the Montreal Improv blog

These Summer Improv Classes Are Hot!

Fri, 18 May 2012 09:54:22 -0400

We’ve got a bunch of Summer Electives and Intensives. Check em out!

Super Clinic

Mon, Tue & Wed 7-9pm, June 4, 5 & 6

Work on all the essential elements of improv and then put it into practice in a performance at the end of this intensive 3 day program.

Gettin’ Physical

Mon, Tue & Wed 7-9pm, June 25, 26 & 27

Improve your miming skills and non-verbal communcation w/ Marc Rowland in this intensive 3 day program.

Summer Intensive

July 2-6

An intensive summer program for teachers and performers to immerse themselves in the world of improv. 25 hours of class and 1 performance!

Teen Classes

Saturdays 3:30-5:30pm, starting Jul 21

Experience the power of imagination with improv classes for teens between 13-16 years old.

Go to our classes page for more information.

thedailywhat: Audiobook of the Day: And now, to stop your...

Fri, 18 May 2012 08:46:29 -0400

thedailywhat:

Audiobook of the Day: And now, to stop your Friday morning dead in its tracks: Fifty Shades Of Grey, as read aloud by the biggest name in voiceovers, Gilbert Gottfried. Brillz.

(Not Safe For Work, mommy pr0n AND Gilbert F*cking Gottfried.)

[thestranger]

Comedy Shows May 17-19

Thu, 17 May 2012 09:41:49 -0400

Thu, May 17, 8pm — Trust Us, This Is All Made Up

Improv movie night!!

(English, Pay What You Can)

Fri, May 18, 8pm — Smackdown - Competitive Improv

The Friday main event. 2 teams compete for the audience’s favour and the Smackdown trophy. Fodor’s says, “Their Friday night Smackdowns, where the audience determines the winner, are definitely good for a laugh.”

(English, $8 or $5 with a pass)

Sat, May 19, 7pm — Les 11 Doigts De La Main

Ils n’ont pas tous la même taille et des empreintes bien différentes, ils n’ont pas tous la même fonction et leurs ongles sont plus ou moins faits, mais les 11 doigts ont UNE chose en commun: ils se réuniront ce samedi, sur la Main, pour leur plus grand plaisir et, si mon p’tit doigt dit vrai, pour le vôtre aussi!

(Français, 5$)

Want to volunteer to work the door or do lights and sound and see shows for free? Join the Facebook Group or write us here.

"The most important thing an improviser can be is boring"

Wed, 16 May 2012 23:41:00 -0400

improvisorsimprovisor:

nicolemarietherese:

- Gethard

I don’t want to quote him out of context, so let me provide some background.

Read More

Very important. PLease read.

Apparently Chris Gethard is turning into Keith Johnstone…

- vinny

Honesty of Humiliation

Wed, 16 May 2012 09:38:00 -0400

I’ve been into two performers lately. From the title of my post, maybe you can guess which two. They are Lena Dunham and Louis CK.

I’ve been really enjoying Dunham’s Girls on HBO. It doesn’t speak to me very much as a 36 yr old male but it does reach me as an exaggerated version of that searching period of life. Relationships with the opposite sex, relationships with friends and the relationship with one’s self are all on the table for satire and brutal excoriation. The characters are slowly emerging as more than caricatures. There’s a building arc to the narrative with a clear shape that still manages to surprise within the world it has built. I also appreciate the boldness she shows with her body on the screen. It’s both jarring and refreshing to find character humour in a topic that typically uses shame to get its laughs.

Louis CK has been plumbing a similar vein of comedy. No one explores human weakness like Louis CK. If Larry David and Ricky Gervais exposed the top layer of the topic, Louis has dug straight down and shows no sign of stopping. Sex, violence, body, family, love, hate; the rawest emotions have fueled his comedy and his way of recognizing and accepting his flaws seems to resonate. It’s humiliation without the shame.

Both of these artists are exploring honesty about the daily humiliations we all suffer (it can’t be just me, right? RIGHT??). But they both do it with a self-awareness and a self-deprecation that takes the sting of judgment out of it.

I’m still formulating/incubating some of these thoughts and maybe I’ve got some of this wrong but writing it out helps me solidify all this. Thanks for letting me indulge a moment by working through this out loud.

- vinny

It’s been a while since I posted some Nichols & May. -...

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:46:06 -0400

It’s been a while since I posted some Nichols & May.

- vinny

Mullaney: Admit it. Then justify it with a philosophy.

Mon, 14 May 2012 12:40:07 -0400

Mullaney: Admit it. Then justify it with a philosophy.:

mullaney:

I like this piece of advice for improv scenes from Will Hines.

Someone says you’re late for dinner —- admit it, then justify why you are late with a philosophy. Don’t blame it on traffic or your boss — that’s deflecting. Even if it’s a reasonable excuse, you are deflecting the gift. Don’t be…

amypop: idpr: Judy Greer, Rashida Jones and Ana Gasteyer in V...

Fri, 11 May 2012 08:29:47 -0400

amypop:

idpr:

Judy Greer, Rashida Jones and Ana Gasteyer in V Magazine’s Women of Comedy issue!

OMG. This looks AMAZING.

Mike Birbiglia’s This American Life video (from the LIVE...

