Shows
Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSerialized Improv - Muprov Musings 089We discuss our plans for our next format on the podcast, a serialized improvised audio show!
2025-11-171h 06Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovCatching Up - Muprov Musings 088Julian and I have been off the podcast for the past month, so on this episode we dive back in to Muprov Musings and catch each other up on what we have been learning in London and San Francisco.
2025-11-041h 16Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovFringe Debrief - John Mistele - Muprov Musings 087After an extended break, we are back to talk about our recent experience at the Fringe. John Mistele is guest! Sorry for the audio quality on this one!
2025-09-301h 20Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovGOATs 02 - Lisa Rowland - Muprov Musings 086The Glorious GOAT we are interview this week is none other than Lisa Rowland! We have always looked up to Lisa when she was our teacher, but assumed that she was just the best improviser that we knew. As we have traveled the world and seen more improv, it turns out that she is one of the best in the whole world too! Lisa has served as the artistic director of BATS, was the only improviser chosen from the USA to be in the cast of Impro Amsterdam 2024, and Status magazine (which is a GOATed publication) included her on...
2025-07-281h 01Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSjoelenterviews 02 - Flock Festival - Muprov Musings 085The second part of the interviews that I got from Flock Festival, this episode features the voices of the international guests who had come from far and wide to take part!
It includes interviews with:
Liam Webber
Chris Mead
Maria Ramis
Auri Itämäki
Isabel Brodie
Adria Lerma
Katy Schutte
Phill Spear
Lê Kim Thanh
Julia
2025-07-211h 14Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSjoelenterviews 01 - Flock Theatre - Muprov Musings 084This special live episode, I interview great improvisers while they play the dutch game of Sjoelen. Flock Theater in Amsterdam is the best improv theater that I have seen anywhere in the world, and I hope these episodes will shed some light on how it runs! This is the first in a two part series of interviews from Flock Festival in Amsterdam, with the first one focusing on local talent and members of the Flock Community.
This first episode features interviews with:
Gael Doorneweerd-Perry
Laura Doorneweerd-Perry
Tanine Dunais
Mark Bul...
2025-07-061h 17Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovGOATs 01 - Mark Smith - Muprov Musings 083Dr. Mark Smith joins the podcast for the first episode of our GOATs Series, where we interview great improvisers to try to understand how they got to where they are today. Mark is the artistic director of the Liverpool Improvisation Festival, has a very substantial body of work in improvised and scripted theater, and he wrote his doctoral thesis on how improvisation can be applied to devised theater. If you are interested in the blending of improvisation and theater, this episode is for you!
2025-07-011h 29Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovLIVE from the UnScripted Shakespeare Festival 2025 - John Mistele - Muprov Musings 082A duo show, recorded live at the Unscripted Shakespeare Festival featuring Hal Munger and John Mistele! This is the audio of the show that we are bringing to the Edinburgh Fringe this year. Julian is adjusting to his new job, so he will be back on the podcast soon to begin an exciting new series but in the meantime I hope you enjoy the Flicker of the Flame:
Video Version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyOKc7C5lu0
2025-06-2351 minMuprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovA New Play 14 - Directing - Hal - Muprov Musings 081For the final episode of our A New Play series, Julian interviews Hal about directing A New Play.
2025-06-091h 05Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovA New Play 13 - Debrief Nights 3 & 4 - Muprov Musings 80Apologies for the upload delay, Hal was running the UnScripted Shakespeare Festival! We are right back at it debriefing the final two nights of A New Play! Our intro music by Sebastian Blue Hochman famously comes from night four!
Night Three watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y_G9zNJv3Q
Night four watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5lApi_65io
2025-06-021h 27Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovA New Play 12 - Debrief Nights 1 & 2 - Muprov Musings 079We rewatched nights One and Two of A New Play and talked through how they went!If you haven't seen them go check them out!
A New Play Night One:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjeb4BI1o-0
A New Play Night Two:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2qDjmWah6g&t=19s
2025-05-121h 41Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovA New Play 11 - Physical Improv Techniques - Muprov Musings 078Our third episode about the physical improvisers gets deep into the specific techniques that we developed for A New Play. Many of these techniques never made it into the performances, so this is the first time they are available to the world!
