Recently, I read a wonderful article by Madeline Wolfson about award-winning playwright, actor, and sometimes improviser Tracy Letts. In it, he gave 10 pieces advice on how to live a more creative life. I liked it so much, I have included the link. Now, I’m no Tracy Letts, but I like to think I’m a […]
A lot more people are teaching improv these days than ever before. I could not be more excited about how many people are going into this amazing profession, and I also know that there aren’t many places where you can get advice on how to be a good improv teacher. So Jay Sukow, a former […]
I first met Paul Normandin in an workshop I was teaching at the Oklahoma Improv Festival, and months later I got to work with him again in Austin at the Out of Bounds Comedy Festival. I always like seeing him. He's warm and friendly, and he is always a good reminder about how big the […]
At the end of every Improv Nerd podcast, I ask the guest, “What is one piece of advice you would give someone starting out in improv today?” Often when I go out of town to teach a workshop, a very smart student who listens to the podcast will ask me the same question. My answer […]
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Last year we saw a slew of new books on improvisation come out, and I wanted to share with you four of them that I especially liked. As you know, typically I write this blog a couple weeks before Christmas so you can ask for them from Santa, but with Lauren pregnant and the chaos of the […]
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Matt Higbee is well-respected teacher and improviser at iO-Chicago with a huge following. He talks to Jimmy about the hard part of being on the Harold Commission, which decides which teams get to play and which teams are broken up; being bounced around and cut from teams when he started out; and why it’s important […]
If you have been improvising for a while, you may start to get on autopilot when it comes time to doing shows. (I know I do). You get into the habit of rushing to the theater or bar, barely making your call time and then throwing your body on stage. When it's all over, you wonder, […]
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Join Jimmy and his trusted staff — producer Dan Schiffmacher, director Sam Bowers and head of the interns Lauren Carrane — as they sit down to discuss their favorite episodes of Improv Nerd from 2015.
As improv has gotten bigger over the years, more and more people have become improv teachers. What once was just a hobby for a handful of people has become an actual profession for hundreds of people around the country. So this week, I started thinking… what made me become an improv teacher in the first […]