*Micro-form improv. Shorter than short-form improv. A lot shorter than long-form improv.

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Here are some cracking new photos by the brilliant Fiona Finchett, taken at GRIT Art Studio. I spend so much time looking forward that I wanted to reflect on what and who got me to where I am now. I also wanted a new portrait, to tell the story and mark my half-century.

My twenties were all about trying to become a comic book artist. My thirties were all about becoming a stand-up comedian and my forties a rollercoaster of creative activity. The pandemic helped sort through my priorities and come full circle. Now I draw and perform, sometimes simultaneously.

Earlier this year I retired Danny Pensive, the comedy character I'd performed as for around 15 years. Gigging as Danny was one of the high points of my comedy career, but I do feel as though I now have a much better life-work balance.

I've been searching for a quote by comedian and TV producer Jimmy Mulville about "doing your best working your 50's". The general jist is who you by now who are and what you're good at and have the skills to make it happen. That's where I feel right now.

I've built up quite a body of work. The illustration is physical, I can see how I've developed over time. The comedy side is a little trickier to reflect on. I've plethora of photos and videos from when I started in the days before social media, but comedy is more ephemeral, an intangible thing that happens in a room. Oh the memories.

Joining GRIT art studio in late 2023 is perfectly timed. Joining a community of folks making great work. I even host an event for artists, in the same way I used to run comedy nights.

I'm excited for the new opportunities, and being in Manchester right now feels like a brilliant space for creative minds. Loads going on, and if I can be part of it, and make a mark on it, then that is time very well spent.

John,
November 2024

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There's nothing in the UK that's really comparable the annual improv championship. It's not really a competition,  more a convention of comedy shows and improv workshops where performers from all over the us - and UK - come together for one week to collaborate and learn new skills.

Improv is on the rise in the UK, but no where near as well established as it is in the US, with it's dedicating schools of improvisation, not just for performance skill, but also as a tool for learning. This annual event attracts some of the worlds best teachers of improvisation. During the week I took workshops in diverse topics such as character types, status, building emotional connections. There was also a brilliant workshop on how to teach improv, weighing up the feedback approach versus side-coaching that It really got into the nuts and bolt of how teachers teach.

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival

A twenty four hour turnaround from landing the Manchester improv gang regrouped and headed to Edinburgh for our twelfth year at the fringe. I've taken up solo comedy shows in the past, and it a lot less stressful to be part of a team.

During my ten days there I was performing in four shows per day including the regular ComedySportz show, guest spots, comparing a couple of night of Salfunny, and a late night improvised true crime show.

Salfunny was a showcase for students studying the comedy degree at Salford University. One of their performers, Erika Ehler, went on to win the Chortle new comedian award.

There were more improvised shows there this year than ever before, and while and that's a good thing for recognition of improv, it's important to keep the quality standard high. With stand up comedy and improv, there is no barrier to entry, to learn the skill is a choice. There are some great places to learn improv best practice around the UK, and hopefully some day soon improv will be as well recognised as a teaching skill as it across the pond.

• CSz Worldwide
• Salford University Comedy Writing and Performance
• Chortle New Comedian of the Year
• Comedy Background

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In early 2018 I was involved with Manchester's Business Growth Hub 'Spark 2 Scale' programme - had lots of help with business plans for my workshop using stand up comedy skills for public speaking 'Present Yourself' - based on the book from 2017. I was invited to run it as part of their special events, which in turn led to a few engagements at Manchester's Google Digital Garage.

There's been a lot more illustration this year than previous years. I finally got on Instagram. Inspired by the 'Bee in the City' project I created a bee for the Manchester Fringe and that led to me being asked to design the mascot for the Fringe. During the fringe I also ran out an experimental show - 'Confessions of a WordPress Fanatic', combining stand up, songs and website development just to 'talk about what I know' and see if it would work. Not great numbers in the audience, but very rewarding.

Some great project's landed on my table including illustrating for a TV advert, re-designing and re-branding Wentworth Music Festival, and working with actor Arthur Bostrom on his new 'Fronch Phrose Berk' writing as Officer Crabtree, the character he played in 'Allo 'Allo. So much creative freedom with all these projects, too.

In August much fun was had performing at the Edinburgh fringe with ComedySportz, and before that I headed over to Dublin for the first Improv Utopia event, a long weekend of improv workshops with people from all over Europe and the USA.

Personal highlights this year including Running a couple of half marathons and walking up Snowdonia with the Manchester Road Runners crew. Hosting the Pint of Science festival and meeting inventive folk, then hosting a manic Doctor Who convention and finally meeting Peter Davison. There was some sad news closer to home, which makes me even more grateful for the amazing people I have as family and friends.

Inktober was a bit of a revelation. I'd never heard of it until it was already happening. Draw an inked image everyday for a month. Having done so much digital artwork I'd forgotten just how much I love the real thing. That and brush pens. The very fact I didn't know they existed until this year baffled me and excited me in equal measure. Inktober opened more doors for me, just be doing it.

I've loved doing the 'WordPress Fanatic' show, as it was quite personal in place, and want to take it to Edinburgh in 2019. I also have a new comics illustration project that's taking shape and am aware don't have the time to do both. Right now the comic project is winning out as it something I have more control over. I love the Edinburgh fringe, and performing, but there are so many variable's and I've not taken a solo show up since 2011. I'd like something more solid and tangible to show for 2019. And I'm allowed to change my mind on that.