2025-05-051h 11Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovHal's Adventures 04 - Taxi Tales - Muprov Musings 077Live interviews with the cast of Taxi Tales from the Liverpool Improvisation Festival! Taxi tales was an incredible show created and directed by Dr. Mark Smith that tells the story of twelve taxi rides over the course of one night. An enormous thank you to everyone involved with LiF for making this such a magical experience!
You can find out more by following @liverpool_improv_festival on instagram or visiting https://www.liverpoolimprovfestival.com/
Guests:
Josie Throup @josiemakesitup @Drunkclassicsmanchester
Adrià Lerma @adria.lerma
Samuel Pownall @samuelpownall
Anthony Sal...
2025-05-0157 minMuprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovA New Play 10 - Production - Lana - Muprov Musings 076Lana Tleimat, the assistant director, producer, stage manager, costume fabricator, and pain sink of A New Play puts on one final hat: podcast guest.
2025-04-231h 10Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovA New Play 09 - Physical Amplification - Kaelyn - Muprov Musings 075Physical Improviser Kaelyn Ong comes on the podcast to talk about her experience working in A New Play and what she has done since. We explore the role of physical improviser as amplifier and Kaelyn talks about how she treats physical improvising like animation!
2025-04-131h 03Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovA New Play 08 - Lessons From Theater - Jayda - Muprov Musings 074Jayda Alvarez, one of the five character improvisers from A New Play, joins the podcast to answer all of our questions! Jayda brought a lot of her theatrical knowledge to A New Play, so this episode is not too dissimilar from the early conversations we had in making it.
2025-03-3150 minMuprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovA New Play 07 - Structure - Muprov Musings 073So how do you improvise a show where the structure itself is improvised? Simple... Know all structures!
2025-03-241h 11Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovA New Play 06 - Monologues - Anna W - Muprov Musings 072Anna W is back by popular demand to talk about her signature move: monologues! She is truly a monologue master so listening to her talk is pure joy. Monologue's ended up being one of the defining features that distinguished ANP-prov from regular improv and I am so glad we were able to do such a deep dive on them. Such a nice episode!
2025-03-161h 19Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovFesten - Aymeric Desjardin and Charlotte Méniére - Muprov Musings 071TW: Child abuse and sexual assault.
This episode is a rare LIVE interview with two of the most brilliant impro minds out there! Impro Amsterdam reliably curates the best improvised shows that I have seen anywhere in the world, and standing out from the pack this year was Festen. Based on the movie by the same title, Festen takes place over the course of a family dinner during which one member of the family reveals that they were abused by another as a child. The show is political, dramatic, healing, and unlike anything that I had ever...
2025-03-091h 07Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovA New Play 05 - Exploring Boundaries - Muprov Musings 070In practicing for A New Play we sought to expand the world of what is possible to improvise! To do this we broke away from the traditional "rules" of impro and rebuilt our own looser guidelines to play by. In this episode we also talk about how you can safely explore and expand the comfortable boundaries of of contact, combat, content, and intimacy. I you are interested in having your shows feel more like scripted theater, it is important to adapt the safety procedures from theater so that they work in an improvised setting!
2025-02-231h 09Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovA New Play 04 - Vacuums - Muprov Musings 069In this episode we explore the subtle difference in thought process the separated A New Play improvisation from other types of improv. If you are wondering why this is such a challenging form, here is your answer, but the payoff for learning to play in this way is enormous :)
2025-02-171h 03Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovA New Play 03 - The Physical Improvisors - Sasha - Muprov Musings 068Sasha Sokolova joins the podcast to talk about the biggest innovation of A New Play: The Physical Improvisors. If you want some brilliant insights in to how to add movement, visual artistry, and technical elements to your improv, tune in to here what Sasha has to say!
To apply to take the 3 day workshop at the UnScripted Shakespeare Festival, got to https://www.thornandpetalstick.com/festival and fill out the individual application!
