who put you here?

[beardedlamb]

on the topic of another post i made in the classes section about sean hill, i'd like to inquire how you came to improv and if there was one person or a few people who turned you on to it, who they were and how did it happen?

in addition to sean hill, i credit the true beginning of my love affair with improv to my friend michael joplin.

mike was a year ahead of me in school and as a senior in high school he auditioned for and made it into a monk's night out sister troupe called Code Blue. They were great and actually quite blue to match their name. Anyway, when Monks sent out notice that they were going to be auditioning for a second sister troupe, I wanted to give it a go. Mike was a freshman at UT and I was still in high school. I spent the night at his place the night before the new round of auditions. In the morning, the auditions were at something like noon on a Saturday, I told Mike I wasn't going. He said that I was better at improv than he was, and anything he could do, I could do. There's nothing quite like the reassurance of an idol to bolster your confidence, so I took that with me to the auditions and I made it.
That one sentence he said impacted my life in the most amazing way. I can't imagine how different things would be if I hadn't gone to that audition and if he hadn't said it, I wouldn't have gone.

It probably isn't true that I was better than Mike at improv, but just hearing it and having him put it so simply and logically gave me the juice I needed.

So, is there anyone in your life who has done the same for you?

[kbadr]

After reading your big Sean Hill post, it pains me to know that so much was happening in my town, while I lived here, and I had no idea it was happening.

I've told this story before, but I like it, so I'll tell it again.

I really had no idea what improv was until I went to NYC in 2004. I'd seen Who's Line, but it really did nothing for me. During the NYC trip, I saw honest-to-god actual improv in the form of The Swarm, at UCB. Looking back on it, I was a jackass and gave them a lame suggestion, but they still did an inspiring show. Anyway, they did their 2 high-energy sets and I was just blown away. As soon as the lights came up, I turned to my then-fiancee and said "I need to do this."

I came back to Austin from my trip, my then-fiancee became my ex-fiancee, and I immediately saught out all the things that I wanted to do with my life. Improv was the first thing on the list. I actually don't remember how I found Andy and the Hideout, though I suspect it was just from a simple google search. I found that a level I class was starting up soon, and recruited my good friends to join me.

Every Saturday, class was like a drug. Like therapy, only with play-time. It was simply amazing. I'd ride the high of class for 3 days until Wednesday when I'd start itching to go back to class.

So...I guess I don't really have a single person that thrust me into improv. I have plenty of comedy influences, I suppose, but it was Lady Improv herself who lured me into this. It really was just as simple as that. I saw my first show and I just *had* to do it. I didn't know why, and I still don't know why. I was drawn to it.

(I still remember going to the D&D with Andy after class and having him tell us that he had a feeling we'd be in it for the long-haul, or some such...)

Thinking about those first classes kind of depresses me. It was such an aincredible life-changing thing for me. I wish I could attain that again.

[York99]

That's a cool story, Jeremy. I love hearing things like that.

** Added: I meant for this post to be brief, but for reasons you will see if you choose to read on, I could not edit it any more and give the credit that is due here.

For me, I don't know if there is any solid instance or person that got me in to improv. There have been, many people along the way who have kept me here. It mostly comes in the form of reassurances... particularly when I'm in a slump.

Example: I often get the note from teachers and coaches that I don't have very "big" characters and I don't use very much physicality. I have always hated this note, not because I am scared of doing these, but they just don't interest me. Exploring slight variations from my center are fascinating and fun to me.

When in Chicago, we saw a Messing with a Friend show at the Annoyance. In the cast that night was Noah Gregoropoulous. He played a variety of characters -- a cop, a janitor, the husband of a busybody, etc. -- and they were largely the same guy... but he was brilliant and I was pissing myself with excitement.

