For The Love of Improv
For The Love of Improv
Solo Improv With Mike Brown
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Imagine a world where you didn’t need a scene partner, a world where you could perform improv with yourself, you, thee, thou. That’s right! Just you, yourself and ye. “Is that possible?” you ask. A question of many we ask Mike Brown in this, our first episode of the Season 2! Listen as Mike tells us all about Solo improv, his experiences as an improv teacher, performer, podcaster and all around amazing guy.
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“Mike Brown’s Biography is the biography of Mike Brown.” – Perd Hapley
Mike is an improviser, teacher, producer, casting director, and YouTuber living in New York City who occasionally moonlights as a flight attendant just, you know, to pay the rent.
His impressive toy collection seems to impress only himself, and he takes much pride in it.
Though not the founder of Solo Improv, Mike considers himself a pioneer in this area, and has made it his signature style of improvisation since 2009.
In 2017, he was brought on to teach full time at the People’s Improv Theater (NYC), and simultaneously produced a running monthly show (Fury: Earth’s Mightiest Improv), and a yearly Halloween themed show (The Improvised Escape Room) on the same stages.
In the months leading up to the global pandemic, Mike took a job touring internationally with BeerProv, a short-form improv show performing nightly aboard the MSC Meraviglia, a cruise ship sailing through Eastern Canada and the Caribbean.
Mike met his wife in improv class. They once did an improvised musical together about ants bravely defending their colony against scorpions. Mike’s character turned out to be a traitor. All the ants died.
Visit ForTheLoveOfImprov.com for more!
Improv. Hello and welcome back to For the Love of Improv. This is the first show that we've done in a really long time because of COVID, but we've had so much um people reaching out to us about when we're gonna do another episode. Uh we have we still have people downloading a lot of our old podcasts. And so we're super excited to get season two started. And who better to bring on for season two than the one and only Mike Brown from New York City?
SPEAKER_03:Woo! Woo! Yes. Thank you so much for joining us, Mike Brown. Um, just a little bit about you, and then I'll have a laugh you elaborate about you because you know you.
SPEAKER_00:Um I hope there's a laugh track associated with this. Where are you from? New York.
SPEAKER_03:Um, but yeah, Mike is an improviser, teacher, producer, casting director, and YouTuber living in New York City who occasionally moonlights as a flight attendant. Ooh, I want to hear more about that. Uh, to pay the rent. Okay. Um he's got an impressive toy collection that we're, I think we're looking at some of that right now. Um so he takes a lot of pride in that. Um, but one of the main reasons why we have him on today is that he is one of the founders or the founder. We'll learn more about what would be shady now. Um one of the founders or one of the people who main people who do it. I don't know. We'll have him talk about that in just a second. Um uh he does solo improvisation. Yeah, there is such a thing. So we're super curious. We know we know basically nothing about it, so we're super excited. Obama trying to work that in. Um we just have you sing, yes. But uh yeah, but just uh to wrap up his um bio here, uh he's done that style solo improv for since 2009. Um he is teaches full-time at the People's Improv Theater in New York and also produces a running monthly show called Fury Earth's Mighty It Mightiest Improv, um, and a yearly Halloween themed show, the improvised escape room, on the same stages. So um am I missing anything? I'm sure I am. Oh, and uh you haven't you, Mike? Um you've uh studied at or performed, I'm not sure, at um is it IO and UCB?
SPEAKER_00:Uh no and no. Um uh no.
SPEAKER_03:Me, I'm gonna bring on that.
SPEAKER_00:I so I started, um, I don't know how far back in my origins you want to go, but uh I started getting my formal improv education uh first from the magnet theater. And at the same time that I was being co or that I was taking classes at the magnet theater, I was on an indie team where I was being coached by UCB people. So I even though I've never taken classes at UCB, I got a lot of their philosophy early on. Uh and then once I finished the program at Magnet, I switched to the People's Improv Theater and started taking classes there. And then eventually we started teaching there.
SPEAKER_03:Awesome. That's great. Well, thank you for clearing that up. Sorry about my my oops. Um, cool. Yeah, and I want to talk, we'll talk a little bit more about UCB and their style um in our history segment. So I'm I'm sure I'm excited to hear your thoughts about that later on.
SPEAKER_01:Um Yeah, so our first our first question um to all of our guests is the same, uh, which is why did you first show up to your first improv class or workshop or whatever you did the very first time you were introduced to improv? And what made made you fall in love and come back?