2025-02-091h 17Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovA New Play 02 - The Tao - Muprov Musings 067Read along with this one: https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/u.osu.edu/dist/5/25851/files/2016/02/taoteching-Stephen-Mitchell-translation-v9deoq.pdf
or listen to the full text:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7sIyojwbx9eaKqkoPL3DDH?si=1dadcab6edf44c79
2025-02-021h 22Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovA New Play 01 - The Dream - Muprov Musings 066At the far reaches of the possible, A New Play, is unlike any other improvised piece of theater. In this first episode we break down the vision for creating the show, and the ways in which we dreamed of expanding the the art form of improvisation. If you also have the dream of elevating improvisation into the realm of theater, tune in to this season to see how we tackled each problem and made this dream a reality!
Check out the visuals here:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=861yDZ1jwwk&t=186s
Apologies t...
2025-01-2641 minMuprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovThe Mu-ies - Muprov Musings 065Everyone's favorite award show :0
This one is a little self indulgent, but was delightful to make! Congrats to everyone who won a Mu-ie this year!
Thanks to Limited Resources for inspiring this episode (and honestly the whole podcast)
Also, I realized we missed the Tesuji of using the delayed Tesuji point to bring it to a tie... That is why it is such an important concept.
2025-01-2057 minMuprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSlasher 11 - Reflections - Muprov Musings 064Goodbye Slasher, Hello reflections on what we learned!
2025-01-131h 01Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSlasher 10 - Pickle Combo - Muprov Musings 063This show is fantastic! Improv people always warn you not to do transaction scenes but they don't give you the gory details about can happen if you don't follow their advice ;). The show starts out as a sort of normal silly improv show about pickles and arcs into something intense and amazing! Hal and Julian both think that it is the best audio show that we have done so far and if you make it to the end you will see why. A great lesson in breaking the form and the perfect finale to our Slasher season!
2024-12-301h 15Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSlasher 09 - Azurite - Muprov Musings 062Happy Holidays! A few days late but just in time to put our latest slasher into your Christmas Stocking. Gather round the fire and listen to our radio play, Azurite.
2024-12-241h 07Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSlasher 08 - Carousel - Muprov Musings 61Full slasher example #1. This one paced like the movies that we have been watching so it is a little longer than our normal shows! Gets pretty crazy once the action starts... We will have another full show next week!
2024-12-161h 31Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSlasher 07 - GIGAskeleton - Muprov Musings 060Our GIGAspine episodes talk though all the thought processes that go into the narrative choices of a complete show! We think that this is one of the best ways to get insights into how you and you teammates actually make decisions, and to build up that skill separately from the actual improv.
2024-12-091h 11Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSlasher 06 - Breaking the Form - Muprov Musings 059New slasher episode on when/how to break the form in improv. Julian sings a song in this one!
2024-12-021h 01Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSlasher 05 - Reverse Engineering - Muprov Musings 058On this episode we break down the plots of five slasher movies to create heat maps of the kills, and strengthen our understanding of narrative timing!
We learned a lot making this and are excited to begin experimenting with the new principles!
2024-11-251h 09Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSlasher 04 - Slashing - Muprov Musings 057In order to do a Slasher you must first learn to be a Slasher! I think that the second half of this episode when we talk about the slasher ordeal is really useful if you want to skip ahead to it!
2024-11-181h 06Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSlasher 03 - Tropes - Muprov Musings 056What are some tropes that start to make your show feel like it is in the slasher genre? How do you engage with tropes in improv? Should you lean into them or play against them?
Sorry for the late post, I am editing them further in advance now and just forgot to post it Sunday night!
2024-11-131h 06Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSlasher 02 - Fear - Muprov Musings 055You have two days left to cast your ballot in the 2024 US election!!! AAAAHHHHH!!!!
How do you depict and feel fear onstage? How can you scare your audience and stage partners? Is it okay to to actually feel afraid as the player?
What an awesome episode! Like really this one has so much great stuff in it... So dang useful :) :| :0 80
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eV4aiAFsK4 (Video of the recent Thorn and Petalstick Tragedy)
2024-11-041h 04Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSlasher 01 - Improvising Horror - Julian Bernado - Muprov Musings 054Happy Halloween!!!! Muprov Musings is back with a frighting format that has been developed and directed by our Co-Host Julian Bernado, and he steps into the guest role on this episode to give you the full backstory of its evolution. The Improvised Slasher lets you play with a whole new side of improvisation. If you have not tried improvised horror before, you have to give this a listen!!!
