Happy Thanksgiving, improvisers! All week long, I have been looking forward to today. When it comes to holidays, Thanksgiving is definitely my favorite on the list. It’s pure. It’s simple. I’m going to go out on a limb and say it is the best holiday of all time. How is that? My wife Lauren, on […]
I hear this all the time from my students who are just starting out in improv: "Be Hard on Me." "Don't Hold Back." "I don't need all these positive notes like I am doing nothing wrong up there." I get it. I was totally the same way. I think some of us come from parents […]
I am delusional. I usually think that if I want to make more money in the performing arts, I just have to work harder. But the truth is when I do what the Universe wants me to do creatively, the money usually comes in, and usually not how I expect it. For the last several […]
Every once in a while we get lost in an improv scene. We freeze, not knowing what to do next. We panic, shut down, feel defeated. But if we pause for a second, we can usually get ourselves back on track – if we know a few basic tips. Think of these tips as your […]
Some people think that all it takes to put together a great improv group is picking the right people. Though that it is important, I would argue what is equally important is bonding as group. I have found the formula is pretty simple: Time + play = bonding as a group. I have found as […]
Recently Saturday Night Live hired two very talented, hard-working and funny cast members from Chicago: Chris Redd and Luke Null. When Chris Redd got hired, he had moved to LA and was getting parts in movies and TV shows and had even done his own stand-up special, so he was already getting noticed. But Luke […]
The irony is not lost on me that I am an improv teacher, which is about teaching people how to play and have fun, which is what I have the hardest time doing in my own life. (This is a classic case where the teacher teaches what he most needs to learn himself). Since I […]
Why is it that when I’m sick I have good shows? I remember years ago when I was at the Annoyance Theater, Mick Napier made a comment that some of his best shows where when he was sick. I thought he was a little crazy for saying that, but over the years I’ve found it […]
When I was studying improv back in the ’80s in Chicago, things where simpler. In those days, most people would study at one place at time, and when they finished one program, they would sanely move onto the next. Stage time was much harder to come by, which gave us hungry improvisers plenty of time […]
One of the greatest privileges of being an improviser is feeling like you are part of a community. That sense of belonging is actually what attracted me to improv in the first place, I just didn’t realize it at the time. In fact, many of the bonds that I formed with my fellow improvisers have […]