As I plan out 2019 current thoughts are to double down on what works. Building the good projects for nice people and building new relationships in turn. Take risks and live life. Oh and and have a holiday, I'm so due a holiday.

• Spark 2 Scale
• Present Yourself at Google Digital Garage
• Illustrating for TV with GroundBreak Productions
• Great Manchester Run Half Marathon
• Mascot Design for the Great Manchester Fringe Festival
• Pint of Science Festival
• Improv Utopia Ireland
• Comedysportz and Joke Thieves at the Edninburgh Festival
• VWORP! An independant Doctor Who convention
• Good Moaning France With Arthur Bostrom
• Inktober
• Manchester Half Marathon
• Liverpool improvathon 2018
• Comedysportz Panto 2018
• and all the other lovely comedy gigs I've done as Danny Pensive.

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Venue: The Kings Arms, Salford, M3 6AN
Ticket available on Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/confessions-of-a-wordpress-fanatic-tickets-50782649271

While publicising the show I was re-tweeted by Matt Mullenweg!

Make sure to capitalize the P! 😆

— Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) July 4, 2018

Confessions of a WordPress Fanatic

In early 2017 I attended 'MWUG', or Manchester WordPress users group to give it it's full name. I met a bunch of lovely people including Mike Little, one of the core developers of WordPress. I was surprised. I thought anyone involved the creation  of WordPress must live in some kind of sun drenched villa on a mountain side in Silicon Valley. How wrong I was.

Mike was the really welcoming chair of the group, and they were on the lookout for people to give talks at their meet ups. Despite just arriving I offered. I'd been using WordPress since 2010. Despite a terrible memory I know that because WordPress helpfully releases a new theme design named after the year, every year, and I started with 'TwentyTen'. Also being a comedian I'll take any chance to get in front of a new audience.

I was prepping 15 minutes on how I'd used WordPress to publish a podcast when I realised what I had was quite funny but not very technically hardcore. Was my knowledge of WordPress enough for a tech savy audience? Was I glossing over the cracks in my knowledge with gags? Of course it didn't have to be funny, I was probably over analysing, and on the day it was fine.

I went back a few months later and a half hour talk on my experience of building WordPress websites commercially. Again is wasn't intend to be funny, but I couldn't help it. That's when I thought there might be a show in it. Sharing my feelings on the culture of constant updates, and making it funny. I've created bucket loads of websites using WordPress for all different manner of clients, but it never occurred to me to attempt to combine that with my comedy storytelling. So in a nutshell that's the new show - Confessions of a WordPress fanatic! at the Greater Manchester fringe. Not a duffel coat in sight.

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That might sound like an odd thing to say - but the more I thought about it the more the comparison holds up.

Google Analytics reports feedback what's happening on a website, what people are looking at and responding to. How long they stay engaged, and if they connect...becoming a customer or a fan. You can even see it in real time.

For that particular website, we added some recent case studies and removed technical jargon. By doing that we changed the language - the website's voice - and added relatable stories (short case study videos) to draw people in and acquire new customers.

I used this metaphor again this week quite fittingly, at my first workshop at the Google Digital Garage in Manchester. They were really supportive in providing me with a space to lead my all elbows 'Present Yourself!' comedy workshop, which mixes stand up comedy with presentation skills, team games, improv, public speaking tips and interpersonal skills all rolled together.

It covers the same ground as analytics, but with less artificial intelligence. It's for humans instead of websites. It's all about understanding your audience. How to stay engaged and avoid attention span 'bounce rate', and the language we use tell stories and connect with others. Again, all in real time. I guess you might call it the discussion points we have as  'human analytics'.

Human Analytics (in front of an audience) :

• Audience. Make eye contact with them, this will give you all the data you'll need.
• Behaviour. Be aware of your body language, relax and be comfortable.
• Engagement. If what you're saying isn't working experiment off script with a different approach  -this is where the scary fun learning happens.
• Acquisition. Don't try too hard to be funny. Just be yourself. Let your audience, or customers, come to you.

The feedback since I started running these sessions in 2015 has been great. Together with the help of the  Business Growth Hub  it's evident that business leaders across the North West are really keen to integrate this kind of skills workshop into their own team training programmes.
[boxout_start]

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The Festival has been running for 8 years and brings researchers into local pubs all over the UK to get people interested in science, in this case machine thinking, extreme engineering and big data. Now I'm no scientist and a comedian as opposed to presenter  -the nearest I get to science is Doctor Who or reading Douglas Adams novel. However my geek credentials and curiosity served me well, even if the audience preferred hard research over warm up jokes, I was just the messenger.

Social media was big and #pintofscience trended on Twitter during the live events (there were 21 in Manchester alone!) When organiser Becky took a photo of myself and the other professors, we all put our drinks down out of shot - until she reminded us that it was the pint of Science Festival and drinks in hand were preferred!