SPEAKER_00:So my introduction, my true introduction to comedic improvisation happened as a Mormon missionary living living in Ireland. Wow, yeah. Um, so I don't know how how much uh you guys or your listeners know uh much about like the Mormon church or like the missionary program, but I grew up Mormon. And so of course I went out and I did kind of my mission work and they sent me to Ireland. And when while I was in Northern Ireland, one of my companions that they paired me up with uh was a guy named Josh Hurley. He's from uh Idaho, and he had been doing comedic improvisation all through high school, and it was something that was very passionate for him. Uh, so when eventually we became missionary companions walking around knocking on doors saying, Hey, do you guys want to hear the good word? Uh we would waste so much time playing improv games. And he was the one who kind of got me into improvisation and taught me that there are schools like I.O. or UCB or Second City or the Magnet or the Pit or whatever, um, the Groundlings, another wonderful institution. And it wasn't until I met Josh that uh that I had this realization of like, wait a second, like I can go to like there's a place I can go and learn this stuff. Uh, I'd always wanted to be an actor, always wanted to be a comedian. And the classic response growing up in a tiny little town in Pennsylvania was nah, get a real job, you know. Uh so I met Josh and um uh let's fast forward a little bit. Uh I started working as a flight attendant. I'm not gonna tell you what airline, uh, but I started working as a flight attendant, and I was living in Jersey, in New Jersey. And uh so I called up Josh. I'm like, hey, so do you remember years ago, like a decade ago when we used to be roommates in Ireland? Well, now I'm living like right outside of New York City, and um, do you want to move in with me and we can like do comedy together? He is like, Yeah, sure, let's do it. So he moved in. Um he auditioned for um was it it was the ha comedy club, ha exclamation mark. Ha. It was the ha it's a terrible name, it doesn't exist anymore. It totally went defunct, but uh the haw comedy club in Times Square in New York wanted their own house team uh short form improv team, right? So he auditioned for it and he's like, Mike, you gotta audition for this. And I'm like, Josh, I've never I've never done improv. Like we've played stupid games like a decade ago uh in Ireland, but like I don't know how to do it. And he said, because we uh we ended up auditioning together, he told me, just say yes, don't forget anything else that happens. Uh whatever happens, just go along with it. And I'm like, great, I can do that. And we both got in uh into this uh short form improv team. And of course, I thought that I was like the bee's knees, right? I thought that I was totally the shit. Uh, like, hey, I've never taken an improv class anywhere. And now I'm headlining at this Friday night, nine o'clock, every Friday in Times Square. I thought that I was like, oh, it's only I'm only gonna be doing this improv thing for like a year until my film career takes off, right? 15 years later.
SPEAKER_03:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So that was that was my intro into the whole thing. And uh my my first time doing improv was really auditioning for a uh an improv team that they said, sure, come on in, you can do this.
SPEAKER_01:That's awesome. Isn't it interesting how like I feel like a lot of people say, well, there was this one person that really that really got it. And honestly, I think I've said it before on this podcast, Mike. Your workshop and you as a person is the reason that I that my answer to that question is well, Mike Brown came through and did his and I was like his energy made me just fall in love with it.
SPEAKER_00:And I remember, oh sorry, go Katie.
SPEAKER_03:Oh no, okay. I was just gonna jump in and say, I also took that workshop, and I think that's actually where Jess and I first met. So there's like a lot of specialness that that workshop brought. Um, and that was it was so fun. It was so fun taking that workshop.
SPEAKER_00:I specifically remember that weekend because I think that was was that the only time I came to Reno? Did I come a second time or was that the only one?
SPEAKER_03:As far as I know, it's the only one, unless you came before sometime. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:I'm pretty sure that was my first one.
SPEAKER_03:Um we can we gotta get you back.
SPEAKER_00:Let's do it. Let's all let's make it happen.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:Let's have a reunion.
SPEAKER_01:Before we get too deep into um into stories about solo improv, can you like as a pioneer, can you give our listeners kind of like a general overview of exactly what we mean when we're talking about solo improv and and what that art form looks like?
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um, so imagine uh so we've all done two prov and we've all seen two prov, which is basically two people on stage uh acting out certain scenarios. And sometimes they'll just do uh what's called a mono scene or just one scene for their whole show, or sometimes they'll do a series of scenes, right? There's a whole bunch of different scene like formats for for two prov or three prov or four prov or five prov or however many people you have on stage. But when you do it solo, nothing changes, it's the same exact format. The only difference is that instead of talking to another human being on stage, you're talking to a phantom character, and now it's your choice. Do you want to play that phantom character? Do you want to go, hi Dave? Uh, I found a mole on my back today. What you might have cancer. Yeah, that was my thought too. Well, you should go to the dermatologist. I think I will do that. Like you can play both characters, or you can play it as though, oh man, Dave, I found a mole on my back. Yeah, I think I am gonna go see the doctor. Oh, but this doctor likes to poke me with needles. You know how much I hate needles. You had a bad experience with needles, too. You know, so you play one character and keep responding in a way that the audience knows what this phantom character is saying back to you. Um, that's more or less how I prefer to uh uh approach solo improv. Uh now there's a guy in Chicago, uh Andy Eninger. Eninger, Eninger, uh, I can't remember. Uh he does the more manic style where he plays both characters, or if there's three characters on stage, he'll bounce back and forth between all three characters. Um but I prefer just to have that one-sided conversation, you know, it allows me a little bit more time. And if your if your um scene work, or rather if your physicality, your object work uh is meticulous, then you hold the audience's attention a little bit more and they're like, oh, what's he looking at? And if if you uh hold your gaze and then very methodically move your eyes across the stage, something's happening, something's moving, maybe somebody's moving or something's you're giving action to the thing that's uh happening on stage, right? Um, so you hold the audience's attention uh and you kind of get to like peak and valley a little bit in terms of your your speed, um moment what's the pacing in terms of your pacing, so that you're not wearing out the audience, you know. And I've I've seen it back and forth where hey Dave, I'm a mole. You really should get that checked out. You tend to wear out yourself as much as the audience because now the audience is like, Woof, that was a journey.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I I saw I watched those couple of uh videos uh that you sent um of you doing solo improv. And I thought it was really interesting too, like um kind of what you're saying in terms of pacing, the use of silence and really um how valuable that can be because it brings the audience in, like what's happening, and it also probably gives you some time to think about what's happening and gives you ideas for the next thing that you're gonna do or say.