After the show I ran to Chris Trew (who spent the previous summer in Chicago) and asked about Noah. He said Noah was one of the best improvisors he'd seen and that he never went "big" with characters. My head was swimming with a giant "fuck you" to all teachers who gave me the aforementioned note. By this time Arthur arrived in the conversation. Then Chris said that he had thought of me as very much like Noah and he and Arthur both praised my ability as a straight man. They even said that they appreciated my grounding of scenes that allowed their "big" characters to thrive in a scene. I thought my low-key approach was a big negative and they assured me it was a positive. I was almost in tears. I think I actually was a bit choked up and had to walk ahead of the pack to collect myself. It was one of the greatest compliments these ears could hear.

I'm not saying that I wouldn't be here without that brief conversation, but it was one of those instances that solidified my resolve to work as hard as I could on improv because it is something that I truly love to do and I am often good at it.

[DollarBill]

Richie Lozano: The new kid from Houston became my best friend in 7th grade. He coaxed me into a theatre elective in 8th grade, where I got my first laughs from improv scenes like the ones in that funny british show on Comedy Central. I was adicted. Theatre in 8th grade is also where I met...
Marc Rios: Together we were the master sketch-writers/improvised-scene-spinners/edutainment-video-creators of the class of 2000 Westwood Wariors. But we ran with a crowd that was in a nerdy theatre turf war with some mysterious upper classmen who were putting on scripted, sketch, and improv shows to rave reviews. Because of clique-yness I rarely came in contact with perople like Aaron Saenze, Ben Sterling, and...
Jon Benner: Who, in my junior year, told me to do a prat-fall in the hallway, and then said it wasn't very good, and then asked me personal questions about my penis in front of his friends. He lived next door to...
Ace Manning: Who was fat. They were all part of an improv troupe called...
Well Hung Jury: And the Jury had a friend of mine in it named...
Amy McCurdy: She was in my grade. My senior year she told me that the Jury was having auditions and she pressured me to try out. I only went cuz Marc Rios went with me for moral support. After the auditions and call backs...
Jeremy Lamb: Called me and told me I was in. Then he and the others taught me what they knew about improv and pretended to have...
Butt-sex: with each other.

Pretty much, I just got lucky that the people I met forced me to get over my shyness and use my creativity to do what I love. Thanks, Friends.

[craigy]

Sean Hull Hill... Like Jeremy, Father Hideout was my siren.

I did improv in Corpus for years... I moved to San Marcos for SWT... and was still doing Forensic Tournaments. I missed improv so much. Sean placed an ad in the paper to join a new troupe "Austin TheatreSports". I auditioned and blew goats. I remember "trying" to be funny, and doing the complete opposite. I was doing scenes with Todd Womak (who made the troupe, but never went to a rehearsal or show for he was chosen to drive the Oscar Meyer Weiner Van) and I wasn't listening to him.
Anyways Sean and Lampe called me back.. and I squeeked in and paid my dues.

I remember being in the kitchen in my apartment... it was dark except for the light above the stove. I listened to Sean's message 10 times. Not knowing that that was the turning point moment in my life. 95% of the people I know, places I worked in Austin, came to me directly and indirectly through that AD. Thank you Seany Sean.

[phlounderphil]

I'd have to say that originally it was my 8th grade theatre teacher Mrs. Dickson who got me into improv.

She convinced me to sign up for theatre tournaments in the improv category. It was bullshit, basically they gave you three things (a place, an occupation, and an object) and you had 2 minutes to go plan out a little scene involving those three things. It was not real improv.

Then I went to High School (where Ace Manning and Kacey Samiee were seniors and co-presidents of Drama Club), it was there that I heard tales of the great Well Hung Jury (who mostly attended the same high school in previous years). I went to see one of their shows, fell in love with improv.

Continued going to the Hideout and saw many now-defunct troupes like Ed32, We Could Be Heroes (when they still had that name), Bedridden, and the Jury. I hardly remember any of those shows, except for when we went to Wafflefest for Doug's 16th birthday (four years ago!) and saw Heroes of Comedy do an awesome game of mousetrap.

