is clear that among neighboring nations that were in position to have an influence over Israel – and in fact which did influence it in various matters – there
4335-452: The eight-day nundinum but, after the Julian calendar had come into effect in 45 BCE, the seven-day week came into increasing use. For a while, the week and the nundinal cycle coexisted, but by the time the week was officially adopted by Constantine in 321 CE, the nundinal cycle had fallen out of use. The association of the days of the week with the Sun, the Moon and the five planets visible to
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#17330847906434420-477: The entirety of the episode. For the first few months of the program, comedian Doug Benson would semi-regularly call the program and give several "8 Words or Less Movie Reviews". Occasionally the podcast is taped with a live audience, usually at comedy shows or at festival events. In the last third of the show, Aukerman and his guests will sometimes play one of several improv -style games. Examples of games played include: The following games have been played on
4505-540: The first day of the week. Prior to 2000, Saturday was judged as the first day of the week in much of the Middle East and North Africa due to the Islamic influence; however, this is no longer the case. Other regions are mixed, but typically observe either Sunday or Monday as the first day. The three Abrahamic religions observe different days of the week as their holy day. Jews observe their Sabbath ( Shabbat ) on Saturday,
4590-702: The hours of Friday, i. e. between afternoon and night. The earliest known reference in Chinese writings to a seven-day week is attributed to Fan Ning, who lived in the late 4th century in the Jin dynasty , while diffusions from the Manichaeans are documented with the writings of the Chinese Buddhist monk Yi Jing and the Ceylonese or Central Asian Buddhist monk Bu Kong of the 7th century ( Tang dynasty ). The Chinese variant of
4675-592: The iconnical pianists Fred van Hove (Be) and Misha Mengelberg (NL) and more recently the Belgian Seppe Gebruers who improvise with two pianos tuned a quartertone apart. Improvised freestyle rap is commonly practiced as a part of rappers ' creative processes, as a "finished product" for release on recordings (when the improvisation is judged good enough), as a spiritual event, as a means of verbal combat in battle rap , and, simply, for fun. As mentioned above, studies have suggested that improvisation allows
4760-608: The key celestial bodies visible to the naked eye numbered seven (the Sun, the Moon and the five closest planets). Gudea , the priest-king of Lagash in Sumer during the Gutian dynasty (about 2100 BCE), built a seven-room temple, which he dedicated with a seven-day festival. In the flood story of the Assyro-Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh , the storm lasts for seven days, the dove is sent out after seven days (similarly to Genesis), and
4845-423: The latest. There are several hypotheses concerning the origin of the biblical seven-day cycle. Friedrich Delitzsch and others suggested that the seven-day week being approximately a quarter of a lunation is the implicit astronomical origin of the seven-day week, and indeed the Babylonian calendar used intercalary days to synchronize the last week of a month with the new moon. According to this theory,
4930-462: The lucky or unlucky nature of certain days of the week survived into the modern period. This concerns primarily Friday , associated with the crucifixion of Jesus . Sunday , sometimes personified as Saint Anastasia , was itself an object of worship in Russia, a practice denounced in a sermon extant in copies going back to the 14th century. Sunday , in the ecclesiastical numbering system also counted as
5015-424: The maquette, seeing it as ultimately deadening to creativity . Without the restrictions of the armature, a clay matrix of elements allows that when recognizable forms start to emerge, they can be essentially disregarded by turning the work, allowing for infinite possibility and the chance for the unforeseen to emerge more powerfully at a later stage. Moving from adding and taking away to purely reductive working,
5100-526: The medial prefrontal cortex, which is an area associated with an increase in self-expression. Further, there was decreased activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex , which is an area associated with self-monitoring. This change in activity is thought to reduce the inhibitions that normally prevent individuals from taking risks and improvising. Improvisation can take place as a solo performance, or interdependently in an ensemble with other players. When done well, it often elicits gratifying emotional responses from
5185-432: The moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or new ways to act. Improvisation was originally rarely used on dramatic television. A major exception was the situation comedy Mork & Mindy where star Robin Williams was allotted specific sections in each episode where he