SPEAKER_00:There's a documentary uh uh that was made uh I don't know, a number of years ago called Jerry Seinfeld Comedian. Uh and it was we all know that he took time away from comedy right after Seinfeld. Well, this documentary kind of chronicles his time coming back into comedy, doing stand-up again. And he's having there's a scene where he's having dinner with Ray Romano uh and somebody else. I can't remember, uh it might have been David Spade, I don't quite remember, but they're all sitting around the table to Chris Rock. Um, they're talking about pacing on on stage, and you know that moment whenever a stand-up comedian tells their joke and it gets a big laugh, and then they stand there kind of pacing back and forth, and there's a beat in between this joke and the next joke. They're not part of it is that you you want the audience to kind of relax and and I don't know what what the word is, but like you want them to kind of like fall back into a neutral state, yeah. But even more importantly, why the stand-up comedian gives that pause is they're trying to remember their next bit. Yeah, totally. They're trying to remember what comes up next. So that really resonated with with me. And so I kind of came up with this catchphrase of know the difference between doing nothing and having nothing to do. Because they sound very similar, but doing nothing is an act of choice. Having nothing to do means you're just kind of like sitting around waiting for something to happen, and the audience is waiting around too. So if you were making the choice to do nothing but do it intently, the audience is on your side. They're like, oh, what's happening? Oh, he's silent for a reason.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Well, and and that, like recently too, with my uh improv group that I'm in, um, we've really our coaches like you know, giving us the note of like, just go on, start the scene with silence and object work and just let it, just let it, just let each person notice what the other person is doing, notice what you're doing, yeah, and let that start to develop something instead of I think lots of times, um, I know for myself it's like I try to rush the dialogue because I'm trying to get something out there. But lots of times when I do that, what I put out there is not, it's just it it usually doesn't have much to it because I'm trying to rush it, you know?
SPEAKER_01:So well, and and the um the solo improv that you sent over um the video, I'll put it on the in the show notes on the website. Um Mike sent us a couple videos of him doing solo improv. And in one of them, uh the audience member read something from their phone about getting their butt kicked at the gym. And Mike goes and he just starts working out, like literally just doing workouts on stage. And it got to a point where it was like, okay, this is how he's setting it up. But he went just like a little bit longer doing it to where like all of a sudden the audience just started laughing, like, how long is he gonna be on stage? Just working out. Uh, and and then when he finally did deliver a line, it was like built up and like the audience just ate it up as soon as he said that.
SPEAKER_00:Wasn't forgive me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the first thing that I say is fuck this? Wasn't that the first thing that I said?
SPEAKER_03:It might have been, yes. And it's like, yeah. And I think everybody else in the audience was like, Yeah, fuck that. What are you doing? I did agree with you. Like, that's that was best.
SPEAKER_01:Right. And it was it was awesome because it was like, whatever was said on um, it was like, thank you, uh, Krista and Rachel for kicking my butt at the gym, or something like that. And he took it, and it was like, Oh, okay, like most people listen to that and think, oh, okay, she she had a really good time at the gym. But he took it as like, we immediately knew that she meant that saying sarcastically, you know, kind of what that ended up being.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks for looking into that uh a little bit deeper. But really, what was happening on the surface was uh, oh, something happened at the gym. I'm gonna do physical exercises. It was just that plain and simple.
SPEAKER_01:For me, taking the time to think about it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's uh uh one of that is one of my favorite shows that I've ever done, um for a few reasons. Uh shoot. So at that festival that I that I did that show, um uh I was afforded the opportunity to do two performances. And uh this was uh the one that you watched was the second of those two performances. The first one was a complete heaping pile of dog shit. And I was feeling so defeated. And I'm like, this is I'm supposed to be having fun. Like these people are rooting for me to have a good time and you know to deliver them something fun and interesting. And Susan Messing uh just so happened to be the guest um improviser or like the like the big name celebrity draw at that festival. So I took her workshop and we hung out uh like in between sessions and whatever, and she was really sweet and really kind. And you know, we had a lot of heart to hearts uh during that festival. And one of the big things that she taught me, which is her philosophy, is if you're not having fun on stage, then you're the asshole. Like it's your responsibility to have fun, and if you're not having fun, the audience isn't gonna have fun. So what are we doing? You know, and in her workshop, we did the most rudimentary, basic, basic, basic of improv exercises, and it completely changed my game because we're attacking this whole art form as like, oh, uh I have to be the most creative, I have to be the smartest, I have to be the silliest, I have to create the wackiest characters. No, no, take a step back, do something simple, do something rudimentary, and have fun with it. And so after I did that, and she kind of changed my game, then I did the show that you watched. It was how can I just do something simple? So I so my mind, I'm thinking, okay, uh ballet fitness, uh, just got my butt kicked at this ballet fit, uh, these other two girls, Daniel, Daniel and Krista, um, blah, blah, blah. Like, how can I boil that down to its most basic essence form? Exercise. Great, I'm gonna start exercising. And I didn't even start doing like jumping jacks, I did this really weird, like, I don't know what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_03:It was like river dancing, I feel like. Yeah, kind of reminded me a little bit of river dancing, but like yeah, for a gym.