2024-10-2855 minMuprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovUpdate on the Coming SeriesWe are making some structural changes! Tune back in on October 28th for the start of our new season!
2024-10-1406 minMuprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovImprovised Dungeons and Dragons - Sam Kamenetz - Muprov Musings 053Sam Kamenetz founded the group Improvised DnD in NYC! He comes on the podcast to explain the ins and outs of the format. If you want to audition for the group or see one of their shows live in NYC, check out their instagram!
https://www.instagram.com/improvised_dnd/
Zoom link for Muprov Musings democracy show at 1:15 am Monday 9/23 (The zoom is 24 hours and has tons of great speakers)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82475212895?pwd=Z5LJ3azE6bj3hAbsiIwLiGQRh8JdAq.1
2024-09-221h 04Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSuperscene 05 - Show - Muprov Musings 052Special thanks to Ahmad Koya, Anna Mistele, and John Mistele for coming on the podcast to perform a SuperScene! If you like mysteries, aliens, rodents, butterflies, and God, then you will love this SupersScene :)
2024-09-161h 16Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSuperScene 04 - Practice Run - Muprov Musings 051As usual we got a little carried away with the practice run! It's a slow-rolling snowball that is pretty delightful in the end!
2024-09-091h 20Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSuperscene 03 - GIGAmmonite - Muprov Musings 050Thank you Trey for teaching us the Hush little Baby warm up!
Thank youHal for finding the perfect fossil to represent the spine of the story of Superscene.
2024-09-021h 11Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSuperScene 02 - Directing - Muprov Musings 049Directing is one of the most important improv skills because if you learn how to be a good director, you will also learn how to be a good Side-coach and Artistic Director! If you want to develop your own signature style and innovate in the world of improv, directing a SuperScene is a great place to start!
2024-08-201h 07Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovDogpoodle Defense!Watch it here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciEg0W3PP7Y&t=114s
2024-08-1204 minMuprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSuperScene 01 - Ahmad - Overview - Muprov Musings 048It wouldn't be Superscene without Terry Davis... Ahmad Koya, waterbender, world saver, wave maker, comes on the podcast to talk SUPERSCENE— the most fun format of all time. 25/30
Meet Ahmad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM19JJ1Ofuo
Terry Davis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcFrsz2L5zQ
2024-08-051h 06Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovHal's Adventures 02 - Cleo DeOrio - Momentum and Muscling - Muprov Musings 047The amazing Cleo DeOrio joins the podcast LIVE for the next stop of the adventure-–Dell'Arte International! In just two weeks studying here, Clio and the other instructors have taught me a whole new framework for understanding improvisation through the practice and metaphor of physical movement and momentum. Now you can get the concepts straight from Clio herself!
2024-07-2240 minMuprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovHal's Adventures 01 - Charlotte Gittins - Not Alone - Muprov Musings 046Hal is flying solo as the host in this one, but with an amazing international guest, Charlotte Gittens! A live, late-night, interview after an incredible show!
Dogpoodle Time Travel event 8/10:
https://fb.me/1OZjLNNOaw7YbnA
2024-07-1539 minMuprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovEducators 03 - Henry Kandel - The Origin of Species - Muprov Musings 045This is a really special episode because Henry Kandel was the first person to teach Hal improv! Kandel was improvising in Chicago in the 90s and is an artist with and unique perspective on improv that has shaped a lot of the perspectives of your hosts! We are so happy to have them on the show, and I (Hal) am eternally grateful for the four years of wisdom and experimentation that launched me on this incredible journey!
Nothing you hear on the episode is medical advice. The three of us each have different perspectives and methods of w...
2024-06-241h 06Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovEducators 02 - Cindy Ong - Just Keep Sailing - Muprov Musings 044Cindy Ong, architect and founder of RTW kids joins the program to talk about the impact that improv can have on young people! She has grown an large independent improv school that students stay enrolled in for over a decade! There is really nothing like it right now in the world of narrative improv! So cool!!!
