Improvise Till You Make It!

This is PART 2 of a very special episode full of FIRSTS for "Improvsie Till You Make It!" In our first ever trans-atlantic (or trans-pacific, depending on how you look at it) podcast recording, we talk for the first time with not one, but TWO amazing improvisors, and it's an episode so full of juicy insights and hilarious improv, we had to break it into our first ever TWO PART episode!  

L.A. based improvisors Jake Jabbour and Josh Simpson are back for part two of "Find Your Fun," and in this trans-continental episode, we continue our deep dive into getting the most out of even the worst parts of our day to days. From strategies for finding the joy in the mundane, and discovering what it means to shift your mindset in order to help yourself enjoy some of the lesser interesting things we are obliged to do in our jobs and daily lives, there's no shortage of take-aways in our shortest episode to date.  

This is a very special episode full of FIRSTS for "Improvise Till You Make It!" In our first ever transatlantic (or transpacific, depending on how you look at it) podcast recording, we talk for the first time with not one, but TWO amazing improvisors, and it's an episode so full of juicy insights and hilarious improv, we had to break it into our first ever TWO PART episode!  

We were lucky enough to get to talk with Jake Jabbour and Josh Simpson, two L.A. Based improvisors with improv credentials as impressive as they get and a hilarious improv podcast to match. Jake and Josh perform and teach independently and at the UCB Theater in L.A., and on their weekly Improv Podcast, The Meat Improv, which has been running for almost three years, they talk and improvise with some of the worlds greatest names in improv. 

 After indulging us with the backstory of their improv-duo, we pick Jake and Josh's brains on what it means to "Find Your Fun" in an improv scene, and how we can take the agency we have as improvisors onstage into our lives in order to improve the relationships we have to boredom.  

Our conversations lead us to a cabin in the woods where a disgruntled father can't get over the freeloading deer who are distracting him from Christmas dinner with his family, and to a research center where we find out not only that boredom sets in quickly, but when it does it makes people to some incredibly bizarre things.  

Andrea Björk (rhymes with jerk) is a designer, animator, comedian, improvisor, podcaster, and writer whose career path has been as unique as her nationality (she's one of only 330,00 Icelandic people on the planet!) Her humor and wit coupled with her eloquence and experience behind the mic make for one of the most informative and easy to edit episodes of our podcast yet!  

Whether onstage as an improvisor or offstage navigating clients' needs as a freelancer, she understands the immense value of seeking common ground to make sure everyone is on the same page, and to mitigate conflicts by aligning everyone's basic desires and using that as a platform for moving forward. We talk about the ways in which we can seek common ground by dropping our egos and our own ideas when appropriate, how to give feedback in a way that won't make people hate you, and what it means to stop taking things personally.  

Our conversation takes us into Ancient Rome where two battling gladiators, in an effort to avoid killing each other, invent modern sports, and to a French battlefield where the Magical Arrow of Effective Feedback helps end a century-long war.  

Blake Worrell, also known as "Big Blake" in this neck of the woods, is a rapper, producer, director, and award winning filmmaker whose striking stature and radiating charisma only serve to further highlight his soft spoken nature and beguiling kind-heartedness. He holds a very dear part in our own improv history as the driving force behind the creation of our beloved Skeleton Brains, the improv team we've been rehearsing and performing with for over two years now.  

Together we dive into what it means to listen and support our scene partners on stage, and how doing the same in real life can promote learning, laughter, and conflict resolution. We explore the blocks people have to listening to strongly differing opinions and tactics for circumventing those blocks, as well as what might be needed to bring the world together in a time of tension. 

 If that's not enthralling enough for you, brace yourself for what is without a doubt the strangest, most bizarre, and possibly funniest improv we've done on the show to date. We welcome you into my bedroom for a rousing episode of the game show, "Guess How Much My Shit Is Worth," where the stakes are has high as the prizes are valueless, before peeking into the future of an aging Tom Cruise via a documentary where the only person who doesn't understand he's on camera is Tom himself.  

Justin Credible, a man who lives life with the pedal well and truly to the metal, is perhaps the personification of the the concept of, "Yes, And..." He began his lifelong career in the film industry as a child actor, and has at some point or another performed just about every job required on a film set, from gripping to directing, from writing to casting.  

Of late he has found himself working more and more as a producer not only because it makes it easier to hire himself directly in other roles, an admission delivered without a single hint of irony, but also because it is a position particularly well suited to a person whose passion in life "is providing opportunities to talented people." Whether on the improv stage or in life, we discuss the ways in which focusing on making others look good can only benefit us, especially if what Justin says is true: success resides in the proximity of success.  

Throughout our conversations, we zig and zag in and out of improv worlds where restaurant customers are happy to be their own waiters, where cops make it their mission to prevent burglars from committing fashion crimes, and where the most sought after place at a hopping club is in the line outside of it. 

Soon-to-be-Dr. Jess Rohman is an epidemiologist who believes as much in the value of improv as she does in the need for understanding and controlling the spread of disease, and even brings improv to the lecture hall as a tool for teaching her students through role play.  

