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Jonathan Murphy is Doing His Dream Job
You can follow this podcast on:
Apple Podcasts | Google Play | iHeartRadio | Spotify | Stitcher
Welcome to another episode of the Comedic Pursuits podcast. I’m your host, Seth Payne, and this week you guys are in for yet another treat. I was able to sit down and get an exclusive interview with the educational director of Washington Improv Theater, Jonathan Murphy.
Highlights from my interview with Jonathan Murphy
Jonathan Murphy is a past FIST winner as part of the team Beverly Crusher and has had a crazy journey in comedy. He’s gone from the East Coast to the West Coast, up and down the West Coast, and back again. He did some awesome stuff in DC, moved out and started his own improv theater in Providence, Rhode Island, moved back, and is now the force behind all of the educational stuff going on at WIT. He’s a really funny dude who loves improv.
Without further ado, Jonathan Murphy. Some of the following questions and responses have been edited for clarity. To hear our full conversation, listen to the podcast episode.
How did you get into comedy?
When I was doing theater in middle school and high school, we did a lot of comedy. I was super into theater and was a huge theater nerd. I got into theater when I was 12 years old and started doing it pretty seriously.
It’s funny considering how much comedy I was consuming and doing in a theatrical sense, I still didn’t have great interpersonal comedy timing or even a sense of comedy in a more refined way. That part took a while, and I don’t know why. I did a lot of comedic plays and really took the timing seriously. I went through a lot of breaking it down to figure out what the best way to deliver lines was for the biggest laugh or impact.
I ended up going to Reed College in Portland, Oregon, because I wanted to leave home. I grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia, which is a very beautiful city that I wanted to leave as quickly as possible.
I didn’t really find my people until I got to the West Coast. I think a lot of people go through that. I was a very specific kind of person, and I wanted to create a bit of a new identity for myself. I think part of that was moving as far away as possible. I dyed my hair bright red before going to college and was looking for this other experience.
I acted in a David Ives one-act play in the fall of my freshman year at Reed, so I was involved with theater early on. But then that thing kicked in where I wanted to be different. After that, I took a huge step back from theater. I was super into partying and doing drugs and just being a college kid and rebelling.
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You can follow this podcast on:
Apple Podcasts | Google Play | iHeartRadio | Spotify | Stitcher
Welcome to another episode of the Comedic Pursuits podcast. I’m your host, Seth Payne, and this week you guys are in for yet another treat. I was able to sit down and get an exclusive interview with the educational director of Washington Improv Theater, Jonathan Murphy.
Highlights from my interview with Jonathan Murphy
Jonathan Murphy is a past FIST winner as part of the team Beverly Crusher and has had a crazy journey in comedy. He’s gone from the East Coast to the West Coast, up and down the West Coast, and back again. He did some awesome stuff in DC, moved out and started his own improv theater in Providence, Rhode Island, moved back, and is now the force behind all of the educational stuff going on at WIT. He’s a really funny dude who loves improv.
Without further ado, Jonathan Murphy. Some of the following questions and responses have been edited for clarity. To hear our full conversation, listen to the podcast episode.
How did you get into comedy?
When I was doing theater in middle school and high school, we did a lot of comedy. I was super into theater and was a huge theater nerd. I got into theater when I was 12 years old and started doing it pretty seriously.
It’s funny considering how much comedy I was consuming and doing in a theatrical sense, I still didn’t have great interpersonal comedy timing or even a sense of comedy in a more refined way. That part took a while, and I don’t know why. I did a lot of comedic plays and really took the timing seriously. I went through a lot of breaking it down to figure out what the best way to deliver lines was for the biggest laugh or impact.
I ended up going to Reed College in Portland, Oregon, because I wanted to leave home. I grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia, which is a very beautiful city that I wanted to leave as quickly as possible.
I didn’t really find my people until I got to the West Coast. I think a lot of people go through that. I was a very specific kind of person, and I wanted to create a bit of a new identity for myself. I think part of that was moving as far away as possible. I dyed my hair bright red before going to college and was looking for this other experience.
I acted in a David Ives one-act play in the fall of my freshman year at Reed, so I was involved with theater early on. But then that thing kicked in where I wanted to be different. After that, I took a huge step back from theater. I was super into partying and doing drugs and just being a college kid and rebelling.