RTW Kids: https://rtwkids.org/mission/
My Architect Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HxB9Iu3Hbc
2024-06-171h 10Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovEducators 01 - Robert Greene - Make The Right Play - Muprov Musings 043Robert Greene joins the podcast to kick off our educators series! For any parents out there with young children, we hope this episode will open you up to the power of play in raising kids! Robert is a multi-hyphenate artist so the conversation touches everything under the sun and synthesizes it all together into some beautiful wise words!
2024-06-101h 11Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovLIVE from the UnScripted Shakespeare Festival - Muprov Musings 042Our first live show!!! Full video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lec-vqzpKNo
Tune in to see Hal and Julian at their peak fun, joyously playing all the characters in an unscripted Shakespeare play!!! Check out those crazy costumes! Such a great show!!! The Midnight Dance will whisk you away on a whirlwind ride and show you the power of a pickled onion!
2024-06-0355 minMuprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovImprov Admin - Muprov Musings 041We forgot to post last week, but boy do we have a good reason!!! We just finished organizing the Unscripted Shakespeare Festival! My lord it was so much fun. Sadly, the event that you are about to here about has already concluded, but the good news is that it was amazing and will hopefully happen again next year! Get ready next week to hear the first ever LIVE Muprov Musings shows. (Spoiler alert: It's a real banger)
2024-05-2853 minMuprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovFundamentals 10 - Show - Muprov Musings 040Happy MUthers Day! One of my all-time favorite episodes for sure! Tune in to hear a full length improv show demonstration!
If anyone listening has an in with Coca-Cola or the Mormon Church, we are trying to get sponsored for this one :)
2024-05-131h 08Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovFundamentals 09 - The Surgical Run - Muprov Musings 039Calm vibes only on this episode as we chill our way through an invaluable improv tool. If you have never enjoyed a surgical run before, get ready for one of the best ways to get an inside scoop into our minds. It is half way between a practice run and a GIGASPINE and makes for great listening!
2024-05-061h 11Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovFundamentals 08 - Storyspine and Platform - Muprov Musings 038We are going back to the basics! Shout out to Ken Adams and the storyspine. Lets platform some scenes!
2024-04-291h 05Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovFundamentals 07 - End it Find it Start it - Muprov Musings 037Most failed scenes are one side-coach away from being great. On this episode we talk through three simple coach lines that can save the day. If you practice it enough with a coach, the voice in your head will begin to remind you all by yourself!
2024-04-211h 05Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovFundamentals 06 - Passing the Torch - Ness - Muprov Musings 036Improv is all about flexibility and change, so how does the way we teach it change over time as each generation gets to improve on the past? Enter Ness Arikan— who learned improv in this fundamentals curriculum, and now is the current instructor to this same workshop. She has reworked the whole curriculum and can give a rare inside look at the cutting edge of teaching fundamentals!
The next generation of improvisors are crazy :).
2024-04-151h 00Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovFundamentals 05 - Assemble Your CREW - CREWprov Cruisings 035Gosh this is like five episodes packed into one... Back in the day we taught a whole second version of this class where we deep dived each of them, but lets start with a fundamental understanding....
If you have strong opinions about acronyms then then you will love this episode. Let us know what team you are on in the comment ;)
#TeamCROW #TeameCROWE #COWREmpromise #hardCORE #CREWcrew
2024-04-081h 07Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovFundamentals 04 - Support - Muprov Musings 034People talk a lot about supporting your partner in improv, but how do you actually make that happen? Well, everyone is different so it really depends on who your partner is! Here are some ways that we practice the meta-stuff and learn to tailor our support to the people that we play with!
Folk singer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDrKeGqV6qY
Time God:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnvYmgiqrt4
2024-04-0159 minMuprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovFundamentals 03 - Expert Obvious - Muprov Musings 033Sometimes the best thing to do is be obvious. Why not take the path of least resistance? It can be hard to feel confident enough to do things the easy way but at the end of the day that is what fundamentals is all about!
