Improv
As many of you know I spend three to four nights a week in the throes of improv.
Every other Monday night I have a show with my group Jonny Whiteboard, and spend Thursdays practicing with said group.
On Thursdays after that I'll regularly head to the Jam over at Westside Comedy and end up staying till 2 in the morning.
One night a week I like to see someone else's group. I'll commonly see The Grind on Thursday and recently on Wednesday's King Ten. Last week I saw Lost Moon Radio, which I posted about earlier. Right now a friend, Neva Reese has a two week two man show with Miles Stroth. I had no idea how influential the man was till I looked him up on improvResourceCenter.com and discovered how highly his classes come recommended. He's put along side of Charna Halpern, Amy Poehler, Matt Donnelly, and other notable performers and teachers when listed on that same board in various places.
In addition I just finished taking the Level 6 class over at Westside Comedy, and am now wondering what the next step is. Do I take classes at UCB? iO? with Miles? Taking a look at this thread and hearing advice from a smattering of friends was very helpful and convinced me that Miles is the person to go with.
I'm looking to seriously improve my improv skills. To that end I've stepped up my writing in addition to getting onstage two nights a week. Starting next week on Wednesday I'll be in a newly formed temporary group with three others who I highly respect. Performing at their level will force me to push up my game once again. I'm excited for the prospect. I'm always looking into what the next steps will be. What's the festival circuit like? Does anyone support themselves off of it? Who are the people to know to push myself the farthest?
Why do I love improv so much, you ask? It's hard to put it into words, but this thread does a great job of explaining just what sort of people improvisers are, and why it's exactly the sort of crowd I want to be a part of.
Here's a video of Del's students talking about the guy. Skip to about a minute in where it starts interviewing Robin Williams, Tina Fey and half a dozen others. "So much of the comedy from the last decade comes from Del...and his influence is only going to grow as time goes on."