10 Off-Stage Tips To Becoming a Better Improviser Students ask me all the time, “What can I work on during the week between improv classes to become a better improviser?” My answer is work on your life. Improv is a very transparent art form, and the more you have a rich, full life, the more […]

Go Ahead, Promote Yourself One of the hardest things for me to do is to ask people to come to my improv shows. I have been performing on a regular basis for more than 20 years and it’s still difficult. I tell myself “Oh, they don’t really care,” or “Why would they come see me?” […]

It's Not About Being Funny If improv is not about being funny, then what is it? You’ve heard it a million times: Improv is not about being funny. But what does that mean? If it’s not supposed to be funny, what’s it supposed to be? I have students pull me aside all the time after […]

10/19/12: My Wife ThinkS I'm NOT A Good Actor I recently had an audition for NBC's “Chicago Fire.” A security guard, a couple of lines. Pretty easy… or so I thought. But, whenever I have an audition, I put so much pressure on myself that it’s no longer about getting the job, it’s about my self-worth. […]

KEEP SAYING YES, AND... When I started taking improv classes in Chicago in the late ’80s and early ’90s the goal was simple: study with Del Close at the Improv Olympic, get hired by Second City and then get on Saturday Night Live. The path was narrow. Anyone who even thought about teaching, directing or […]

I got into improv for the wrong reason: to be liked. I was looking for everyone to validate me, especially the audience. "Oh, what a noble thing I am doing,” I thought, “making people laugh.” I was lying to myself. I desperately needed their love, and I would bend and twist myself into any shape they […]

Recently, a student in one of my Art of Slow Comedy improv classes admitted she had all these judgments about what you should and shouldn't do in improv and was trying so hard not to make a mistake that she wasn’t having any fun. The sad thing was, she hadn’t even been doing improv very […]

Anger is one of the most intimate emotions and the one many improvisers are most terrified to play on stage. Instead of thinking of anger as a gift to their partner, they think they are doing something wrong. And when even a hint of it starts to bubble up in scene, they stop it immediately, backing away […]

Lately, I have been noticing that students in my improv classes feel they have to create some sort of problem at the top of the scene. They’ll say something like: "You didn't pay the rent," or "Oh, great you broke the TV, now what?" or "I broke Mom's favorite vase." This is not a good […]

All of us in the performing arts want to get noticed. We improvisers want to get recognition for our work, and most of us would love to be famous -- in my case, maybe too much. I have always looked at fame as something that would take away my years of low self esteem, would make me whole […]