A very successful comedy duo from the 1960s. As students, Mike Nichols and Elaine May were in the Playwrights Theater Club at the University of Chicago in the late 1950s which evolved into the improvisational theater outfit The Compass, out of which grew The Second City in 1959.
In the early 1960s they left The Second City in order to start their own show, which made them very famous. Paul Sills called them "The world's fastest humans." Sales of recordings of their sketches helped popularize the concept of comedy records.
Mike Nichols went on to become a successful director (Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, The Graduate, Catch-22, The Birdcage, Primary Colors, these last two were also written by May). Elaine May continued acting (Enter Laughing, Luv, A New Leaf), and took up directing (Heaven Can Wait) as well as writing screenplays, many of which were uncredited, such as Tootsie. They were both also on the American version of That Was The Week That Was, along with several other Second City almuni.
Their most well-known sketch is 'the telephone sketch'. You have heard it at some time, even if you don't remember.
Movie info from www.imdb.com
Miscellaneous info from liner notes of Mike Nichols & Elaine May In Retrospect: Some Of The Things You've Always Wanted To Know About A Lot Of Stuff... But Never Bothered To Ask