Highlights for me were Professor Steve Furber's Spinnaker Project. He had worked on the BBC Micro and Archimedes computers which filled my with nostalgia. Dr Mostafa Nabawy and his bio-inspired micro robots. Making tiny spiders that jump and flies that fly sounded like a Sci-fi disaster movie waiting to happen. Dr Katie Druce's talk on 'what people mean when they say they don’t sleep' and how it can be monitored was as clever as it was easy to understand, using fitbits to monitor activity at night in the bedroom (SLEEPING!). Also I particularly enjoyed ProfessorDavid Berezan's Sounds of the sea, which uses real time data from sea buoys to create a dynamic soundscape. The combination of data, process and improvisation to create a hypnotic nautical composition pressed all of my buttons, and it was no surprise when we chatted that we are both fans of Delia Derbyshire and the BBC radiophonic workshop.

Big thanks to Becky Dodd and all the organisers at the University of Manchester for letting me share the stage, and for keeping me watered with some very good cider courtesy of the Beer Nouveau venue.

Micro Drones are here to take over the world!

Links

• Pint of Science Festival
• Professor  FurberSteve 
• Dr Mostafa Nabawy 
•  Dr Katie_Druce 
• Professor David Berezan | NOVARS Research Centre
• Beer Nouveau
• Radiophonic Workshop

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An opportunity to meet an improvise with folk from the USA, Ireland and  other countries all in one place. I've been to plenty of improv conventions in America over the last ten with my comedysportz troupe,  and honestly didn't know what to expect from this - but it was every bit as cool as I'd hoped.

We took over Newgrange Lodge just North of  Dublin with some expert teachers including Nick Armstrong, Katy Schutte, and Neil Curran as well as the lovely Craig and Carla Cackowski From L.A.

Watching improv people together in large groups is quite a thing to behold, and probably quite curious to the outside world.  We played 'diamond dance' outside in the blistering sunshine. It's a game about dance moves, but also leadership...but really - dance moves!  I could see the staff of Newgrange Lodge watching us, clearly a little bewildered and  amused by what they were watching.

Each workshop covered a different discipline.  From group work to using emotion, character and selling yourself.  The weekend reaffirmed  my love for improv and how it's a great tool for connecting and building relationships.  Improv Utopia has been running for many years in the US, but this is the first time they have organised a residential outside of the US - and it proved to be a great success.  Big thanks to all the guys who put it together, it felt like being in America without actually being in America.

Sell it! - workshop with Craig Cackowski

Links:

• Improv Utopia Ireland
• Nick Armstrong
• Neil Curran 
• Katy Schutte
• Carla Cackowski
• Craig Cackowski
• Jaime Moyer
• Chris Mead
• Josh Nicols 

About John Cooper

He’s performed in hundreds of theatres around the UK and internationally as part of the CSz Manchester improv troupe. He has delivered workshops on how to use humour  and improv in business, taking part in the BBC2 series ‘The Speaker’ and the BBC New Comedy Awards. John is author of Present Yourself! – An illustrated guide to speaking in public and building confidence.

The post Improv Utopia Ireland appeared first on John Cooper.

Jim Ansaldo is a Research Scholar at Indiana University Bloomington, a member of Comedysportz Indianapolis and an instructor at Camp Yes And, which teaches improv Teenager on the Autism Spectrum.

"Improv gives us a means for everyone to bring their life experience to the table"

I had the chance to catch up with Jim earlier this year in San Jose, California. We talked about his approach to teaching, and his work bringing improvisation to with children and teenagers with autism, and how it can be used to highlight and aid communication and interaction. We also touched on the broader aspects of improvisation as a tool in therapy, Jill Bernard mindfullness in improv workshop that we both attended and the legacy of Keith Johnstone.

Direct Link

Bullet Points

• Creating a safe space for improvisation without the pressures of 'performing'.
• Working with educators at Camp Yes And.
• Improv Camps and Classes for Teens on the Autism Spectrum and Educators
• Using improv to facilitate discussion on how to improve teaching methods and generate new ideas.
• The core values of CSZ worldwide - Collaboration, Inspiration, Values, fun.
• Musical improvisation - The Yes And band.

Links

• Benjamin Bloom, Blooms Taxonomy
• The Applied Improvisation Network

The host John Cooper is a professional stand-up comedian, improviser, tutor & illustrator based in Manchester, UK.

Click here to listen to previous podcast interviews  with other experts who use improvisation. 

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On the 14th November I was invited by community business organisation Power to Change to deliver a break out session at the Locality Convention in Manchester. If you were there, hello! Public speaking   workshop. storytelling workshop  

Big thanks to Claire and the team at Power to Change for inviting me along. It was really quite inspiring to be around so many community leaders, people who 'get things done' for the betterment of their local communities.

The session was about providing practical techniques that would get their voices heard at local authority level,  to gain funding for their projects. It was a bit whistle stop as I tried to cram in a lot from what I've learned over the years;  being confident and comfortable speaking and sharing to developing empathy in a narrative.  I was  aware these attendees probably had their own story to tell, and indeed they did.  Everyone I spoke to over the afternoon and evening reception had an incredible story to tell. Choices they had made, often selflessly,  to make things better for those around them. Events they had made happen, goals achieved or journeys that had just begun with a sentence along the lines of  "...so I quit my regular job to go do this instead".