I decided to get into improv, got some people together and performed at some high-school talent shows. Eventually got the balls to hold auditions for a troupe and cast several people (including Kaci Beeler, Doug Pena, and Xaq [summer-time stage manager]). Brought in Jeremy Lamb (w/ other assorted Jury members) to teach us some workshops. We performed four times as the PITS (Premier Improvisational Theatre Society). Three times at our high-school and one ill-fated show that I booked (through the wonderful Sean Hill) at the Hideout.

The Pits separated eventually and I got into other things for a little while (poetry, etc). Then most of us (w/ Greg now in tow) got back together a year later and started rehearsing as Comedic Amoeba, just to have fun. Kaci and I started going to the Jam and ended up convincing Andy to let Comedic Amoeba play 3 shows at the Hideout, it was a lot of fun, and eventually led to Kaci and Me both being asked to join PGraph. After the Comedic Amoeba members all left for college, You Me & Greg was what remained.

Big Credit goes to:
Bearded Lambo
Bill Stern
Ace Manning
Jon Benner
the rest of WHJ
Sean Hill
Andy Crouch (who made the jam so friendly and allowed Comedic Amoeba to perform without even knowing us).
Mrs. Knifton (high-school theatre teacher)
and Mrs. Dickson (middle school theatre teacher)
and the old school TV show KWIK WITZ (which was not improv, but did feature Wayne Brady / Colin Mocherie / other TV improvisers).

[cargill]

I started doing improv in High School as well. In 10th grade, my theater teacher introduced us to it and I competed in the Group Improvistion category at UIL winning 2nd place one year and 3rd place another. It was like a drug. Then I joined ComedySportz Austin in 1997. After 4-years of the short form my boyfriend (now husband) and I moved to Chicago and took all the classes at Improv Olympic, Annoyance and Second City. We did lots of festivals and eventually (under difficult circumstances), had to drop everything and move back to Texas. It turned out to be a great decision and reflecting on the people who inspired me I can say:

Mrs. Canales
Les McGeehe
Erin Plischke
TJ Jagadowski
John Lutz
The Fab 5
Bevy
David Montgomery
Obsessed
Mark Sutton
Mick Napier
Stephanie Weird
Bob Dassie

[Mo Daviau]

1) Tony Slattery. That raunchy Brit bastard, filling my teenage head with filthy notions of "Mistranslated European Pornography" via Comedy Central in the earliest moments of the nineties. A year or two earlier, my mascara-magnet junior high drama teacher had cast a "improv and skit troupe" pointedly excluding those of us who turned gangly and awkward in our adolescence, making the incorrect assumption that popular kids can do improv. I want to gag that bitch with a sock.

2) Jesse McM. He was an adorable gay boy at my high school, and was in our short-lived high school improv troupe. That troupe served more to edify me on sexual matters than to teach me actual improv. Feeling confident about my high school acquired skills (I should thank that guy from SDComedySportz here--thank you for coaching our troupe), I auditioned for the troupe at Smith, only to be turned down by a hefty and bearded lesbian. Recently, a member of the troupe told me she thought I was "really good." But being clean-shaven wasn't good enough for them, I guess.

3) Shana Merlin. The College Houses Co-ops used to sponsor "Education Weekends!" where they'd bring in local heroes of carpentry, cooking, and comedy to teach the drunken and oversexed co-opers a thing or two. The Education angels brought Shana to our dirty teal-walled hovel and spent two hours playing games with us. I told her that I had done some bitchin' 'prov back in high school, and she told me I should take classes at the Hideout. I LISTENED TO HER. And look what happened! Thank you, Shana!

[Roy Janik]

hmmm... in order

1) Who's Line Is it Anyway? (British Version)
It's weird. I loved this show so much, but it never dawned on me to try it myself. I just thought they were damned funny people. It seems absurd to me now that I didn't think critically about the nature of improv, and why it was that what they were doing was special, etc, etc... to me it was just seeing these quick witted people being funny.