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#17330847906435270-410: The naked eye dates to the Roman era (2nd century). The continuous seven-day cycle of the days of the week can be traced back to the reign of Augustus ; the first identifiable date cited complete with day of the week is 6 February 60 CE, identified as a " Sunday " (as viii idus Februarius dies solis "eighth day before the ides of February, day of the Sun") in a Pompeiian graffito. According to
5355-418: The name of Monday, понєдѣльникъ , after the Latin feria Secunda . The ecclesiastical system became prevalent in Eastern Christianity , but in the Latin West it remains extant only in modern Icelandic , Galician , and Portuguese . The earliest evidence of an astrological significance of a seven-day period is decree of king Sargon of Akkad around 2300 BCE. Akkadians venerated the number seven, and
5440-419: The number 7 as the basis for the Jewish week might have had an Assyrian or Babylonian origin, yet it is crucial to remember that the ancient dwellers of Mesopotamia themselves did not have a seven-day week." The astrological concept of planetary hours is an innovation of Hellenistic astrology, probably first conceived in the 2nd century BCE. The seven-day week was widely known throughout the Roman Empire by
5525-434: The path of the Moon , a week is 23.659% of an average lunation or 94.637% of an average quarter lunation. Historically, the system of dominical letters (letters A to G identifying the weekday of the first day of a given year) has been used to facilitate calculation of the day of week . The day of the week can be easily calculated given a date's Julian day number (JD, i.e. the integer value at noon UT ): Adding one to
5610-428: The planetary system was brought to Japan by the Japanese monk Kūkai (9th century). Surviving diaries of the Japanese statesman Fujiwara Michinaga show the seven-day system in use in Heian Period Japan as early as 1007. In Japan, the seven-day system was kept in use for astrological purposes until its promotion to a full-fledged Western-style calendrical basis during the Meiji Period (1868–1912). The seven-day week
5695-423: The podcast in the past, but not recently: Occasionally, guests will present their own features on the show. Examples include: "Often strange, consistently hilarious, always unpredictable." – Entertainment Weekly "One of the 10 Best Comedy Podcasts Of The Moment...never strays far from a laugh." – Rolling Stone GQ has praised the show, calling it in 2010 "one of the preeminent places to hear not only
5780-400: The process of brainstorming opens up the minds of the people involved to new, unexpected and possibly useful ideas. The colloquial term for this is " thinking outside the box ." Improvisation can be thought of as an "on the spot" or " off the cuff " spontaneous moment of sudden inventiveness that can just come to mind, body and spirit as an inspiration. Viola Spolin created theater games as
5865-448: The rest of the world. In English, the names of the days of the week are Sunday , Monday , Tuesday , Wednesday , Thursday , Friday , and Saturday . In many languages, including English, the days of the week are named after gods or classical planets. Saturday has kept its Roman name, while the other six days use Germanic equivalents. Such a week may be called a planetary week (i.e., a classical planetary week). Certain weeks within
5950-402: The rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers . Both claimed to be "huge Pepper Men" and had written a song in tribute to the band titled "Abracadabralifornia", which Daly sang using his best Anthony Kiedis imitation. On January 29, 2014, a very official-looking website called www.RHCP2014.com appeared online claiming to have the brand-new Chili Peppers song, "Abracadabralifornia". The song even featured
6035-406: The seven classical planets , which included the Sun and Moon. This naming system persisted alongside an "ecclesiastical" tradition of numbering the days in ecclesiastical Latin beginning with Dominica (the Lord's Day ) as the first day. The Greco-Roman gods associated with the classical planets were rendered in their interpretatio germanica at some point during the late Roman Empire, yielding
6120-450: The seventh day, from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, in honor of God's creation of the world in six days and then resting on the seventh. Most Christians observe Sunday (the Lord's Day ), the first day of the week in traditional Christian calendars, in honor of the resurrection of Jesus . Muslims observe their "day of congregation" , known as yaum al- jum`ah , on Friday because it
6205-628: The show has also been taped in Vancouver , Seattle , New York City , Chicago and Austin . On the May 15, 2011 "Two-year Anniversary" podcast, Aukerman announced that the show's name was changing to Comedy Bang Bang: The Podcast. He went on to say that the show had evolved a great deal in its first two years, and he credited his wife Kulap Vilaysack with coming up with the new name. In episode 204 (which aired on March 4, 2013), "The Pepper Men," guests Jon Daly and Zach Galifianakis professed their love for
6290-410: The stalwarts of stand-up... but also lesser known comics, like Natasha Leggero , Chelsea Peretti , and Brett Gelman ." The A.V. Club says "The guests are routinely top-notch, the show has a de facto company of ace improvisers enlivening each episode, and Scott Aukerman is a gleefully indulgent host", also saying "For comedy fans, Comedy Bang Bang is essential listening." It frequently appears in