The strength of character in the room was tangible ( I even shared a bit of my own story)  and I was pretty humbled at the end of the session when co-organiser Charlotte showed me the feedback from attendees while I sold some of my books.

Power to Change put on a great evening reception, highlighting the history of community business with a book launch and a play  by the Manchester Shakespeare Company.

Not a bad way to spend my birthday.

Excellent workshop on telling your story led by @JohnCooper_uk, Charlotte and Clare #Locality17 pic.twitter.com/7n08SMxdEJ

— DewsburyParkMansion (@DewsParkMansion) November 14, 2017

Amazing workshop @JohnCooper_uk thank you for making the storytelling so much fun... @Locality17 pic.twitter.com/kpBDQ0MrXZ

— Hero (@CoalvilleHero) November 14, 2017

• Find out more about training  with John.
• Get in touch.

Links:

• Locality
• Power to change

workshops for community businesses. training for community business. 

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In this episode I recap what I've called  'series 2'. The last eight interviews with some great people who use applied improvisation (improv, impro...that particular way of thinking and responding, and using mental agility). Beginning with Paul Z. Jackson and culminating  with Pam Victor. There's a wealth of information to be had, on a load of different topics, and I thank all the wonderful guests who gave their time.

• Paul Z. Jackson is one of the founders of Applied Improvisation Network, we talked about his work and digressed on the topic of improvisation on television.
• Mary T. Curtis works in behavioural health, coaching people with issues such as stress and anxiety and the YES AND, accepting and building in therapy.
• Neil Mullarkey didn't need any introduction. We chatted about the business of improv,  story structure, character comedy and how to bring improv into a training session by giving examples. Loads in this one.
• Adam St John Lawrence is a Customer experience consultant, who uses improv to generate ideas, break them and get better questions. Loads of great content here about understanding the world you’re selling to.
• Dan Starkey is an actor appearing in television series such as Doctor Who, and insode No.9. We chat about how a foundation of improv can help an actor approach a role.
• Cathy Salit is CEO of Performance of a Lifetime. Among the many thinks we talk about, Cathy explains her view on 'performative psychology' and how everything we do - our life -  can be seen as a performance.
• Paul Goddard is a coach in agile development and certified Scrum trainer. We touch on the geographical differences in recognition of improv in the US and UK and how improvisation can be applied to agile development
• Finally I interviewed Pam Victor on her 'Zen of Improv'. Her mission it is to make the world a happier place through improv.

Links to All episodes

Bullet points:

• Comedysportz World Championship 2017 in San Jose
• The Applied improvisation conference 2017
• The Liverpool 8th Annual Improvathon

Direct Link

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Pam is the founder of Happier Valley Comedy whose mission it is to make the world a happier place through improv. She's co-author of "Improvisation at the Speed of Life", with Chicago's TJ & Dave and uses improv to teach personal and professional growth.

She has her own podcast, Conversations with Funny Feminists. We chat about honesty and authenticity in improv, facts versus belief and using improv for personal development to overcome fears and increase learning opportunities.

Bullet Points

• The Zen of Improv
• TJ and Dave.
• Honesty and authenticity
• Improv for personal growth
• "I suck". The evil mind meanie - The voice of unhelpful judgement.
• Beliefs vs Facts
• Susan Messing
• Annoyance Theatre
• IO
• "You can't be brave and not be scared"
• Big Booty, cheering when someone fails, redefining failure as learning.
• 'Can I make a living doing what I love'
• Conversations with funny feminist's - 'Bitches get stuff done'.

Links:
Happier Valley Comedy | Pam Victor on Linkedin

Direct Link

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Paul is a coach in agile development and certified Scrum trainer. He's the founder of training company agilify and his book 'Improving Teams' brings together his work in agile and improv theatre, highlighting the overlaps and connections between the two.

In conversation we talk about the cost of change in the workplace and how similarities in agile and improv allow for efficiency in fields like software development. How adapting is as much about a given project as it is the people involved, and introducing improv for learning. We also touch on the geographical differences in recognition of improv in the US and UK for the  approach agile and improv use to introduce game play as a tool.

"Scrum master". Number 8 in the 10 weirdest job titles in the UK.

Paul's book on Amazon: Improv-ing Agile Teams: Using Constraints To Unlock Creativity

Bullet Points

• An overview of Agile and Scrum.
• The agile manifesto.
• Scrum coaching.
• Traditional software development vs agile.
• Technology, culture and the dilemma of linear planning.
• Seeing what you don't want, to find out what you do.
• Making the cost of change lower.
• The comedy store players / Neil Mullarkey.
• Connecting improv and agile.
• Keith Johnstone.
• Agile conference 2012.
• suffer fromt he same legacy agile and improv.
• Being open to learning and client rapport.
• Fear of failure in computer science.
• There is one truth, one outcome.
• Preparing for change, adapting personally and professionally.
• Slowing down to reflecting on a process and make improvements.
• Scrum masters, putting games in timeboxes.
• Scrum master - The 10 weirdest job titles in the UK - The Independent.
• Relating back to the personal - Paul's book examples.
• Storytelling and the agile product owner.
• Good companies have compelling narratives.
• The Applied Improvisation Network.
• US vs UK, Regular improv and agile approaches are built into the fabric of large tech companies. 10 years.
• The sprint retrospective
• Working with a group and creating in a safe environment for gameplay
• Inspiring others through improv practices
• Pixar, agile and storytelling.