Fri, 11 May 2012 08:12:44 -0400

Mike Birbiglia’s This American Life video (from the LIVE show)

- vinny

NBC Canceling Entire Thursday Night Sitcom Lineup. Yes, Even Parks and Rec

Thu, 10 May 2012 17:41:10 -0400

NBC Canceling Entire Thursday Night Sitcom Lineup. Yes, Even Parks and Rec:

(via khealywu)

Wow. That’s extreme…

- vinny

Comedy Shows May 10-12

Thu, 10 May 2012 07:02:00 -0400

Thu, May 10, 8pm — Degrassi Improv High

3 great groups!

St-Thomas, the winners of the Montreal Regionals of the 2012 Canadian Improv Games.
The regional and national winners of the 2011 Canadian Improv Games.
And Dan Beirne, Kirsten Rasmussen, Marc Rowland and Brent Skagford.

(English, $8 or $5 with a pass)

Fri, May11, 8pm — Smackdown - Competitive Improv

(English, $8 or $5 with a pass)

Sat, May 12, 7pm — Spectacle des Finissant du Niveau 3

Les finissants du niveau 3 se produisent sur scène pour la première fois! Venez découvrir les vedettes de demain! Gratuit pour tous ceux qui ont suivi des cours à Impro Montréal.

(Français, 5$)

Sat, May 12, 9pm — The Brat

The enfants terribles of improv, Pat Dussault and Bryan Walsh, return to craft a series of interweaving stories based on audience suggestions of names, events and places.

(English, $8 or $5 with a pass)

Want to volunteer to work the door or do lights and sound and see shows for free? Join the Facebook Group or write us here.

A tale in many parts: I wanted to generate a list of ideas I...

Wed, 09 May 2012 13:22:00 -0400

A tale in many parts:

I wanted to generate a list of ideas I could use to start scenes or, at least, inspire them.
To do so, I played word association by myself in my notebook.
You guys have an improv notebook, right? One you carry everywhere with a couple pens, right?
I did this on the bus/metro on my daily commute over a couple days. Though it must be noted, my handwriting does not improve appreciably on stationary stationery.
The ink from my pen doesn’t dry fast enough to prevent smudging. Sorry.
I scratched out a couple I thought I had duplicated. I haven’t checked it for doubles, typos or anything else.
Armchair psychologists, have your way with me.
I recommend this exercise. It worked easily for some stretches and gave me pause at a few others. Mostly it flowed quite well, a couple times I was upset my stop had arrived and had to break my flow.
I rejected a few words that came to me because I always had one criterion to meet before writing down words: could I improvise a song from this suggestion? If yes, down it went. If no, I associated from the idea I rejected.

Fin.

- vinny

Roy Janik's In Media Res Scene Starters

Wed, 09 May 2012 10:01:23 -0400

From Roy:

Here are my favorite suggestions for scenes starting in the middle or end of an activity. I was looking for stuff that seemed ripe for good relationship exploration… stuff that would allow the students to jump right in and skip past having to start doing something as the characters.

Here’s my list:

Developing film after a photoshoot
Right at the end of a prayer: “Amen!”
Cleaning up broken glass after a fight
Getting a positive on a pregnancy test
Immediately after the reading of a will
“You have right to remain silent…” (arresting someone)
Moving the tray across the buffet at a Golden Corral
A bestselling author on a deadline at her/his agent’s office
At the end of a job interview: “Do you have any questions for us?”
A couple cleaning up after all the guests from a big party have left

We have a pretty great announcement. Montreal Improv has a...

Tue, 08 May 2012 10:01:15 -0400

We have a pretty great announcement. Montreal Improv has a summer intern! Hooray! May I present to you all: Lucy (Louis Armstrong was not available).

She’s both super and duper. And we hope you say, “Hi!” to her if you see her around. If she tells us you are being mean to her, we will format your hard drive.

- vinny

FB event for Improv everywhere in Montreal (Wednesday!)

Mon, 07 May 2012 21:46:58 -0400

FB event for Improv everywhere in Montreal (Wednesday!):

Gang, I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for Improv Everywhere. They have a great mission with excellent execution.

Just For Laughs is bringing Charlie Todd himself into town for a day to run a Montreal MP3 Experiment.

I’m pretty sure it will be memorable. I can’t make it but if you go you have to tell me all about it.

- vinny

Improv Is Easy!: Notes from Susan Messing's NY Workshop

Mon, 07 May 2012 10:48:21 -0400

Improv Is Easy!: Notes from Susan Messing's NY Workshop :

nicclee:

Susan Messing did a workshop yesterday that was a wonderful re-introduction for me to Chicago-style improv. It also made me super sad again not to have finished the Annoyance program. Susan said everyone has a theory about how to do improv and they are just that - theories. There is…

Hi, How many seats in the audience? thanks!

Mon, 07 May 2012 10:33:51 -0400

Our capacity is 45 seats, which can generate roughly 1.21 gigawatts of laughter.

natedern: Go Right. It’s the weekend. I can do whatever...

Sat, 05 May 2012 20:12:54 -0400

natedern:

Go Right.

It’s the weekend. I can do whatever I want.

- vinny

dynamoe: Everything about this video is perfect. Which made me...

Fri, 04 May 2012 15:13:56 -0400

dynamoe:

Everything about this video is perfect.

Which made me think of…

- vinny

Photo

Fri, 04 May 2012 12:23:16 -0400