SPEAKER_00:And then they transform themselves into burpees, which I still regret to this day.
SPEAKER_01:So, so in solo improv, do you think you have to be like a better improviser and really have your skills down to be able to do solo improv?
SPEAKER_00:No, it's the opposite is true. Uh, it I personally feel of this is gonna sound so conceited of me, but like I feel that solo improv makes you a better improviser in ensemble because it forces you to correct the mistakes that sometimes we put the onus on our uh on our scene partner, right? Uh Katie, if you and I are in a scene together, right? Um, and uh you hold uh a box in front of you, uh, I can go up to you and say, Hey, what's in the box? Right. And now it's your job to tell me, yeah, I could just be, hey, I like your box full of uh freshly born rabbits. Cool. And now we get to play with the bunnies, right? Um but like we often put the onus on someone else, and when it's just you, you say, Hey, what do you got in that box over there?
SPEAKER_01:Then you have to answer the question.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I have to answer my own question. Exactly. Yeah. So you still sometimes pass that onus back and forth, but you very quickly begin to understand that, well, now you have to figure it out. So why waste the step of putting the onus elsewhere and just figure it out first? And then you save time, you become more efficient on stage, uh, and you get to find the fun stuff. And if and you start to realize if this isn't fun, let's just cut it. Cut, edit, start a new scene.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, like if you can't, if you can't support yourself as a scene partner, you need to support someone else as a scene partner.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03:Actually, maybe we should um take a moment to play a game.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I'm sure this game exists somewhere, but I kind of just made it. Yeah, just kind of made this one up, which I mean, I'm sure it exists somewhere.
SPEAKER_00:An improvised game, what not I mean, oh no.
SPEAKER_01:It's uh it's called This Justin, which basically one of us will be um the anchor, one of us will be a reporter, and the other one will be an expert. And so the first, the the anchor will make up a topic, um the headline, this just in such and such happened. Then uh the reporter will say uh a few lines elaborating, and then the expert will uh give their two cents on the issue.
SPEAKER_03:Well, and I feel like before we start, like this is kind of in line what we were just talking about is like this is giving a gift to the next person, right? So the headline is a gift to the next person who takes. It and then creates that and gives more of a gift, you know, adds to it.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, there's a natural progression, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, good call.
SPEAKER_00:Candle kitchen house.
SPEAKER_03:That's why we have the professionals on.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. This just in. This just in all of the couches in Manhattan have turned into evil robots. Uh, we're gonna swing over to Katie who has more on this story.
SPEAKER_03:Yes. Hi, I am here with the evil robot couch approaching. Oh my God. And um, you know, I just need some knowledge on how to handle this robot, rogue robot. Um, I'm gonna throw it to our expert, Mike Brown. Help me out, Mike Brown.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, hi. Um, I'm coming to you uh live from Atlanta because I uh was uh warned of this danger. Uh so I wanted to remove myself from the situation immediately. What I noticed is that in our studies between couches that are uh not your normal couch, but some of you may call them futons. Uh futons come with sentient knowledge that actually allows them to come alive and harm other people. Now, anytime someone sleeps on a futon, it's happening in the go.
SPEAKER_01:All right. Uh with Mike Brown, um, it looks like uh the futon in the boss's office has just come alive and uh has brought donuts for everybody.
SPEAKER_00:That was gonna oh man, we are so good at improv, you guys. I love it.
SPEAKER_01:I love it.
SPEAKER_03:Uh all right.
SPEAKER_01:Well, um should we should we do another scene or do you want to move back into solo improv? How much time?
SPEAKER_00:It's just in every light bulb in the world now glows green. For more on this story is our very own uh Jessica Wicks Kelly coming to all the way from Springfield, Massachusetts, not Missouri, Massachusetts. Jessica.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you, Mike. I am coming here from Massachusetts, which looks like Missouri, where all of the lights are green and therefore everybody looks like a spaghetti monster. Uh the children are all afraid and um have started biting um all of their parents. So when someone bites uh their parents uh when the lights are green, um the parents get very, very mad and um start quitting their jobs, which has affected the economy. Um for more on our uh on this, our economic expert Katie Welsh.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, hello. Well, the stock market is way down when it comes to regular light bulbs, but um, you know, the green light bulbs are up there. Uh also band-aids for all those bites um are also quite high on the stock market. So uh, you know, go out there and stock up on your band-aids.
SPEAKER_00:Um and uh uh I now Jessica, if I can jump in here for a second, I've just been handed a brand new report saying that in 1964, uh our very own uh Theodore Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss, uh experienced the same exact phenomenon in his own living room. Uh uh do you know anything about this or is there a correlation between green lights, anything green related, and Dr. Seuss?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, absolutely. Uh the reason that uh uh Dr. Seuss, uh who I personally know and call Teddy, um the the reason that he became famous is because uh he got bitten by a uh rhyming monster uh who was very mad at their child uh back in those days. And he just started writing and rhyming all over the place. And and that is how he became the Dr. Seuss that we know today. So maybe uh, you know, people are thinking of this whole thing as a negative, uh, but perhaps uh it's a positive. What what no?