Links:
www.agilify.co.uk | Paul on Linkedin

Direct Link

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Cathy Salit is CEO of Performance of a Lifetime. She has delivered hundreds of keynote speeches on how using performance in everyday life helps with growth and productivity.

She's the author of Performance Breakthrough' A radical approach to success at work.

In conversation with Cathy we chat about her work at POAL, and how treating life as a great performance can be a strong catalyst for growth and change. How her company has developed over time using performance, improvisation and psychology  to create a safe 'playground' and lead to a diverse range of projects including working with inner city 'cops and kids' to to improving the doctor/patient relationship.

Direct Link (MP3 file)

Links: Performance of a lifetime | Cathy on Linkedin |  Performance Breakthrough

Bullet Points;

• The human side of business strategy
• Performative psychology
• Who we are becoming; tapping into the natural ability to perform from childhood
• Choose to Grown blog
• Cathy the Jazz singer
• The All Stars Project - Cops and kids finding common ground
• Elisabeth Cleaners street school
• Art and business building together
• Form of life -  Ludwig Wittgenstein
• David Nackman, Fred Newman
• Your life story in one minute
• Devising improv for medical residents - improving  the doctor patient relationship.
• Using improv to create a 'playground' to approach emotionally difficult. conversations such as doctor patient DNR (do not resusitate).
• Stephen Nachmanovitch, Free play.
• Emotinal intelligence...why the need to prefix "intelligence"?
• "The Sales Whisperer" - Daniel Pink, author of To Sell is human.
• Bringing performance to the sales pitch.
• Our ability to change is a performance choice.
• We need weird! Doing something new to find change.
• The art of selling, networking and other schmoozy things.
• Don't worry about the sale.

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Dan Starkey is an actor appearing in television series such as Doctor Who, inside No.9 and Class Dismissed on CBBC. He's performed with many improv groups and done improv marathons.

I'm a massive Doctor Who fan, and seeing Dan improvise some online shorts for Doctor Who, a big TV production,  made want to delve into how that came about and find out more about Dan's work.

Bullet Points

• improv, Keith Johnstone
• Spontaneity shop, Tom  Salinsky, Debra Francis-White
• Bristol Old Vic
• Be generous to your audience and don't stare at the floor
• Start the scene with silence, creating character
• Getting a reaction - Improvised comedy and Christmas carols
• On the set of Doctor Who, Sleep no More, Bethany Black and Mark Gatiss.
• David Tennant, Peter Capaldi and Russell T. Davis ..and me.
• London improvathon, Lord of thrones
• Liverpool improvathon, Impropriety
• Die Nasty Theatre, Soap-a-thon
• How long can we sustain being present?
• Buskin the magic cobbler
• Class Dismissed.
• Attribution of improvised lines in a scripted piece
• Big Finish Audio

Links: Dan on Twitter | Dan on IMDB

Direct Link

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Adam is a customer experience consultant with a background in stand up comedy and psychology.

"We are going to break your ideas". Adam uses improv theatre techniques to drive design and innovation and is the co-initiator of the world's largest service innovation event, the 48 hour Global Service Jam.

In this interview we discuss how Adam brings his skills in theatre, marketing and design together with improvisation. Using the 'yes and' in service design,  showing client's how to embrace uncertainty, understand the world they sell to and deliver a better product and service. We touch on the subjects of conformation bias,  big ideas versus cheap experiments and allowing flexibility within structure.

Bullet Points

• The handicraft of emotion
• Treating design prototypes as offers
• The iterative stages of innovation & customer centric innovation
• Removing risk in product design
• Using improv to generate ideas, break them and get better questions
• "We've got this idea, how do we sell it?" - understand the world you're selling to.
• Confirmation bias. Defending our own ideas and getting precious about them...
• ideas generated by a group are my readily accepted.
• Get up and try stuff, get your hands dirty and enjoy the uncertainty
• Micheal Schrage, The Innovators Hypothesis - "You don't need big ideas, you need cheap experiments"
• Service design & design thinking - moving away from a linear approach
• How do you lead a non-linear, improvised approach to design?
• A brief word on agile design & scrum
• What works for you might not work for me; Allowing the flexibility for a great performance.
• Tom Peters - If it's rock and roll you can smell it.
• Global service Jam

Links:
www.workplayexperience.com | Adam on Twitter

Direct Link

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Neil Mullarkey is one of the founding members of the Comedy Store players and probably one of the most recognisable faces in the world of improv.

He has a string of well known movie and television credits appearing with other improv alumini. Just as impressive is the list of companies he's worked with, where he has brought improv theatre techniques into businesses like Barclays and Google.

In this interview we talk about Second City and the early days of the comedy store players. We also dig into Neil's work applying improvisation and performance in his workshops. How he encourages people to enjoy uncertainty and identify offers, and re-frame a 'yes but' into a 'yes and'.

We cover a lot of ground in our conversation:
Structure in improv, the 7 stories.
'Get on with it', introducing improvisation into a workshop.
L Vaughn Spencer, costume disguise in character comedy.
Agile workflow for teams.
VUCA: Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.