6375-463: The universe by Allah. Abu Huraira reported that Muhammad said: Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, created the clay on Saturday and He created the mountains on Sunday and He created the trees on Monday and He created the things entailing labour on Tuesday and created light on Wednesday and He caused the animals to spread on Thursday and created Adam after 'Asr on Friday; the last creation at the last hour of
6460-406: The way for pure invention. This cognitive inhibition is similar to the inhibition described by Limb for musical improvisation, which can be found in the music section above. Contact improvisation : a form developed in 1973, that is now practiced around the world. Contact improvisation originated from the movement studies of Steve Paxton in the 1970s and developed through the continued exploration of
6545-459: The week are designated the first and the last, though virtually all have Saturday, Sunday or Monday as the first day. The Geneva -based ISO standards organization uses Monday as the first day of the week in its ISO week date system through the international ISO 8601 standard. Most of Europe and China consider Monday the first day of the (work) week, while North America, Israel, South Asia, and many Catholic and Protestant countries, consider Sunday
6630-554: The world; W. A. Mathieu a.k.a. William Allaudin Mathieu, the musical director for The Second City in Chicago, the first ongoing improvisational theatre troupe in the United States, and later musical director for another improv theatre, The Committee , an offshoot of The Second City in San Francisco; Derek Bailey , an improvisational guitarist and writer of Improvisation: Its Nature and Practice; Evan Parker ; British saxophone player,
6715-594: Was adopted by the ancient Romans , but they later moved to a seven-day week, which had spread across Western Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean due to the influence of the Christian seven-day week, which is rooted in the Jewish seven-day week. In 321 CE, Emperor Constantine the Great officially decreed a seven-day week in the Roman Empire, including making Sunday a public holiday. This later spread across Europe, then
6800-445: Was allowed to perform freely. Musical improvisation is usually defined as the spontaneous performance of music without previous preparation or any written notes. In other words, the art of improvisation can be understood as composing music "on the fly". There have been experiments by Charles Limb, using functional magnetic resonance imaging , that show the brain activity during musical improvisation. Limb showed increased activity in
6885-582: Was also a television series on IFC hosted by Scott Aukerman and featuring in different seasons bandleaders Reggie Watts , Kid Cudi , and "Weird Al" Yankovic . Comedy Death-Ray Radio first aired May 1, 2009, after Aukerman gained permission from Indie 103 to conduct a "one-month tryout". The first episode's guests were Rob Huebel and Thomas Lennon . During occasions when Aukerman has been unable to host, Paul F. Tompkins , Chris Hardwick , Jimmy Pardo or Jerry Minor (in character as "Cyberthug") have guest hosted. Although normally produced in Los Angeles,
6970-469: Was apparently discussed in Plutarch in a treatise written in c. 100 CE, which is reported to have addressed the question of Why are the days named after the planets reckoned in a different order from the actual order? (the text of Plutarch's treatise has been lost). Dio Cassius (early 3rd century) gives two explanations in a section of his Historia Romana after mentioning the Jewish practice of sanctifying
7055-668: Was described as a sacred day of congregational worship in the Quran . The English word week comes from the Old English wice , ultimately from a Common Germanic * wikōn- , from a root * wik- "turn, move, change". The Germanic word probably had a wider meaning prior to the adoption of the Roman calendar , perhaps "succession series", as suggested by Gothic wikō translating taxis "order" in Luke 1:8. The seven-day week
7140-777: Was known in India by the 6th century, referenced in the Pañcasiddhāntikā . Shashi (2000) mentions the Garga Samhita , which he places in the 1st century BCE or CE, as a possible earlier reference to a seven-day week in India. He concludes "the above references furnish a terminus ad quem (viz. 1st century) The terminus a quo cannot be stated with certainty". The seven-day weekly cycle has remained unbroken in Christendom , and hence in Western history , for almost two millennia, despite changes to
7225-567: Was received by the Greeks in the 4th century BCE (notably via Eudoxus of Cnidus ). Although some sources, such as the Encyclopædia Britannica, state that the Babylonians named the days of the week after the five planets, the sun, and the moon, many scholars disagree. Eviatar Zerubavel says, "the establishment of a seven-day week based on the regular observance of the Sabbath is a distinctively Jewish contribution to civilization. The choice of
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