SPEAKER_00:I uh I'm uh I'm told that you have an expert on speed dial who is a Theodore Geisel expert. Uh, is there any more insight that we could get into this uh uh Dr. Seuss Green phenomenon?
SPEAKER_03:Uh yes, green eggs and ham, I am. That's right. My name is Sam. And scene. I yeah, terrible at rhyming. Thank you for editing that.
SPEAKER_00:And scene. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So before we hop back into um solo improv, um I'm gonna do, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go right to our history segment if that's cool with you guys. So I just wanted to um talk a little bit about um UCB, which is um stands for the Uprigens Brigade. Um, and I got my information from Improv Nation. So because I didn't know that much about UCB, to be honest. Um, so this is a part of my improv education. But from yeah, so I'm excited to hear maybe what you have, but just a couple of things I did find. Um it started with a group um from uh I.O. Um, Adam McKay, Ian Roberts, Rick Roman, Matt Walsh, Matt Besser, and Horatio Sands, oh, and Amy Polar. Um and um so they kind of uh what I'm my understanding is um they came out of this I.O. group, they studied with Del Close, also like you know, the father, one of the quote unquote fathers of improv, um, and um started this uh sort of style, I guess I would call it, where um it was like anything, it was like anything goes. Anybody can do improv. I mean, this is what we've been talking about too. Like anyone can do improv. You can do whatever you want. Really, like it seems from what I read, like no rules. So a couple of uh examples. Um they did this machine gun blackout format where basically they take a suggestion from the audience um and uh they rush the scene to conflict and see how long it takes to for it to just become a screaming match.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know. They kind of rose to uh a promontory uh status in Chicago, and like they were kind of looking for the next thing, like, well, like we're kind of like a hit to indie team in Chicago. Like, where do we go from here? So they heard uh granted this was in the late 90s, so they started mid to late 90s, so they started coming to New York and doing shows, and like, hey, we can do shows in New York, because at the time, improv in New York was not a thing. New York was stealing improvisers for Saturday Night Live, but there wasn't really a lot of improv shows happening. Excuse me, Second City had been coming to New York to do shows uh a lot, and I think that's probably what gave them the idea, and so they loved performing in New York so much that uh in the I want to say it was 98, uh, Rudy Giuliani had like really cracked down on like uh the crime and the uh the seedy nature that was New York, and so there were a lot of strip joints that were just uninhabited. So the UCB4 came in and they're like, you when I say the UCB four, I mean Amy Polar, Matt Walsh, Matt Besser, and Ian Roberts. Um and they came in and they're like, Hey, let's take this old strip club uh on the corner of 26 and 8, right underneath Gristidi's grocery store, and uh let's turn it into a comedy club. And they got it super cheap because it like nobody really wanted to like uh touch this kind of stuff, you know. And even still today, even though that same uh uh theater uh is not owned by UCB anymore. Now it's uh uh Asylum New York, um it still has that same uh uh austere that it had when it was still a strip club, you know. The stage and the backstage and the seating, it's all the same. Even the the sound booth, it's all in the same spots as what it used to be when it was a strip joint. So they came in, they started uh this whole theater thing, and they just started doing their own shows weekly, and it became such a hit. Uh, you know, they started um uh the Del Close Marathon, and I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, 1999, I believe is when DCM started. Uh and it just got enormously huge. So then they started a second theater in uh the East Village, uh affectionately referred to as the Beast or UCB East, the Beast. Um so the the Beast Theater uh in the East Village, uh it was a weird, it was an old movie theater that was like it was long and thin and narrow. So if you sat all the way in the back of the theater, you had a really hard time hearing and seeing what was on stage because it was just this long, narrow theater. Uh, but it was an interesting space.
SPEAKER_03:I also um my understanding is that um the the this I I guess it's a format, but it was started by the UCB uh four, the Besser Walsh Robertson polar group. Um, and it was called ASCAT 3000.
SPEAKER_00:ASCAT 3000.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so I don't know if you know much about that. It says it was kind of born out of uh of an Armando, which is an Armando is a monologist format where somebody does a monop a monologue throughout the show, and then from the monologue you do scenes. But I don't know if do you know anything about that ASCAT?
SPEAKER_00:I do. I have seen the show many, many, many, many, many, many times. So uh this is where the aforementioned Adam McKay comes into the story, right? So uh even before we talk about UCB, let's go back a little bit further and talk about the origins of the Armando. Do you know why it's called the Armando?
SPEAKER_03:I feel like somebody told me, but I completely forget.
SPEAKER_00:My former level three improv teacher at the Magnet Theater and founder of the Magnet Theater, Armando Diaz, uh, is the person for and also my wife, who is currently taking classes from Armando right now, um, it's the person that this format is named after. But back in the days before he started The Magnet, uh, even before he came to New York, he was, you know, doing shows in Chicago, and they were doing that format, which now we call the Armando, but before it had a name, it was just the monologue show, right? That's how the Armando came about. And then when you see when you know Adam McKay kind of transitioned into uh the Upper A Citizens Brigade, um, they started doing shows in New York. The concept of uh I don't know where the name Askat3000 came from. I'm guessing they got drunk and high one night and were like, hey, this would be a funny title for show. Uh I have no idea where that came from, but uh they started doing the Armando Diaz experience, but because it, you know, Armando had his theater and you know, it was kind of a hit show in Chicago, they kind of wanted to let it be their own thing. So they changed the name to ASCAT 3000.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, well, and I understand and uh that um they started at some point they were able to um get on the late show with Conan O'Brien, I think, and do sketches or or improv and then they ended up yeah, I read that they and then they ended up getting their own show on Comedy Central.