The show notes for this episode are pretty extensive. Neil has an encyclopedic knowledge of improv and I've tried to capture most of the reference's that came out during our conversation below.

Direct Link (MP3 file)

Links:
www.neilmullarkey.com | Comedy Store Players | L. Vaughn Spencer

A lot of mentions in this show, here a most of them;

• The Comedy Store
• Comedy to go
• Keith Johnstone
• Desmond Jones
• Mike Myers & Kit Hollerbach
• The Second City
• Jim Sweeney, Steve Steen, Justin Case & Peter Weir
• Voila Spolin
• Dan Patterson, Hat Trick Productions
• The Free Association
• Bridie Connell
• Whose Line is it anyway, Australia
• Arthur Smith
• Josie Lawrence
• Robert Poynton, Everything's an offer
• Showstoppers
• David Pearl - Impropera
• Peter Drucker "Culture eats strategy for breakfast"
• Love, Food, Power...The 7 Stories
• Comedia Del arte
• Cariad Lloyd, Ruth Bratt, Joseph Morpurgo, Kirsty Newton
• Mike McShane
• Greg Proops
• Provocative thearpy
• Agile workflow
• Paul Goddard
• VUCA: Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity
• Brenne Brown, The Power of Vunerability

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I've just delivered a couple of talks at 'WMUG', a group run by Mike Little one of the co-founders of the crazily popular WordPress system. The first was on podcasting and the second was on 'Real World Clients'.

I've already posted on how I created the podcast over on my design blog, and if you're interested the podcast itself, interviewing people who use applied improvisation in their work, it's here.

Real World Clients.

Despite doing stand up comedy forever I've never got up and talked about my design work - ever, let alone my experiences with clients. I'm totally comfortable getting up and talking. In fact chatting to the group beforehand, I think that was my worry. In comparison to being Danny Pensive this was a 'zero pressure gig'. My desire to entertain, rather than inform could easily take me take me way off topic very quickly. Without high stakes I could get sloppy.

Having said that I was really worried about throwing myself under the bus. There would be other developers in the room and I wasn't just telling stories, but also talking about my work processes, potentially laying myself open for judgement. So actually there was a bit of pressure, but not the kind that i'm used to. That's good, a bit of performance pressure is better than not at all.

So I dipped back down the last five or six years of work history and picked out a dozen or so projects, then mashed them all together. Mixing old real world situations I've come up against with a bit traditional narrative structure. A call to action here and a stink of death there and pretty soon had something I could work with and relate back to WordPress.

It was a success I thought, in fact putting my comedians head back on...I think there might be a show in this.

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Mary is a learning and development professional. She trained with Second city and combines her skills to deliver dynamic experiential learning programs.

Mary uses applies improvisation techniques in the area of behavioural health. Working with business in professional development courses and families, she helps people manage issues such as stress, anxiety and addiction to fulfil their peak potential.

When I started the podcast in 2016, Mary was on top of my list of people to talk to. In this interview we talk about how improvisation can be applied to increase  quality of life. By being present, utilising the fundamentals of 'Yes And' to accept and commit to positive change in ourselves and in helping others.

This episode in bullet points

• A.C.T.  - Acceptance Commitment Therapy
•  Tony Robbins - date with destiny
• A brief digression on yoga.

Connect With Mary
www.marytcurtis.com | Mary on Linkedin

Direct Link to MP3

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Paul (@Paulzj) is a trainer of trainers and a founding members of the Applied Improvisation Network. He has authored a handful of books including 'The Inspirational Trainer' and '58 and a Half Ways to Improvise in Training'.

"We teach what we need to learn most."

He has a background in comedy and journalism and his early biog entries read like a who's who's of the British comedy scene. Paul has played a large role in bringing improvisation techniques to a wider audience. In our chat we talk about the diversity of his training work and his discovery of improv watching Steven Steen & Jim Sweeney. We also digress on topic of improvisation on television the challenges of making improvisation work on television.

Selected links from this episode

• impro.org.uk
• The Solutions Focus
• Amazon Book link: Impro Learning
• Amazon Book link: 58 1/2 ways to improvise in training
• Steve Steen and Jim Sweeney

Connect with Paul:
Paul on AIN | The Solutions Focus | Paul on Linkedin

Direct Link to MP3

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In Series two of the Bring a Brick Podcast I interview another eight people who use improvisation in their work. Guests include Paul Z Jackson from the AIN, Behavioral health expert Mary T. Curtis, comedy store players founding member Neil Mullarkey and customer experience consultant Adam Lawrence.

Series two is available in February.

What is the Bring a Brick Podcast?

In this podcast I chat to guests from as broad a range of professions as I can find to make new connections. As a curious student, discovering how people teach and benefit from the values of applying improv in different fields.

Play Trailer

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A summary of the first eight podcasts.

I've interviewed a pretty board range to people so far and the interest and feedback has been great. The tone has shifted from episode to episode, depending on the guest and subject matter, some have been fun, some more serious, and that I think is a good thing.

If you've been listening to Bring a Brick, I'd urge you leave a review on itunes or Stitcher. There's no funding for publicity, so it's all word of mouth and fingers on keyboards.  What do you want to hear?

Why the podcast?

