Three Person Improvised Scenes

A two-person scene is hard enough in improvisation.

Add more people to the equation, and it gets more difficult to manage. When the lights come up on four or more people, I remember the advice that Mick Napier taught me back training at The…

The Comedy Equation

What makes people laugh? I believe it can be boiled down to an equation:

The most obvious answer is Surprise. “I didn’t see that coming! Who ever thought he’d do that? Woah! Can you believe that’s how it went down?!” We laugh when we are caught off-guard, our…

The Effect Of Time On Improv and Life

The first thing I do when I teach improv classes is ask the group to get into a circle. I…

Your Character As A Wheel

This is an essay about performing improv:

No right or wrong; only weak or strong.

My favorite type of improvisers these days are the ones that truly themselves don’t know what they are going to say next.

The audience can see this — they can tell when someone is living in the present moment — alive! Yet, I find most…

Assuming Competence

When I close most of the improv classes I teach, I quote one of my favorite things Mick Napier, the Artistic Director of the Annoyance Theatre, ever taught me: assuming competence.