I am a slow learner. And I’m conflicted about learning new things: My soul loves to learn while my ego hates it. Last week, I wrote and performed a new solo piece for a storytelling night called Louder Than a Mom. It was about when I was growing up and we’d go out to dinner as […]
The summer is a good time to catch up on some reading, and I have come up with a short list of books all about making it in the world of comedy that I think you would really enjoy inside in the air conditioning or outside in the sun. So if the summer movies disappoint, […]
If you don't take care of yourself in this exciting, yet taxing art form you will be toast. Toast does not perform well on stage – it’s dry, and flat and doesn't have much flavor. If you want to avoid the toast syndrome, one of the best ways is through a little self-care. Self-care is […]
If you were watching the Academy Awards on Sunday, you know that Jordan Peele won an Oscar for Best Original Screen Play for his movie, Get Out. I didn’t get to watch the awards live, but as soon as I found out on Facebook I was really happy for him and proud, since Jordan was part of […]
If there is one thing that is certain in improv, it’s that you are going to fail. Hopefully, you will continue to fail throughout your career, because in improv, if you don't give up, that failure eventually turns into success. No matter how hard you try to avoid it, you cannot have one with other. Unfortunately, […]
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Scott Goldstein is an improviser, director, teacher and writer. He directed The National Touring Company at Second City and The Annoyance Theater, where he also performed. He was the Artistic Director of Flat Iron Comedy and teaches writing and improv at the Second City Training Center. We talk to him about taking long breaks in […]
Dear Betsy, This is your Daddy. I know you are too young to read this, but I wanted to write this because your Daddy needs a blog this week and I love writing about you. I pretty much love you, except for last Sunday when you were really whiney. It was one of those days […]
I know by now some of you have already come up with your New Year’s resolutions. Had I made any this year, I would have broke them already. They never seem to work for me. If resolutions work for you, God Bless, keep it up. I am envious of you. Of course, I would like to […]
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 […]
I am often get asked the question what can improvisers do in between shows and class to get better? One thing I found that helps is to write, or more specifically to journal. You can work out a lot of stuff on the page that can help you get out of your own way. I […]