Improv Wisdom, By Patricia Ryan Madson:
https://www.amazon.com/Improv-Wisdom-Dont-Prepare-Just/dp/1400081882
A New Play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2qDjmWah6g&t=4306s
2024-03-251h 07Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovFundamentals 02 - Mirrors and Memories - Muprov Musings 032Fundamentals go deep! This episode goes from 0 to 100 starting out with the familiar mirror exercises building from Blocking to Yes And, but then taking it two steps beyond the idea of "Yes, and." Experienced improvisers can skip over some of the initial steps but hopefully it is fun to see the whole trajectory laid out!
Mirror Study: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1108155108
Hofstadters MU: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach
2024-03-181h 16Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovFundamentals 01 - Make Mistakes, Please - Trey - Muprov Musings 031Whether you are a total beginner or a veteran, if you want to reach the next level of improvisation the best way to do it is to go back to the fundamentals! Rather than going for a traditional intro series, we will pull back the curtain and talk about teaching muprov and how to design a course to teach these fundamentals. You may know some of the exercises, but I bet you will be surprised by the way we use them :). Trey is a wonderful guest and teacher and we are so happy to have him join us to...
2024-03-111h 13Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovSignoffpalooza - Muprov Musings 030This episode is a short one ;). Hear our takes on Impro Amsterdam, Birthdays, running, and Tob/Bottom. Stick around to the end of the episode and you might win a prize! We have a lot of fun!
Join us next week for the first episode of our Muprov Fundamentals Series!
2024-03-0452 minMuprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovThe Improvisor State - Muprov Musings 029Fire, Earth, Water, Air. After 100 years it is finally time to put your fists together and let those eyes glow. Thats right, magic is real and you can become the improv Avatar. Similar to our episode on The Ordeal, this one explores a forbidden technique on the the frontier of what is possible.
This episode is shorter than normal because we are saving Sign-Off-Palooza for next time!
2024-02-2647 minMuprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovStatus - Muprov Musings 028We break down our own way to understand status and do some status duels! If you have never heard of status, learn it, if you have heard of it, learn our way and find yourself a powerful opponent! Hal had fun dueling for the real life status in this episode as well :).
2024-02-191h 12Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovShakespeare 10 - Debrief in the Snowbank - Muprov Musings 027Miranda stays on the podcast to debrief the Tailor of Malta. (So listen to episode 09 if you haven't). Seeing how improvisors analyze their own shows is a great way to apply that learning to your own improv! Stick around for the sign off to get the low down on Swedish dish-clothes, Homebrew Syrups, and drinking Sap.
2024-02-121h 03Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovShakespeare 09 - The Tailor of Malta - Muprov Musings 026John Mistele, Miranda Johnson, and Will Gutzman join the podcast to put on a special Shakespeare show full of hats, shipwrecks, and gnomes! I won't spoiler the ending but boy are there surprises in store....
2024-02-051h 11Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovShakespeare 08 - Practice Run - Muprov Musings 025You know the drill if you have been here for the Hero's Journey, but before we can do our epic show for you, there has to be an even-more-epic practice run! In these practice run Hal and Julian play all the characters and in keeping with our tradition, accidentally ran a little over time... it is okay though because every minute is GREAT!
2024-01-291h 29Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovShakespeare 07 - GIGASPINE - John - Muprov Musings 024The GIGASPINE is back with JOHN MISTELE! These Gigaspine episodes in which we talk through how to build a whole show are my favorite thing that we do on the podcast and this one lives up to the high standards set by the Anna Wang in Hero's Journey 07! If you want to get a better narrative intuition, there is really no better way than hearing first hand how we actually solve the problems of what comes next: where and when should you Tenuki?
2024-01-221h 17Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovShakespeare 06 - Reverse Engineering - Hal - Muprov Musings 023Hal is the “guest” this week to explain how they created their patented Shakespearean Narrative Flowchart™. We kind of get into the weeds on this one and pull back the directorial curtain on how you can boil down existing scripts into improvisable narrative structures. Once the sausage is made you get this simple flowchart: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19399esYCwajyfkgl6sbIS4FiAPQ2i0iL7yRp3NdPgzo/edit?usp=sharing
Link to a New Play night four: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5lApi_65io
2024-01-151h 04Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovShakespeare 05 - Platform - Muprov Musings 022Every show has to start somewhere, but on this episode Julian and Hal break down how some real Shakespearian Comedies begin and how that unsettles some of the usual heuristics for evaluating the openings of narrative improv shows! The Statistical side of Mu gets some love in this one :).
