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Tim Paul is an actor, writer, and director living in Chicago. He’s created numerous shows along with The Annoyance Theatre including “Bear Force One,” “An Aerosmith Christmas,” “Fisting: A Period Piece” and more recently his solo shows. He sat down to chat with Jimmy about using life experience in his writing and performing and why […]

Last week I went to Worcester, Mass., to teach improv at Claremont Academy, a high school made up of a diverse population of teenage kids. Not only are you dealing with different races and cultures, you are also dealing with adolescents. For an improviser, this was not a glamorous gig. It was not writing for […]

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Cameron Esposito is a rising star stand-up comic who started out in Chicago and is now the host of the podcast Put Your Hands Together on Feral Audio (home of Improv Nerd!), and the author of the A.V. Club column “Who In the World Is Carmeron Esposito?” In this episode, she takes a break from […]

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In this episode, which was recorded at the Improv Festival Oklahoma, Jimmy sits down with Tim Marks who runs The KC Improv Company and The Kick Comedy Theater and heads up the Kansas City Improv Festival. Tim talks about some of the personality issues you have to deal with running an improv theater, losing improvisers […]

What we do is pretty amazing. We get up in front of people and make shit up. And regardless if we suck or not that night, we are brave for just getting up there. And we need to give ourselves credit for that fact alone. I know a lot of you are refusing to give […]

This September, Improv Nerd turned three years old. At this point, we have recorded 106 episodes. Over the past three years, I have gotten to improvise with and interview some of the greatest comedy minds out there today. And lately, I’ve been traveling across the country, bringing the show to different theaters and improv festivals. […]

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Jay Sukow, a fixture in the Chicago improv scene, has been improvising since 1992. He’s a wonderful teacher, director and faculty member at Second City, a co-founder of the production company Group Mind Films, and has been a guest performer at Boom Chicago, the Second City, and “Messing with a Friend.” He spoke with Jimmy […]

I am a comedy snob. And worse, for years I thought that was an asset. God help me! I have always been a comedy snob since I was a third grader at Joseph Sears School. I couldn't understand why my friends would watch Three’s Company over comedies like M.A.S.H. or Bob Newhart. I secretly thought […]

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Mark Beltzman is a legendary improv teacher, actor and improviser.  He was a founding member of iO in Chicago and of the legendary Harold team, Barons Barracudas, and performed and directed at The Second City in Chicago.  Jimmy sat down with him and talked about the first time he met Del Close, how the Harold has […]

You have probably heard this term thrown around in your improv classes a million times: "Make your partner look good." And you have probably been confused by it. What does it really mean? Recently Mark Beltzman was my guest on Improv Nerd. Mark is a highly respected improv teacher, actor and improviser. During the interview […]