2) The Knighthood of BUH
I didn't know I was doing improv at the time, but the Knighthood was a great training ground. On a semi-weekly basis we'd go out in public and pretend to be other people, other organizations, peasants, frat boys... whatever struck our fancy... and our only hard rule was that we have fun while doing it. And more importantly, we gave a rat's ass what other people thought of us.

3) Kareem Badr
Kareem wanted/needed to do improv, and I fully supported keeping him distracted and happy. Little did I know that improv would turn out to be more than a useful side-distraction. I can also lay the blame on Wesley Anne Marie Bain and Dave Montoya for providing enough peer pressure to keep me going after level 1.

4) Andy Crouch
Andy's teaching and positivity in the classes was inspirational and infectious. From day one he encouraged us to stick with improv. And him inviting us to play Maestro early on got us hooked on the performance aspect of improv. Better than all that, though, were the drunken chats at The Gingerman after shows, where Andy reassured us that we were capable of forming a troupe and that we should do so with much haste. So we did. And I'm still proud of the fact that when I took the Johnstone one day intensive, nothing he said was new to me... Andy had done an excellent job conveying his teaching.

[Miggy]

I loved Jeremy's post and in fact sent it along to someone not in the community to give them some of the history of what's happening here in Austin and how we've gotten here. Sorry to always think business here, but we should have a better history up on the Austinimprov site. We have a creation narrative and we should make sure people know about it.... because it's dang interesting!

For myself, the people who are responsible for me getting into improv: Corey Huinker and Sara Farr. Sorry for the rambling post. Read if interested...

I had done various backstage roles (lights, set construction, etc....) through high school in New York and college in Pennsylvannia and once at a community theatre in Memphis. After moving to Austin I didn't really know anybody so I did stupid things like join my HOA board where Corey was also a member. We became friends and he kept telling me about these improv classes he was taking and how they were, for him, lessons in life. If you're good at improv, he would say, you're good at the interpersonal skills that will get you through life. As an awkward dorky kid with a lot of time on my hands, I thought to myself "I could use a lesson in life" and enrolled in Shana's level I.

At first I absolutely feared going to those Saturday classes. The people were nice and Shana was awesome and proffesional (we had a legally blind individual in our class which was challenging) - but it just put me in a strange uncomfortable place. All the same, I continued to go and took level II and III with Andy where one of the members of our class once described her experience with improv as "Hot Burning Shame" which was the name we used for our graduation show. She went to her job in Antarctica and the rest of us looked like we were just going to drop it. I thought we had a great graduation show with just an amazing amount of positive energy from the audience. We liked the class, we liked each other but we had all taken other classes and liked the subject and the people but when it was over we stopped.

Enter Sara Farr. She was the person who beat the drum and kept us all together and excited about forming a troupe. The enticing part for me was less the performance opportunity and more the chance to continue to have practice and learn. We got together with Frank and Amy and brought in Shana for our first troupe practice. She had us make hand turkeys and fill out what we thought we brought to the troupe and write on other people's turkeys what we thought they brought. I can't remember what I wrote for Amy because I just met her for the fist time that day. That's the troupe's founding document of sorts and it's currently tacked to the wall in Frank's barn where we did our rehearsals every week.

One of our working troupe names was 'It came from Frank's Barn' and I'll say looking back on it, those were some magical times. Our number one fan, Tune, provided amazing food and drink and we had three space heaters during the winter to keep us warm. We had occasional coaches and occasionally tried to run practice ourselves. We weren't any good and I remember our first long form being chaotic with our then full cast of 10 players.

Somehow, we got scheduled for a show at the Hideout and we decided to have a 'dress rehearsal' at the barn and invited friends and coaches out to eat Alfresco and watch our show. It was beautiful weather, a great idea but we didn't decide until that evening what the heck we were doing and it showed. We have a tape of that show and it's painful and funny to watch all at the same time. If we ever have a party to watch films of our worst shows, we could match wits with anyone.

