The Wisdom of Chicago Improv with Liz Allen

Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out

Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out podcast

Mygirlfriendsboyfriend, Interviews, Comedy Interviews, Sleepwalkwithme, Iraglass, Comedy, Thankgodforjokes, Thenewone, Mikebirbiglia, Dontthinktwice, Birbiglia

4.8 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2024

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chicago improv performer and teacher Liz Allen taught a workshop for Mike’s college improv group almost 25 years ago. Since then, Mike and Liz have found numerous ways to reunite and collaborate, most notably on Mike’s film Don’t Think Twice. Now Mike sits down for an in-depth chat with one of his favorite improvisers about the unique roots of Chicago improv, Liz’s (in)famous teacher Del Close, and the one-in-a-million coincidence that connected Liz and Gillian Jacobs.

Transcript

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0:00.0	So what do you think is the biggest misconception about improv as an as an art form?
0:07.0	Well, is that you have to be funny, you don't, you have to be real and allow the funny will emerge if it's supposed to from the
0:15.0	circumstance of people being honest because usually people drawn to improv have a
0:19.3	lot to say about the world so they're going to be offering a lot of material that can evolve
0:26.3	into something funny and then the second misconception is that you have to be an
0:29.4	extrovert to improvise and that you have to be an extrovert. The best improvisers in the world are introverts who are quiet and observe and take in the world.
0:41.6	That is the voice of the great Liz Allen.
0:44.0	Liz is a renowned Chicago improviser and teacher.
0:48.0	One of my favorite people and improvisers in the world.
0:53.0	This is an episode I could not have anticipated occurring
0:56.5	many, many years ago because Liz
0:59.7	taught me an improv workshop all the way from Chicago to Washington DC when I was in college.
1:07.0	She and Charna Halper and other folks from a group called Frank Booth at Improv Olympic, taught a workshop with my
1:17.4	college Improv Group and so I've known her for a long time and then I reconnected with her in 2015 when I was making the
1:26.1	movie Don't Think Twice and I asked her if she would coach the fictional group of
1:31.0	myself and Keegan Michael Key Gillianian Jacobs, Chris Gethard, Kate
1:34.8	McCutche and Tammy Sager, and she was incredible. Like I could not recommend her more
1:42.4	highly as an improviser or as a teacher of improv.
1:45.4	I've recommended her to a ton of people as an improv coach, improv teacher, even on Zoom.
1:54.7	So if that's something that interests you,
1:56.4	go on her website.
1:58.1	Liz Allen Improv.com.
	...

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