I am going to leave off the flow chart till the next episode!
2024-01-081h 06Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovShakespeare 04 - The Fun Zone - Jayda - Muprov Musings 021Jayda Alvarez joins the pod to talk about dramatic irony! Put the comedy in your comedies by turning out to the audience and saying your inner thoughts!
2024-01-011h 07Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovShakespeare 03 - Em-O-tions and MUnologues - Muprov Musings 020Happy Holidays! The Shakespeare train keeps on chugging, so turn out to the audience and let out a guttural cry and a stream of inner thoughts!
2023-12-2556 minMuprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovShakespeare 02 - Language - Muprov Musings 019We dive into the Elizabethan language and grammar!
For the grammar rules you can follow along with this page:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1teSwA7-5kqL7FJa6J-FU9DyITS1Y19zDumy75gRgufg/edit
2023-12-1858 minMuprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovShakespeare 01 - Lisa Rowland - Overview - Muprov Musings 018What a treat to have THE Lisa Rowland on to kick off our Shakespeare series! She is truly the Shakespeare GOAT and no one would be better to give the overview of what this format will be like!
Stay tuned! Over the next nine episodes we will be teaching you everything you need to know to put on your very own totally-improvised, Shakespeare Play! I hope this episode gets you pumped up and ready to dive into the language next week!
2023-12-101h 03Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovIntimacy - Anna M - Muprov Musings 017Anna Mistele joins the podcast to talk about stage intimacy and how to safely practice intimacy and touch in an improvised setting! Adding intimacy to your practice plan can really help people feel secure and confident with finding their own boundaries and learning each others!
To see this work in action check out:
Example one: Skip to 20:03 if you want to see your hosts do a grounded intimate scene on ice ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y_G9zNJv3Q
Example two: see 21:10 to see your hosts do some... dance c...
2023-12-041h 16Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovCommedia - Matt Chapman - Muprov Musings 016Matt Chapman, clown extraordinaire, movement magician, and champion of introducing himself joins the Podast to give many words of wisdom on commedia, clown, game, movement, and teaching! This one was a really fun conversation for us and I hope you have fun listening!
2023-11-271h 18Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovStage Combat - Muprov Musings 015Bye Bye Hero's journey... HELLO COMBAT!!! We got a little carried away with the technical stuff in this episode. Rather than a conversation about stage combat, it is more of a detailed list of how to do space object (mime + sounds) combat with various weapons and superpowers! I am going to try to upload the the video of this one on youtube in the coming days because the visuals will definitely help!
2023-11-201h 09Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovHero’s Journey 10 - Debrief - Will - Muprov Musings 014Will Gutzman, Pro Improvisor, joins the pod fresh from his koi pond to debrief our recent show! We get in some meta stuff about how to debrief and give feedback in general, and also show you how we analyze a show after the fact! This is also the Sunset Show for hero's journey so we say goodbye to the format and hit the key takeaways!
Its the last time that you will hear us say quadrant theory for a while so enjoy it ;)
2023-11-131h 14Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovHero’s Journey 09 - The Show - Muprov Musings 013All the guests you met along the way come back on the podcast to put on an audio-only Hero's Journey show! A great demonstration of the skills that we have been talking about! We will follow it up with a debrief in the next episode!
2023-11-061h 17Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovHero’s Journey 08 - Practice Run - Muprov Musings 012Hal and Julian do a practice run before the show playing all of the characters! Listen to a wild tale of magic rubies, talking badgers, the U.S. military, and opera zombies :)
2023-10-301h 29Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovNot Muprov MusingsWe don't have a full episode this week :(. But... We do have exciting news coming. The reason this episode is delayed is that we are trying to get some people together to demonstrate a full run of a show!