Despite that hardly auspicious beginning, the next weekend we got a warm welcome (and flowers and cigars and a card) for our first show which we did under the new name of 'The Leading Brands'.

That's my/our story...at least up to March.

-Mike

[ChrisTrew.Com]

I did sketch comedy and lots of Tom Greem-ish type of stuff in college for Tiger Television and Studio8.net. I took everything very seriously, the people surrounding me slowly stopped. I moved back to New Orleans after college and started doing production work. I got a job traveling with VH1 on the show Motormouth in the summer of 2004.

Ryan Ramos told me about his friend back home in L.A. that performed with the Groundlings, Mikey Day. I knew the name because he was on a couple of MTV prank shows that I really liked. Ryan told me that MTV hired improvisers for shows like that. I was intrigued. This was in Tulsa.

I ran to the computer in the hotel and looked up improv in New Orleans. I signed up for a class. The plan was to get some experience before I moved to L.A. I had no idea I would fall in love with improv and I decided to stay in New Orleans.

Cut to one year later and I'm hanging out at a bar in Los Angeles with Ryan Ramos, telling him about my past year in improv and how I just spent my summer at IO in Chicago and now I'm here doing the Comedy Sportz world tournament, etc. Then I ended up Austin about ten days after that.

So, in short, a friend of mine told me I'd be good at it and did his best to explain that the improv he'd seen wasn't like the improv I'd seen on TV.
When I get the money, Ryan Ramos is getting a fruit basket.

[Wesley]

who put you here?

I fully believe that God created improv 6,000 years ago and it neither came from another art form, nor has become another art form since.

Beyond that, I was a big fan of Who's Line (British) back when Comedy Central was just getting off the ground and ran it 14 times a day inbetween showings of MST3K and Exit 57.

I mentioned to friends a few times in passing that we should try it sometime whenever I'd see an ad or flyer somewhere. Of course, I also mentioned that we should try ToastMasters, Civil War Reenactment, Televised Robot Fighting, and the Special Olympics, so I don't think anyone took me seriously.

Then, one day, Kareem sends me this e-mail saying "I'm taking this class. So are you. Sign up." I did. And the rest as they say, was the divine will of a spiteful trickster God intent on destroying my life personally, professionally, and permanently using whatever tools he could, in this case an ongoing, overwhelming desire to do improv all the time.

[Marc Majcher]

I took some theater classes in college, which were fun, and did some fairly long runs in Rocky Horror in a couple of cities, but I don't really have any kind of actual acting background. I'd seen Who's Line like everyone else, and went to a show that Les McGeHee put on at the Alamo, and saw Tight do some stuff with Jerm at the Carousel, but while those were fun to watch, I was never like, "OMG! I'm totally doing that!"

In the summer of 2005, I was working downtown, and I'd come to the Hideout for a sandwich and coffee every once in a while. I never really noticed the big sign or the big posters out front. I did see a small sign for classes near the register one day, and remembered that someone told me that I should take an acting class or something recently, so I checked myself into Andy's level 1 class. Life gets weird sometimes, and I'm a pretty big dork every now and then, so I figured that something like an improv class would be good for me.

I had no idea. OMG.

I'm still a total noob to improv here, but the last year and change has been super awesome, because pretty much every single person that I've met here has been awesome in one way or another. I guess I've got a really late start compared to the majority of y'all, but I'm looking forward to many awesome years to come...

[vine311]

Kim Cranston - She was my high school Drama teacher during my senior year. She encouraged me to compete in solo and group improv at drama contests. It wasn't real improv (like Phil said) but I didn't know any better at the time. We won lots of trophies, including one that was taller than me. I'll never forget her telling me before I graduated "If I find out that you are going through your life without using your acting talent, I'm gonna hurt you real bad". I should look her up and invite her to a show.