SPEAKER_02:It lasted two seasons, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So I mean I'll have to look that up and see because um I don't know if that might have been the first, uh maybe not the first, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:But one of the that I didn't know, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Like and it was and they did long, I think they did. I I'm gonna have to go and look up those videos, but I think they did long form it improv on TV, which is amazing.
SPEAKER_00:If you look at their T, if you've watched their television show, which I highly recommend you go do, every episode is a herald. And if you're not familiar with the concept of the Herald, a Herald is a structure that starts with uh one one scene about two people doing something. The second scene is two completely different people doing a completely different thing in a completely different location, has nothing to do with the first scene, and then the third scene is the same thing, a completely new scene, has nothing to do with scenes one or two, right? And then uh and then you repeat it, but like same two characters in a different place at a different uh time, kind of going through the same game or format, right? So you have scene one, scene two, scene three, and then you repeat it, scene one, scene two, scene three, but you change it ever so slightly. So if in scene one, uh Jessica, if you and I are scene partners and we're like, hey, let's go buy toys together. We're husband and wife, we're gonna go buy toys together. Hooray! That's scene one. And then the next time we come back to see these two characters, maybe instead of buying toys, we're buying uh uh uh a house to house our toys in, right? Yay, now we're oh oh, we love our toys so much. Now we're gonna uh and we explore the relationship between each other, right? And then in the third time that we do this, or the third beat, as it's referred to as. Uh, in the third beat, same thing, but what's like if we've already yeah, what's the heightening of that? We've already purchased toys, we've made a house for our toys. What next? Oh, let's make a planet, we're gonna have our own planet, and this is where all of our toys get to live, right? We become gods, and our toys now become the creatures living in our god-like world, right?
SPEAKER_01:And it doesn't always have to be that you're in a different place, it could be like, okay, now you're in a different situation. Like each time, like you're you can change location, you can change, you know, um uh there's so many feeling emotion. You can say, Yeah, like there's a lot of different things that you can change, but it has to be like a clear change.
SPEAKER_00:But you want the essence or the spirit of what made it fun or interesting the first time around to keep coming back. You want to kind of uh what's referred to as the game of the scene, and the way Armando, when I was uh his student, the way he explained it to me, what the game of the scene means is patterns, just a pattern. Like, what's the pattern? Repeat the pattern, figure out what the pattern is in the first beat, and then when it comes around for the second beat, repeat the pattern in a different method. Like try to make it a little bigger, but yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Do you really like when you have those kind of um that kind of structure because it does help you get your mind out of the scene and look for patterns rather than looking at like, oh, well, what are they like what's going on here? Uh six and one half does the other. It gives you something to work with a little bit.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, it does, yes. It in some ways it gives you uh uh like parameters to work in, but then sometimes it's fun to kick those parameters to the to the floor and like start doing your own thing. So it's you know, it kind of depends on what you want to do. If you enjoy doing a herald, keep doing a herald. If you want to do freeform, do freeform.
SPEAKER_01:So we'll just jump into our concept of the day. Uh, I wanted to talk about this with Mike because this was the topic of our um our uh workshop that we did with Mike. And it's uh the concept of the day is range of emotion. Um, and it is a term to describe an actor's range of expression. It reflects not only how varied the types of emotions the actor can implement effectively, but also the degree to which they can realistically portray them. So what was really cool about um like I think that this is a huge skill that you have as a uh a comedian. But I think also in solo improv, if you can show different ranges of emotion, I think you can definitely heighten your characters a lot.
SPEAKER_00:Gives you more to work with, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Right. But like I I when I went into improv, I thought, okay, I'm either sad or I'm happy or I'm jealous or I'm mad, but I didn't what what we kind of went through is okay, there's a a one to a hundred of how full scale of how um emotional that you are. You you're not gonna get as upset at you know a a bug getting stepped on as you are of like your grandfather getting you know stepped on switched by a bridge. For example, like you're gonna be much more upset if you're damn giants. Such a nuisance.