I'm am naturally quite curious, and I wanted to do a podcast to connect and improve. I recently watched Ted talk from Susan Greenfield: Technology & the human mind, and how social media is reducing out attention span, how screens are effecting the quality of our interactions, so by doing a podcast I'd like to think I'm harnessing the technology for the forces of good!

In series 2 I'll in interviewing another 8 people who use improvisation in their work and play.

John

Direct download

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Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator

“You call it procrastination, I call it thinking.” once said Aaron Sorkin. Tim Urban has a great blog and I even have his grim but refreshing life calendar. Here he explains why people tend to put things off until the last minute, and why that's sometimes ok. Inspiration.

Mike Rowe: Learning from dirty jobs

I chanced upon Mike Rowe as I was listening to loads of podcasts and prepping to launch my own . As well being funny and shocking there's a valuable lesson about 'doing it the right way', Aristotle and goats testicles.

Dave Morris: The Way of Improvisation

Dave Morris's seven steps to improvising is a great refresher as to why improv is such a valuable learning tool. Play, listening, allowing failure as part of the process.

Susan Greenfield: Technology & the human mind

Are our attention spans getting shorter? Susan Greenfield gives a great talk about how children's minds develop and the effect technology. The effect social media is having on our ability to engage and have quality interactions, i.e. Texting is bad. This is stuff that comes up in some of my training workshops, when we talk about the value of unspoken communication. I do draw issue with one point. Being a gamer I'd argue there are some role playing games which engage at an emotional level in a way that books cannot, and it's an unfair comparison, as the engagement level is different. All good points to bring up though.

Diana Nyad: Never, ever give up

I watched this on a flight to the USA at a time I was feeling pretty down and feeling old. Listening to Diana Nyad's was akin to a hand come out the screen and slap me across the face. Good health intact, age is relative and pretty irrelevant. Every year is a year to build and improve. Swimming with jellyfish and sharks at 64?

Thanks for reading my blog, and Happy New Year.

John Cooper. Inspiration for 2017. My top 5 TED Talks of 2016.

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Richard is the founder of Making Presentations, where he trains and consults on advanced presentation skills.

His work is underpinned by the principles of Improv, in terms of training and how improv principles help us be better presenters.

He worked for Procter & Gamble for 17 years, starting in sales. He moved into consumer and shopper research, and then to global learning & development and knowledge systems. The regular theme throughout was the need to know what motivates people to take notice, to engage with information, and then do something with it. Presentation skills.

We chat about facilitation techniques and 'how to do the how' in improv training. Richard discusses how people in a company like P&G respond to “Improv” in training. Richard also briefly touches on Daniel Kahneman’s principles in behavioral sciences and links this across to how you engage an audience and open them up to new ideas.

He works with Paul Z Jackson from the Applied Improvisation network, training Advanced Presentation Skills.

Bullet Points

• “Yes...and”, pausing to reflect in the space between words.
•  Seeing the process and having fun.
•  It's not about pretending to be a penguin.

Links

www.makingpresentations.co.uk

Direct LinkThe Bring a Brick podcast interviews people from all over the world who use improvisation and applied improvisation in their work. That can be anything from business training to games development, design and behavioral health. It’s a broad and constantly developing field. The presenter and host takes the role of the curious student, learning how people teach and benefit from the unique values of applying improv.

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The importance of having fun

Marijn began using improvisation during his time as a nurse working with PTSD sufferers. There he learned to use improv techniques to bring much needed fun into the lives of people using the clinic.
He is now part of improbattle.nl working with people from all ages and background and uses improv theatre to bring them together.

In this talk Marijn discusses his experiences in the clinic and it's pretty heavy stuff in places. Listeners note; the interview touches on the subjects of suicide and rape, but is also very positive, shining a light on Marijns' bold approach to his work.

Links:

• improbattle.nl
• www.improphondo.nl
• Marijn on linkedin

Direct Link

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Creativity is a state of mind...

Dominic is a London based artist and inventor who create thought provoking works with humour. In his own words he works “between the worlds of art, design, craft and technology to create innovative and thought provoking objects”.

There's a lot of 'yes and' in Dominic's work and I was keen to get him on the show to discover what parallels there may be between the creative process of inventing and that of improvisation. This is a slightly tangential interview with regard to improv, but we cover a lot of familiar ground in terms of thought processes.

Bullet Points

• Speed Creating
• Charlie Holmes
• Children don't know what's impossible
• Lost and found office of oddities

Links:

• DominicWilcox.com
• Little inventors
• Variations on Normal
• Fablab Sunderland
• Office of Odd

Direct link.

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Sam is a member of the Renegade Saints improv troupe. He's also part of the Csz Worldwide diversity and inclusion committee and works for the United Nations.

Sam took time out to chat about the current state of improv in Geneva, what it's like to perform in a multilingual city and how he almost left the world of improv, he wants to make the world a better place, so it's a good job he didn't. Vote for Sam!

Bullet Points:

• The improv scene in Geneva
• Social diversity and inclusion
• Making the world a better place
• Improvising female characters in French

Direct Link

Links: www.cszworldwide.com | The Applied Improvisation Network | Sam's Linkedin Profile

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Plan as much as you can, then prepare to throw the plan overboard.

