Improv Comedy Connection

The Improv Comedy Connection kicks off Season 2 with Jimmy Carrane! Jimmy and Whit discuss what the early days of improv can teach us about the art form today, what the Art of Slow Comedy is all about, and how to grow in your career. Jimmy’s perspective on improv is an important one, given his many contributions to the art and his history going back to his time in iO, the Annoyance, his time with Jazz Freddy, work with Del Close, his podcast, Improv Nerd, his books (Improvising Better and Improv Therapy) and his award winning Art of Slow Comedy workshops and intensives. It’s a long list, and that’s not all of it!

Be sure to check out Jimmy’s website at www.jimmycarrane.com for further information, his blog, schedule for his classes, and so much more. And if you haven’t already, you’ll want to check out the Improv Nerd podcast which can also be found just about anywhere you’d get your podcasts.

This is the final session of the COVID-19 Summit. In this conversation, we focus on what the current season that may help us "re-start" for the betterment of improv and improvisers on the other side of quarantine.  While we discuss where we're at in the moment, this is more of a forward looking conversation with a high interest in the art of improvisation.  

Panelists: Joe Bill (USA), Beatrix Brunschko (Austria), Jimmy Carrane (USA), Omar Galvan (Argentina/Spain), Stacey Hallal (USA), Inbal Lori (Israel/Germany), Feña Ortalli (Aregentina/Spain), Patti Stiles (Australia), moderated by Whit Shiller (USA)

In this continuation of a conversation among improvisers around the world, we discuss the implications and possibilities associated with increased globalization in improv - but also topics such as retaining one's cultural identity and context in their performance and the unique challenges of learning and performing in something other than your first language.  

Panelists in Part 2: Joe Bill (USA), Nick Byrne (Australia), John Gebratatose (USA), Hellena Jang (South Korea), Kaisa Kokko-Palmer (Finland), Sven Lanser (The Netherlands), Felipe Ortiz (Columbia), Patti Stiles (Australia), Cheng Zeng (China), moderated by Whit Shiller (USA)

This is the first of a two-part conversation among 13 improvisers from 10 countries and 6 continents about the impact and implications of globalization on the art of improv. Recognizing that we are still under unusual circumstances and that live, in person, in theater improv will return, the panel discusses how we all might consider the world of improv which we now know is both smaller and larger than we understood before the present health crisis.

Panelists: Oluwadmilola Apotieri-Abdulai (Nigeria), Joe Bill (USA), Tandi Buchan (South Africa), Nick Byrne (Australia), John Gebratatose (USA), Hellena Jang (South Korea), Kaisa Kokko-Palmer (Finland), Sven Lanser (The Netherlands), Felipe Ortiz (Columbia), Katy Schutte (UK), Patti Stiles (Australia), Cheng Zeng (China), moderated by Whit Shiller (USA)

This second of two episodes on online improv, guest hosted by Jules Munns, features a panel of Von Daniel, Amey Goerlich, Elana Fishbein, Roy Janik,  Whit Shiller, and Jay Sukow discussing technique, texture and tech in doing online improv.  In addition, the discussion provides an encouraging look at the role online improv can play in today's and tomorrow's global improv community.

In this first of two episodes on online improv, the panel (Von Daniel, Amey Goerlich, Elana Fishbein, Roy Janik,  Jules Munns, Jay Sukow, Paul Vaillancourt, with Whit Shiller as moderator) discuss the "why" behind doing online improv.  We consider the community, performance and training aspects of putting improv and improv training online, and talk a little bit about how this medium might stay in play when we can return to on stage improv and training more fully.

This conversation hosted by Whit Shiller with Joe Bill, Holly Mandel, Ed Morgan, Rebecca Northan, David Razowsky, Patti Stiles, and Jay Sukow, is simply a conversation about how each is doing individually and how our improv communities and the global improv community are doing in the face of COVID-19.

Dave Razowsky joins Whit for the finale episode of Season 1 -- and it's a great conversation! Dave shares from his long, deep history and thoughtfulness in the art of improv and acting -- with his history going back to Geese Theater Company and its programs for prisoners, moving on to Second City, Improv Olympic, an involvement with the predecessor to the Annoyance and so much more. We also get a sneak peek into Dave's upcoming book - "A Subversive’s Guide to Improvisation" - and how it pulls together Dave's philosophy and methodology related to improv.

Be sure to check out Dave's website at www.davidrazowsky.com for further information, video clips and more. You'll also want to check out his award winning podcast - A.D.D. Comedy with Dave Razowsky - which can also be found just about anywhere you'd get your podcasts.

Michael Golding visits with Whit in episode 14 - and it's a deep dive into the history of improvisational theater in the US. In particular, we discuss Michael's mentor, David Shepherd, and his role in the very beginnings of the Compass Players, Second City, iO and the Canadian Improv Games. Michael has a wealth of insight into these early days and the mind of one of the more important people from the very beginnings of improvisational theater in North America.

Andy Goldberg is one of the founding member of Off the Wall — a short form team that has been performing since 1974! — and is also the author of Improv Comedy which is now in its second edition. Andy and has been featured in such TV and films hits as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Golden Girls, The Goodbye Girl, Full House, and the Practice.

Over the course of his improv career, Andy has improvised with scores of fantastic improvisers and well known entertainment personalities. One of them, Robin Williams, comes up a bit in this conversation — which gives an interesting window into the experience of working with someone who might not exactly follow the traditional improv performance models.

Andy continues to teach workshops, and you can find the most current info on those on Facebook.