SPEAKER_00:The way that I learned range of emotion was through a former teacher of mine, Chris Griggs, who again is a master at his at his craft. Chris would have us kind of walk around the room in a very neutral, kind of ambiguous way, and you know, just kind of uh just just walk, just like find your own path. You don't have to walk with anyone else. You just kind of like do your own thing. And then he would call out an emotion. And his philosophy is there's four basic human emotions happiness, sadness, fear, and anger. And every other emotion that we experience as a human being is either a combination or a derivative of any number of those four, right? Um, so if you want to break it down to its bare of bones, right? It's happiness, sadness, fear, and anger. So he would call out one of those things. Uh, and then you have to embody this emotion. So if the emotion is uh anger, uh, which is a very easy go-to emotion for a lot of people, uh oh, oh, uh, damn it, oh, you stupid son of a gun, right? And Chris would look at the collective group of students and try to gauge as a whole where is everyone? Because for the most part, people feed off of each other's energy, right? So one person starts off with uh another person starts off with uh. So the rest of the class kind of find that middle ground between uh and uh and maybe we're at like a kind of thing, right? I know I'm being super specific here, super specific, but um he will kind of look at that and be like, all right, maybe we're at like a three on a scale of one to ten. Let's take it up to a five collectively. Let's try to take it up to a five. Now let's take it up to a seven, let's get out to a ten. And then sometimes he would surprise us and say, You can you can take this further. Let's go to twelve, right? And you're not expecting that. You think I'm playing at a 10, this is as big as I can get. No, no, no, no, it can't it can get bigger, right? Um, so teach and then we'd scale back down to a one and be like, Meh, I stepped on an ant, meh, you know. Uh, like what does that look like? And then we'd switch the emotion to fear or happiness or sadness. And uh, I remember I was doing this exercise, it was solo improv training, but it was in uh in a theater in Atlanta, which it's hard to say in Atlanta, you have to make that break in Atlanta, in Atlanta.
SPEAKER_02:Atlanta.
SPEAKER_00:I'm sure this is fascinating for anyone listening right now. That was a very important thing, so in Atlanta. Um, I was doing the solo improv workshop, and there was this guy. I I have no idea what his name is. Um, let's call him Peter. So Peter is on stage, and I'm having him do like this, like like the same range of emotion exercise, but by himself, so he has to feed off of his own energy. And I ask him to go down to a one and up to a 10. And his whole he was one of those very stoic individuals who never showed emotion ever in his personal life, ever. Like, hey, your grandma died. Oh, that sucks. Hey, you just won the lottery. Oh, that's really cool. I'm glad, you know. So getting him to play a range of emotion was really challenging. And the owner of the theater comes up and tells me, like, Mike, he's kind of a lost cause. Like, it's like you're not gonna get anything out of him. And I'm like, Oh, I'll get something out of him. So I get in this guy's face and I start screaming at him. And I'm like, start screaming with me, like, match my same level of like and he goes, Rrrr. And I'm like, no, and so eventually, like by screaming at him, and like I wasn't pushing him or hitting him, but I was kind of grabbing him and shaking him a little bit, like to try and stir some emotion in him, right? And eventually he got up to maybe not like what my level 10 is, but he totally broke out of his shell. And once he did that, then we could start exploring other emotions and like this. Is the beginning of your journey. You are not an emotions master after taking one workshop with some idiot from New York. Like you need to keep on this journey. But now that you've broken through, keep breaking through. You know what it feels like to break through. So do it more often. And just to have the theater owner pull me aside and be like, you're not going to get anything out of this kid. And I did. It was such a gratifying feeling to say anybody can do this. If Peter, what do I call him? Peter, if Peter can do this, anybody can do this. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Well, and I think too, I mean, I don't know. For me, that's that's what I love about improv, um, because it's it's that freedom that you're talking about, where it's like, I'm just thinking that Peter, after that, I'm hoping, came away from that feeling like a release, an outlet. Uh wow, like, you know, why do I feel so alive right now and so light and free? Because it's like I just went for it. I didn't, I didn't judge myself. I didn't, you know, try to suppress that part of me that maybe I do that in my everyday life. It was just this, ah, and there was no consequences for just expressing myself. And I feel like that's why I know I love improv so much because there it's just that that freedom, that feeling of and I know you talk about what's up?
SPEAKER_00:No, I love how you put that. There's no consequences for uh creative expression. I you phrased it a little differently, but essentially there's no consequences for ex like feeling emotion.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and I think a lot of people, not myself, but I think Mike, you and I are very much and just too like we're very like emotional people. We don't have issues with yeah, we don't have issues with expressing ourselves. But I think for a lot of people, emotions are scary and they're they're meant to be bottled and they're meant to be kept inside. And I think that's why um improv does attract people, just this, you know, kind of going back to something we talked about earlier about just like there's this community of people, and improv doesn't happen. I mean, it does for you, but not really in isolation. Like it's about relationships, and even in your solo improv, I would I would think that you, even though you're up there by yourself, you have you I've saw those videos, and it's like you immediately start building a relationship with the audience members, right?