Who's Line - A lot of others have touched on this show so I won't elaborate much. I too watched a lot of this show and thought "that's what REAL improv is". I didn't realize how wrong I was until I discovered the Hideout.

Andy Crouch - He directed the first Maestro I ever saw. (after reading about it in the Chronicle) I got up onstage as an audience volunteer and gave really crappy suggestions during a game of Twin Pillars. I signed up for classes very soon after that show and Andy taught me the first three levels of improv.

Shana Merlin - I met Shana after I finished up level 3 classes. I started going to her Wednesday night scene study classes when she first started them up and learned a ton of things that I use onstage on a regular basis. I miss those classes and hope to pick them up again soon if I can rearrange my schedule to allow for it.

Wesley Bain, Roy Janik, and Kareem Badr - I had never heard of Pgraph when I first encountered these gents. They were in that first Maestro I saw and I was totally blown away. Wes and Roy would later approach me about joining their respective Cagematch teams. Those invitations probably cemented my commitment to this community and this artform more than anything else.

Eric Heiberg - When I was in level one classes, I went to one of the Tuesday night Jams and I felt extremely intimidated and ran home with my tail between my legs. After I finished Level three classes, I went back to give the jam, and myself another chance. I had a blast. Eric was running the jam that night. (along with DeRoos I believe) During the break, I went downstairs to get something to drink and I ran into Eric down there. He walked up to me and said "Hey, you're pretty decent man, have you ever done improv before?" It wasn't exactly a rave review but it was enough validation to keep me interested and keep me coming back to the jam for many weeks following that.

Jay Bernardo - He was the TA in my level 3 class. (It could have been lvl 2 but I'm pretty sure it was 3) Anyway, we were outside smoking during break one class day and he told me "I'm pretty sure they're going to ask you to play Maestro pretty soon". That was a huge confidence booster and fueled me even more.

Andrea Young & Kacee Samiee - Both of them told me I was funny and a lot of fun to play with in Maestro. I almost blushed...for real...me likey pretty girls.

A lot of these quotes may seem insignificant to the casual reader but my point is they made a difference to me. I am one of those people that sometimes needs validation from others that I admire and respect in order to reach for higher goals. I like to know that I'm doing a good job and that others can see it. I hope to pay this forward and inspire some noobs myself someday.

I have been inspired and educated by so many people in this community. From taking classes to watching shows to simply making friends and personal connections. I would put together a huge list but I fear that I might leave someone out. Just know that I appreciate each and every one of you and I think you know who you are.

Last but certainly not least, I owe a lot to everyone in IFE. If it weren't for these guys, I wouldn't have stuck with this as long as I have.

[deroosisonfire]

whose line is it anyway? (the british version). i grew up watching this, too. i also watched a lot of stand-up. i learned my sense of timing entirely from watching these (because i had no friends to hang out with instead).

orangetree theater company. entirely run by and only produced pieces written by youth under the age of 19. all of my friends did it, so i auditioned the summer before my senior year of high school. i was cast in the improv group, the traveling tangerines. we rehearsed in a local park and performed at local summer camps. i loved it.

kelley burkett. when i got to college i wanted to do comedy and decided to audition for the campus sketch group. i met kelley at an orientation event and she suggested that i should try out for the campus improv group, which she happened to be a member of. the improv auditions were first, so i decided to give them a try. i was a member of the whistling shrimp before the sketch group auditions even began.

the men of the whistling shrimp. i was not really that good when i got in. i was told that i got in because i was adorable, and that i had almost been rejected by the girls in the group. the guys were really great and supportive (yep, i dated 2 of them that year) and the social bonds were enough to keep me in it. eventually the improv fell into place, too.

valerie ward. she is the reason i got so involved here. i met valerie at the jam on my 5th day in austin and she was superfriendly. she made me feel so welcomed i kept coming back and eventually got sucked in.