2023-10-2309 minMuprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovHero’s Journey 07 pt.2 - Tesuji - Anna W - Muprov Musings 011We finished the story spine that we started in part one! It is absolutely epic so tune in to the first one to catch up if you missed it and then follow along! We have a little time at the end so strap in for Sign-off-palooza with late-night Hal and Julian!
2023-10-161h 08Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovHero’s Journey 07 pt.1 - Narrative - Anna W - Muprov Musings 010Hero's Journey 07 might be our best episode yet! Anna Wang joins the podcasts to talk about how to understand narrative and make narrative choices. We start to make our way through a Giga-story spine in this episode... to find out what happens next tune in again next Monday! Apologies for the audio quality! We have a campus mic now so future guests should sound crisp and clear :)
2023-10-091h 11Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovHero’s Journey 06 - Enemies and the Ordeal - Muprov Musings 009Hal and Julian talk about villains, when to bring them into the narrative and how to play them! They also explain the ideas of the Hero's ordeal and the Improvisor's ordeal and how you can combine them!
Into and Outro music by Sebastian Hochman: https://open.spotify.com/track/1iktOn8ElJkhGSRXI7Afy7?si=b45514d69dc146e9
2023-10-021h 13Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovHero’s Journey 05 - Tests, Allies, and Betty - Daania - Muprov Musings 008Daania Tahir joins the podcast to talk about Tests and Allies, otherwise known as the fun zone! This is the most short-formy part of your hero's journey so expect lots of fun! Julian's mic broke right before this episode so his audio is a little off but it will be back up and running by the next episode!
2023-09-251h 12Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovHero’s Journey 04 - Thresholds and Texture - Kaelyn - Muprov Musings 007Kaelyn Ong joins the pod for the fourth episode of our hero's journey series to talk physical improv, show texture, and threshold crossing. We throw in a little call to adventure too!
2023-09-181h 12Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovHero’s Journey 03 - Worlds and Worldviews - Muprov Musings 006Hal and Julian talk about setting up your protagonist's worldview in their ordinary world!
2023-09-101h 12Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovHero’s Journey 02 - Music and Genre - Sebastian - Muprov Musings 005For Episode 5 we are joined by talented Musical Improvisor Sebastian Blue to talk underscoring and genre. Get the information you need to add a musical improviser to your group and prepare them for the Hero's Journey, as well as the basics of how we approach genre!
See Me Now: https://open.spotify.com/track/1iktOn8ElJkhGSRXI7Afy7?si=f89cc2703cc94e81
Last Five Years Run: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP4CVxxVJA4
2023-09-041h 18Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovHero’s Journey 01 - Overview - Muprov Musings 004This is our first format episode for The Hero's Journey improv format. This overview episode will explain the basics of the format and give you a general idea of what your Heros' Journey show might look like!
Show Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlGln8Yit-4
2023-08-281h 06Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovBe Average - PRM - Muprov Musings 003Patricia Ryan Madson, author of Improv Wisdom and founder of the Stanford Improvisers is interviewed about her 5th Maxim: Be Average. What a treat!
Improv Wisdom:
https://www.improvwisdom.com/index.html
Music: https://open.spotify.com/album/0r4m4JQTjnnDfxSYllht9W?si=ZYxb5qprS9icazolVZke7g
A New Play Night 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2qDjmWah6g&t=2s
A New Play Night 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5lApi_65io&t=48s
2023-08-211h 02Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovYes and No - Simran - Muprov Musings 002Cohosts Hal and Julian welcome guest Simran Tandon for a debate about Yes vs No in improv. Tune in to hear their thoughts and pick which side you fall on!
Links:
The making of A New Play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=861yDZ1jwwk
Simps333: https://www.youtube.com/@SImps333
Intro music: https://open.spotify.com/album/0r4m4JQTjnnDfxSYllht9W?si=SdYY-B6fQCCX-hPDEJm9oQ
2023-08-141h 11Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average ImprovJust Show Up - Muprov Musings 001Cohosts Hal and Julian introduce themselves in the first-ever episode. Tune in to learn about the maxim "Just Show Up" and also to get the definition of this thing that we are calling Muprov!
Links:
The making of A New Play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=861yDZ1jwwk
Simps333: https://www.youtube.com/@SImps333
2023-08-071h 06