SPEAKER_00:I often put it as when you're doing solo improvisation, yeah, you're the only person on stage, but that doesn't mean that you don't have a scene partner, the audience is your scene partner, and like if you uh again from that video of um uh that I did in Alaska with the the ballet fitness thing, whatever. Um there were times like I genuinely forgot this other character's name. I think her name is Krista, and then like I like it wasn't a bit, I forgot her name, and so the audience is playing into that. Like, there was a uh a moment where the guy who shouted out like who read on his Facebook feed uh and gave me the initial suggestion towards the end of the show, he uh uh when it comes to the point where my character, who now I'm just now realizing doesn't have a name, nameless, she was a nameless character, but my character, um uh now her two best friends in the world, Danielle and Krista, have left her, and she's in the market for two new best friends, right? So she goes to the audience. Will you be my best friend? And the guy who shouted out the original suggestion, uh, looked at the girl that I was looking at in the front row and said, You already established that she's the trash can, and it got a huge laugh. The audience is a part of my show. Like, yeah, I'm not the only star on stage. Like, I'm I I'm the conductor, right? I play myself and I play the audience together because I can't do this without the audience. Yeah, I mean, if I do, it's just me in the bathroom staring at myself in the mirror.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and I and the other video too, you you what I loved about the other kind of style or format that you did was that you pulled somebody up on stage with you to talk about their lives and their story, and then you proceeded, you know, to do your show based on their story. And um, which I mean, I think it's so that is brilliant. I mean, just from a perspective of a performer perspective, because you have already built in the audience is invested because they know this person's story now, and now it's just relatable to every single person in that room, and they're engaged with you because they want to see how you interpret that in your comedy and your performance. And I thought, wow, what a great that that was I thought that was great.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you, Mike Brown, so much for coming on. It's a real pleasure to have you. Uh, I I've been super excited to kick off this new season of For the Love. Uh before before we go, um, can you tell people where we can find you? Give any plugs that you want, um project. Tell us all the places and and yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, COVID has messed everything up, as it has for everyone. So uh my home theater mostly closed down. Uh I'm I'm in between theaters at the moment. So I don't like I don't have shows coming up. Uh I started a uh uh three different YouTube channels during COVID as a kind of household uh projects, and um again, like like everything has just kind of like been put on hold for the moment. I'm trying to this is this is the sad reality of human nature is that sometimes you just kind of have to be in the moment.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So I'm living in the moment right now. Uh, but if you want to check out my previous YouTube channels, um uh there is my 90s sitcom called Harwood's House, where uh one of our cats is the star of a 90s sitcom, basically, with a full laugh track and like it has that kind of friends kind of feel to it. Um, of course, I'm sure like I'll give you all the links and I'm sure they're all gonna be listed. Uh, next YouTube channel is called Gotta Love Them Movies, G-O-T-T-A, Gotta Love Them Movies, uh, where I just talk about like upcoming movies and movie news, um, fan theories, what's gonna happen in Doctor Strange and the multiverse of madness? Are the X-Men going to be revealed finally? Who knows who's the Illuminati? Who's the sixth member of the Illuminati? Um, if you know, you know. Uh, so it's gotta love them movies. Um, uh, my last YouTube channel is brand, brand, brand new. It's called How to New York. Uh, I love New York so much. Uh, I just wanted to kind of give back and uh teach people how to navigate New York like a like a pro, you know, how to ride the bus, how to buy a metro card, where to buy a metro card, uh, how to ride the subway. What are the do's and don'ts uh things to do on the subway? Don't make eye contact with people on the subway. That is a big one. Do not make eye contact with anyone. Uh anyway, it's just kind of like how to get here, how to get there, like how to get how to navigate New York City like a pro. But it's a brand new channel. I only have three videos up right now, so you can follow me on social media across all platforms at solo improv.
SPEAKER_01:That's awesome. Improv. He is the solo improv pioneer.
SPEAKER_00:Also, I would love to give a shout out. Um, uh I uh maybe uh uh uh uh founder is not the right word for me, but like pioneer. When I first started doing solo improv, I didn't know anybody who was doing solo improv. As I started joking going down this journey, I started meeting other people doing solo improv. So a huge shout out to Jill Bernard out of the Twin Cities. Uh Jill Bernard, uh, I think she does a one-woman show called Jill Bernard's Drum Machine, where she has um uh like like a sound box and like all these drum machine kind of sounds, whatever. And she dances and improvises and does scenes like along with this music. Uh, a very close friend of mine, Tracy Mull, um, has uh a one-woman improvised show called Boxed, where she does improve improv scenes with cardboard boxes. And it's cardboard boxes play play the characters and she interacts with the cards. It's so silly and creative, and it's wonderful. Uh, Michelle Drozdick out of uh also out of New York and uh uh Ben uh uh Ben Jones uh does a show just called Just Ben. Um I can't quite remember Michelle Drosdick's one woman show, uh, but uh there's also one deep. Um uh like there's there's a there's more solo improvisers out there than just me. Um, if you google solo improv, you're going to find a whole bunch of jazz music references. Um so finding solo improv improvisers are more difficult, but there's plenty of us out there. It's a movement that's starting to become a little bit more popular. So um uh yeah, I also mentioned Andrew Eninger out of uh Chicago. Um uh my goodness, uh Papita is another one out of the Magna Theater, um, by um uh Alana Fishbane. Uh, like there's it's it's a really interesting uh thing, and everybody has their own way of doing it, everyone has their own hook, their own thing. Uh Ryan, shoot, what's it? I'm sorry, I'm just like listing off people that I know.
SPEAKER_03:Our show notes, our show notes are gonna be like miles long. Uh Ryan seriously trying to get all the names in there.
SPEAKER_01:I'll I'll I'll get installed.
SPEAKER_00:Uh Amsterdam, he lives in Amsterdam.
SPEAKER_01:Um wow.
SPEAKER_00:Uh Ryan.
SPEAKER_01:Just Google Ryan.
SPEAKER_00:Ryan Amsterdam Solo Improv. Uh yeah, he's a oh man, he has a book out. I can't even think of his name. Um you can get you can get back to us.
SPEAKER_03:You can always yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, there's there's a lot of solo improvisers out there. Uh, I just have to look for him.
SPEAKER_01:You've been listening to For the Love of Improv. Head on over to our website at For the Love of Improv for show notes and to find more episodes. Improv