Her experience on-stage as an improvisor and off-stage as a scientist carefully navigating the incredibly complex world of scientific research have led her to the conclusion that relationships drive absolutely everything we do. Whether for making our characters' interactions relatable to an audience or for encouraging colleagues to cross-pollinate ideas and unlock "Eureka!" moments over pizza and cocktails, we explore the benefits of putting our relationships first, and strategies for creating environments where we focus on how we relate to one another in order to maximize what we achieve together.  

Carl Clancy's 5 years in Berlin have been starkly divided into two parts: pre-improv and post-improv. What started out as the typical hedonist's homecoming experienced by most new Berliner's, his lifestyle took a drastic turn when he discovered improv and simultaneously discovered he could go to sleep every night of the week and still enjoy his life. With no performance experience to speak of before he began doing Improv, nowadays little else occupies his thoughts.  

Through anecdotes both personal and poignant, Carl explores with us the need both on-stage and off-stage for Assuming the Best, a topic on his mind more and more as, in his own words, "the world descends into fascism, essentially." Whether it's a fellow improvisor who makes a tasteless joke, or a family member who takes a stand on the opposite side of an explosive moral issue, we discuss the powerful effect presuming people are fundamentally good and capable of change can have on opening the door to productive dialogue, and thus on our ability to live, learn, and laugh together.  

In the midst of our conversation, we spy on a motley crew of would-be bank robbers whose diverse yet equally thick accents prevent them from carrying out their meticulously laid plan before we're whisked into the studio audience of the defunct game show, The Dating Game, where a giddy bachelorette must choose between 3 heroic contenders, all vying for her affection.  

Inbal Lori, whose self-proclaimed very small head precludes her from wearing literal hats, nevertheless wears many metaphorical ones as an actress, writer, and improvisor. Like so many immigrants who settle here, her love affair with Berlin started as nothing more than a quick visit. She reveals some of the things that she loves most about this charged city before turning this podcast completely on its head in what is without a doubt our most dangerous episode yet.  

In a very unexpected twist, Inbal blows our notion of safe spaces away, and instead speaks of the role, potentially the necessity, of outright danger in theatre, and it's power to move people to tears of joy, as well as sadness. In a dialogue as hilarious as it is explosive, we explore what it means to create a safe space, how to make sure people feel empowered to give it their all, and how to safely push the envelope to touch people while having them wriggling in their seats.   

We crank the danger up several notches when we venture backstage on opening night to find a director who, after encouraging his lead actors to speak their minds, gets caught up in a form of self-expression which more closely resembles a hostage situation, and leave the notion of safe spaces far behind in the board meeting of a no-frills company down on its luck whose board members are being coaxed away from the ledges with the help of adorable bobbleheads. 

And in case our listeners aren't on the edge of their seats by the end of our conversation, we wrap the show up with an electric and X-rated round of "Mind Meld," racing against the clock to finish the game before our recorder runs out of recording time. 

Jakob Wagner, man of many hats, many deals, and many talents, brings this episode to life with his skills as an improvisor, actor, rapper, comedian, and storyteller as he shares and overshares about his uranium-like emotional antennae (you read that correctly), and his one-and-only conspiracy theory.   

We get into the nitty gritty of what empathy means, when and how to wield it, and whether, as Swiss-German psychoanalyst Dr. Arno Gruen suggests, empathy has the power to save the world. Empathy's potential as a global force for good notwithstanding, the lives of empaths are both helped and hindered by their ability to tap into the emotional experience of others, as we find out on an episode which might otherwise be entitled, "Neurotic White Men."  To cap the show off, we'll put our rapping, rhyming, and beat-boxing skills to the test in an epic game of "Beastie Rap."

Our neurosis bring us deep into the rage-fueled downward spiral of a pair of casting directors at odds with the actors who dare to take liberties with the script, and soaring into the stratosphere on the high of a Krav Maga expert who, after chancing upon a mega-celebrity and personal hero, is given the chance to show off his fighting skills to the whole world.  

Matilde Keizer, a cornerstone of the English improv scene in Berlin, wears as many hats as she has nationalities. Writer, actor, impovisor, teacher, coach, chef, as well as Comedy Cafe Berlin's greatest cheerleader and ally, she's the epitome of, as she puts it, "The Super Cool Fun Millennial Hyphenate Life." 

Gaston Stabiszewski (pronounced stah-bih-shev'-ski) is a writer, actor, director, filmmaker, improvisor, and musician, or, as the art world refers to such Jacks-and-Jills-of-all-trades, a total Gaston. 

This week we explore the concept of "Yes, And..." with actor, director, instructor, improvisor, and general ray of sunshine Brian Kapell.

We're joined on our first episode by Kevin Napier, writer, improvisor, and performer extraordinaire! 

Kevin shares with us what 18 years of improvising has taught him about The Improv Mindset, and how that relates to his super-normal super power. 

His tales of how doing improv has influenced the way he lives his life lead us down an improv rabbit hole where we find a Master lecturing his apprentices on the importance of destroying your masterworks upon their completion, a few unlucky road-trippers practicing mindfulness to ensure they get the most out of their prison sentences, and some new-age astronauts in a space station surviving on nothing but good (and bad) vibes.