Improv Insider

One of Sydney’s more prolific producers of improv comedy, this episode we chat with John Knowles about IMPROZAC, the 1990s show he created with Adam Gelin. John and I have been trying to make this happen for almost a year now, and I think it’s turned out as a pretty good tribute to the show and the concepts and mechanics behind it. Aside from the hour spent on IMPROZAC, we also make passing reference to Scared Scriptless, chain saws, the Harold Park Hotel and flower arranging.

Episode9.mp3 (80.2 MB, 1h 10m 54s)

Recorded on 26^th November 2010

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Not so much an interview, but a group chat with Pink Ladies. While I did have a quite structured list of questions, and had only planned to raise gender at a certain point, it seems you just can’t ignore what is still unfortunately the elephant in the room, and thus the issue of it being a troupe of women is raised within the first minute, and stays pretty much the focus until the end. They joked, they laughed, they drowned each other out for much of it, but what lies within is a great insight into why, regardless of gender, troupes are so important for the continued development and reinvention of improv in Sydney. We are in exciting times indeed.

Episode8.mp3 (46 MB, 57m 4s)

Recorded on 11^th September 2010, after their final rehearsal before opening night, with a small child running around at the time. So, situation normal. Pink Ladies interviewed were Linette Voller, Sophie Long, Cindy Tonkin, Jess Mallett, Jane Simmons, Karena Thomas, Louise McManus, Lucie Booker, Linda Calgaro and Erin Foy.

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Richard and Peter chat about long form (yet again…), the road from Keith to Del, going public with the great Sydney improv secret, touching upon a few of Richard’s previous improv projects, and chatting about Richard’s show A Night at the Improv and why he (at least) thinks its important. And that kind of stuff…

Episode7.mp3 (66 MB, 1hr 13m 22s)

Recorded indoors this time on 17^th August 2010, very late at night, with the odd drink slurp in the background, so kind of situation normal.

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Our interview with Lisa Ricketts, a professional improvisor and one of Sydney’s favourite players, chatting about how to get cast in the Sydney scene (kind of), female improvisors, Explosive Minds, improv festivals, growing balls, and breaking into the U.S. You can visit Lisa’s blog at Improv Bootcamp.

Excuse the odd wind effect, I left my wind screen at home.

Episode6.mp3 (66 MB, 48mins)

Recorded 19^th June 2010.

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