Improv Insider

Episode 10 – Cranston Cup with Cale and Marko

Richard — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:38:51 +0000

What started out as an interview with Cale Bain, this year’s Cranston Cup Director, about his vision for this year’s season, turned into a history of the Cranston and all it’s quirkiness, with Cale and Impro Australia’s Artistic Director Marko Mustac. Oh, and we find out if Cale has a vision. The Cranston Cup is a Sydney Theatresports institution, listen in to find out how it started and where it’s headed.

Episode10.mp3 (67.8 MB, 44m 38s)

Recorded on 19^th September 2011

Episode 9 – John Knowles/IMPROZAC interview

Richard — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 14:23:06 +0000

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

Episode 8 – Pink Ladies interview

Richard — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 13:14:38 +0000

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.

Episode 7 – Fireside chat w/Richard BF and Peter Lead

Richard — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:21:39 +0000

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.

Episode 6 – Lisa Ricketts interview

Richard — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:41:42 +0000

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.

Episode 5 – Ed Illades interview

Richard — Sat, 22 May 2010 15:22:34 +0000

Chicago and New York improvisor Ed Illades was visiting Sydney for a few months for personal reasons, so we dragged him into a series of workshops and an interview, chatting about Chicago, sketch vs improv, being in the moment, and short form vs long form.

We’ve also taken the leap to stereo and full length interviews, so the files are bigger, but still small enough to be downloadable. Use your pause button if want to hear it in smaller chunks.

Episode5.mp3 (71 MB)

Recorded 20^th May 2010.

Episode 4 – Cale Bain interview part 2

Richard — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 12:16:14 +0000

A rather short part 2 of our interview with Cale Bain. Enjoy.

Episode4.mp3 (12 MB)

Recorded 29^th January 2010.

Episode 3 – Cale Bain interview part 1

Richard — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:29:48 +0000

This is part 1 of our interview with Cale Bain, Sydney’s adopted Canadian improvisor, talking about the differences between Sydney, Canadian and Chicago improv. We’ve also switched to stereo, higher quality audio, and no avian sound effects. Enjoy.

Episode3.mp3 (44 MB)

Recorded 29^th January 2010.

Episode 2 – Peter Lead interview part 2

Richard — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:17:28 +0000

Here’s part 2 of our interview with Peter Lead, continuing with Peter’s production history, and finally ending with a few production tips, the original point of the interview.

Episode2.mp3 (27 MB)

Recorded 22^nd January 2010.

Episode 1 – Peter Lead interview part 1

Richard — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 09:45:17 +0000

Our first episode is part 1 of our interview with Peter Lead, which was going to be about producing your own improv show, the tricks and the traps, but instead turned into a history of Peter’s work and the Sydney improv scene.

Episode1.mp3 (14 MB)

Apologies for the embedded field recording, we did the interview in my backyard, due to this being the first house I’ve had which doesn’t have a quiet recording space. I should have checked that before buying.

Recorded 22^nd January 2010.

Welcome to Improv Insider

Richard — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:48:01 +0000

Improv Insider is a podcast covering the history and production of improv comedy shows in Sydney Australia. Sydney has a 30 year history of Theatresports improv, give or take the odd long form show, yet only now things are really starting to take off with new shows, new forms and new ideas.

Join us as we interview some of Sydney’s improv newbies and oldies, to find out what’s been happening over the last 30 years, and where we might be headed in the next few.