If you’re an improviser, you have probably thought about quitting hundreds of times. And that questioning probably won't stop any time soon. As fun as improv is, it can be pretty shitty at times. You are dealing with egos, jealousy and lots of disappointment. You are reliving high school. And some of us would rather […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

Improvisers in Chicago have it really hard today. I can’t tell you how many improvisers I know who fell in love with improv in their home towns, and then moved to Chicago with stars in their eyes about arriving in the improv Mecca. And within a year, they are discouraged and depressed and don’t know […]

We all deserve to be treated like a stars. And if you are waiting for someone or some big, magical job or a part in a show to give you permission to act like a star, you’ve got it all wrong. Nobody is going to treat you like a star until you start treating yourself […]

I am in improv rut. The last couple of shows I have felt like I’m experiencing improv-vu, doing the same flat, uninspired, boring scenes over and over again. I am pulling the same stock characters out, making the same choices, and I can't for the life me understand why it's not going better. If you’ve […]

I promise I will make this brief. Yes, more and more improvisers are eliminating object work from their repertoire, myself included. But really, when we do this we are only cheating ourselves. Today’s improvisers often think object work is gimmicky and silly, something that’s beneath them. But recently, I interviewed Todd Stashwick – a well-known […]