Holly Laurent (Second City Chicago, Mega) talks about growing up in a high control religion, choosing laughter over tears, identifying what’s scaring you, embracing your inner weirdo, her Second City journey, improvising with Tom Hanks, believing in the sophistication of your audience, deep characters, obsessive human study, supporting offers outside your wheelhouse, empathetic satire, and more!

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Steve Waltien (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Improvised Shakespeare) talks about the courage of youth, Second City, marrying intellect with emotion, “killing the king”, the perceived limitations of game, tactics for clarity, reading your scene partner’s signals, escaping unintentional traps, the gift of a character’s philosophy, the beautiful rigor of Improvised Shakespeare, conveying control to an audience, and more!

Special Thanks: Alexei Shishkin

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Sara Rose Caplan (Baby Wants Candy, XOXO) talks about playing with her dream team, learning improv as a non-performer, overcoming limitations, musical improv forms, tripling down, tips for working with accompanists, motivating game with emotion, people she’s learned from, embracing intellect, how coming out as trans helped her improv, a philosopher’s approach to teaching, and more!

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New episodes every Tuesday!

Dhruv Uday Singh (Good Trouble, Queen George) talks about being the pilot of your scene, the measure of a good show, encouraging teachers, embracing process, the importance of stage time, learning from an audience, Second City / UCB / Groundlings, breaking stereotypes, improvising on set, finding his voice, the improv scene in Mumbai, and more!

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Paul F. Tompkins (Comedy Bang Bang, Bojack Horseman) returns to the pod in this much-anticipated Part Two! He talks about blending standup and improv, his first Comedy Bang Bang episode, being funny without references, finding character voices, mimicry vs. capturing an essence, expectation and embarrassment, constructing a set, heightening gradually, having the discipline to stay out of a scene, letting go of mistakes, and more!

Nicole Byer (Nailed it, Grand Crew) talks about how she found comedy, the ephemeral nature of improv, going to acting conservatory, her early UCB days, improvising with ADHD, finding patient play, meeting Sasheer, the challenge of second beats, object work go-to’s, setting scenes in a fun location, reimagining the Harold, favorite improv memories, and more!

Joe Canale (Second City, Uncle’s Brother) talks about iO in the mid 90’s, Del’s toxicity, acknowledging privilege, his complicated relationship with Charna, improv savants, hosting jams, confrontational comedy, self-indulgence vs. serving the audience, the art of listening, how improv made him a better person, the importance of diverse voices in comedy, punching up, his favorite people to improvise with, and more!

Philip Labes (Watchmen, Minx) talks about catching the musical improv bug, finding his path as a singer/songwriter, adapting vs. persisting, success as a trap, where music and improv overlap, hyperconsciousness, using what’s personal, grounded justifications, fostering fearlessness, rhyme tangents, narrative improv, and more!

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Lauren Lapkus (Another Happy Day, Comedy Bang Bang) talks about her early start at iO, learning to use her own voice, the comfort of game, earning an audience, bad improv habits, the magic of indie teams, how she creates Comedy Bang Bang characters, auditioning for SNL, the evolution of dreams, doing improv post-kids, and more!

John Ross Bowie (Speechless, The Big Bang Theory) talks about the divide between actors and improvisers, finding improv in his late 20’s, studying with Amy Poehler, the nuance of teaching improv, avoiding detachment, emotional arcs, physicality, applying improv to a script, using details from real life, how improv helps him on set, and more!