Will Luera is a renowned improviser, actor, director and instructor who performs and teaches all over the world. He has served as the artistic director at Improv Boston and the director of improv at Florida Studio Theater, and was recently named artistic director of Improv Asylum in Boston and New York. In this episode, Will […]
Jane Morris is an actor, improviser and director. She is the Johnny Appleseed of comedy clubs, having opened the Chicago Comedy Showcase and the Second City e.t.c. in Chicago and the Upfront Comedy and the Comedy Underground in Santa Monica, CA. She currently manages the Fanatic Salon in Culver City, CA. Jane has a reputation […]
Armando Diaz is widely regarded as one of the best improv teachers in New York. He is the co-founder of The Magnet Theater there, and help create one of the most popular long forms ever, The Armando Diaz Experience. We talked to him about what makes a good Armando show from both the monologist and […]
George McAuliffe is the writer and star of the short film The Improv Guru, which is based on his popular Twitter account. Jimmy sits down and talks to him about his dark comedy, why it is so important for improvisers to make fun of themselves, what he hopes improviser get from the movie and advice about following […]
Rich Baker is an incredible improv teacher at Second City Hollywood, as well as an improviser and author of the book Improv Made Easy. He has performed with The Second City, iO-Chicago, and ComedySportz, and has toured the country with Mission Improvable. Jimmy talks to Rich about why you need to fail to get better, why […]
Joe Liss is one of those improvisers whom Jimmy looked up to when he was coming up in the improv scene in Chicago back in the '80s. Jimmy says Joe is truly one of the funniest performers he has ever seen. His character work is incredible. Joe was in the National Touring Company, Etc. and […]
Jay Sukow is one of the best improvisers and teachers out there. He has taught at almost all of the Chicago intuitions and also served as the Artist Director at ICC Theater in Copenhagen. He now lives in Los Angeles and teaches and performs around the world. Jimmy caught up with him in Chicago at […]
In this latest episode of Improv Nerd, UCB's Billy Merritt talks about his new book, Pirate Robot Ninja; An Improv Fable, which he co-wrote with Will Hines. Jimmy talks to Billy about what it means to be a Pirate or a Robot in improv, the "four pillars" of doing a good improv scene, and what the "game […]
Finally a new episode! The Crowd Theater is great little comedy theater in Chicago that strives to support diversity, inclusion and affordability in the improv community. Jimmy sat down with the three founders -- Blair Britt, Dillon Cassidy and Taylor Jones -- last fall to talk about how they met and started the theater, how […]
Ike Barniholtz is the writer, director and star of the new dark comedy The Oath. Ike improvised in Chicago in the ‘90s at Second City, iO Chicago and The Annoyance. He was on MADtv for five seasons, and also starred on The Mindy Project. Jimmy sat down with him to talk about when he first […]