Great improvisers make comedy look so easy.  They just hit jokes out of the park like hanging curve balls.

But as Kelly Leonard explains in this week’s podcast, improv is one of the most challenging forms of performance on the planet.

That’s why the good ones, like Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Mike Myers, etc. all go on to superstardom.

But before that, they all started at Second City in Chicago.

Kelly Leonard has been running the show at Second City for decades, and he saw those three I just mentioned and so many more, pay their dues on his stage.

I’m a big believer that one of the best ways to lay the groundwork for any show is through improvisation (it’s how I created my first show, The Awesome 80s Prom, and how I wrote my next show, Gettin’ The Band Back Together), so when I ran into Kelly in Chicago, I said to him . . .

“Kelly, will you be on my podcast?”

And he said . . .

“Yes . . . and . . . ”

Listen to Kelly and I improv some Q&As on all subjects such as:

• What improv is great at . . . and where it fails.
• Is a dramatic improv possible?  (Hear what happened when he tried one.)
• How improv has changed in the era of Political Correctness.
• The art of writing . . . FAST!  And how to do it well.
• Why improv is being studied by academics and what it could mean for society’s future.

By the way, if you didn’t get that “Yes . . . and . . .” reference above, then you should read Kelly’s book and also take an improv class because it will improve your acting, your writing . . . and your life!

Enjoy the podcast!

Listen to it on iTunes here.  (And if you like the podcast, give it a great review, while you’re there!)

Download it here