Patrick has worked in the improv industry for over thirty years. In this interview we chat about early days of his career, taking improv training into Silicon Valley,  the changes he's observed in the industry and how he prepares for a training event.

He's the owner of ComedySportz Portland, Oregon and has led workshops for over 500 organizations including Apple and Nike. (Pronounced 'Ni-key, not 'Nike as I say in the podcast).

Bullet Points:

• Prepare lots, but roll with it.
• Pitching; start the conversation again.
• This bear will kill people - when to walk away.

www.portlandcomedy.com | Patrick on Linkedin

Direct download

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In this we interview with Jill Hatcher we chat about the similarities between how improvisers and designer think in order to solve problems and building on ideas. We also digress into comic-book jams and the process if making graphic art. 12.19 Micheal Scott, the office. Strathclyde, Scotland

Gillian Hatcher (@Gillreads)is a Research Associate in the department of Design, Manufacture and Engineering Management (DMEM) at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

Bullet points:

• Using 'yes and' to build ideas in product design.
• Build a machine
• Micheal Scott improv

The University of Strathclyde | Barry Kudrowitz study (MIT)

Comic Artist and Illustrator | Gillian's comics | Direct Download

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"Story is the way our brain makes meaning of the world."

In this interview with Kat Koppett we discuss her career origins in theatre and how she went back into the classroom to explore the qualities of improvisation as a tool for training. We also talk about improv in different cultures, and get a great viewpoint of the historical development of the improv scene in the US. New York, USA.

Kat (@kopco) is head of Koppett.com, a company specialising in the use of theatre, improv and storytelling techniques to enhance individual and group performance.

Bullet points:

• Connecting to yourself and 'the practice of living'
• Cultural differences
• Raising the bar of training in the improv training field

www.koppett.com

Direct download

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Leading on your feet.

In this interview, I chat to coach and author Andrew Tarvin about teaching improv in business, introverts and extroverts and life on the road. I'm really grateful to Andrew for agreeing to be the first interviewee for the Bring a Brick podcast, we cover a broad range of subjects. Andrew (@HumorThatWorks) is an award-winning speaker and trainer. His company, Humor That Works teaches individuals and organisations how to use humor to be more effective, and his book was released recently, available on amazon here: Humor That Works: 501 Ways to Use Humor to Beat Stress, Increase Productivity, and Have Fun at Work

Listen to this episode on iTunes
Listen to this episode on Stitcher

Bullet points;

• Introverts and Extroverts, Myers Briggs test
• Psychological safety
• Life on the road
• Improv for dogs
• www.humorthatworks.com

Direct download

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A word from the host.

Hi, I'm John Cooper; stand up comic, improviser and designer. I use improv and play to teach and discover in pretty much everything I do. I've taught workshops for the BBC New Comedy Awards and contributed to a TV show called 'The Speaker'. I've been on the set of the real TARDIS and was briefly the 'face' of North West and Lancashire Life magazine, despite being from the North East. I started the Bring a Brick podcast in September 2016 out of a curiosity to discover how trainers and professionals use the 'how' of improvisation.

To contact the show email info@rocketsteps.co.uk or tweet me at @JohnCooper_uk

Contact John | Linkedin

Credits

All podcast sound and stings by Dave Depper using creative commons licensing.

Presenting skills workshops Manchester. Stand Up comedy workshops Manchester. Comedy Workshops Manchester

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I wish ITV would do Stand Up Britain again like they did in 2002. That was great. Really great.

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Tape, DVD, digital recording. Y'know what I mean.

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Day 10 – Dundee
My life could have been very different, in the early ninetie's I was interviewed for a placement at Dundee art college, and I really wanted to get in as it was well known in comic book circles as a place where some of the better 2000ad artists graduated from. I went through quite an intimidating visual assessment of my work, and I could see the other candidates were really good. It didn't happen and this is the first time I've visited since.

Strathcaro cafe services is the oddest services I've ever been in, the whole building is held together by screws and sellotape, they industrial size bags of cat litter, toys, plants and there is a full size model horse in the window. Signs are all hand painted and say things like 'We have a choice of soups'. Onwards.

The Caird hall is even bigger than Aderdeen, genuinely huge, and for our purposes partitioned for the show. It's a good show, if hard work filling such an enormous space. Charlie has a great one. Afterwards we drink in 'The Pillars' a proper Scottich pub, in the opposite room a band is playing called 'Salty Dog' and we are convinced we are being followed by increasingly bad renditions of Alanis Morrisette songs. The hotel has two different weddings going, with kilts aplenty. I could sleep for a week.

Day 11 – Livingston
Halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow is Livingston, a small town with one of the biggest Asda's I've ever seen. Scarily big - and the whole town are in there. I've been trying not to shop at the big corporate's, but it's really hard not to when you're on the road. Not knowing where to get stuff or where places are, it's a mixture of comfort and dissapointment to see a chain store.
The venue is in a residential area, which feels odd, then we see it...

That can't be right? Fortunetly we follow the narrow road a bit further.

I look out the window of the next hotel, they are all blurring together. An ice cream van passes by playing the theme tune from 'the third man'. There was an ice cream van where I lived as a kid that did the same. Spooky.

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