improv chat

This week we are super excited to welcome Michael Ananins back to the show! Michael first appears on the show back in episode 3 and a lot has happened since then. Michael has recently given stand up comedy a go and he and Iain have a great chat breaking down the art of stand up. There is of course loads of great improv chat and Michael has many incredible stories to tell, and one story in particular that involves him meeting Bob Geldof! It’s a really great chat that we can’t wait for you to hear! So sit back, relax and enjoy more of Michael’s true story about making stuff up.

Heather is a relatively new improviser, but if you saw her perform you would never know it! She has such a natural flare for it and to top it off she is a genuinely lovely person. During this chat Iain and Heather talk through her journey to improv and find out exactly how it came about that a physicist with barely any experience in performing arts came to discover a passion for improv. We also discover that Heather and Iain share many geeky interests and we delve into some Star Wars chat and discover how Heather ended up meeting actual Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill! It’s a really fun chat that we know you will love, so sit back, relax and enjoy Heather’s true story about making stuff up.

Tom is a drama student with a real passion for improv & he is at a very exciting stage of his life where there are so many possibilities ahead of him. During the conversation we get to hear about Tom's improv journey into improv and into LCI & we learn how LCI has helped him to expand his improv horizons. During this chat Tom mentions that he thinks Colin Mochrie is 72. Iain just accepted this at the time, but felt it was not quite accurate. Research was conducted and it seems the age estimation was indeed a tad high. Colin is a spritely 64 (at the time of recording). It's an informative chat that is full of fun little tidbits and we can't wait for you to hear it! So sit back, relax and enjoy Tom's true story of making stuff up.

We are super excited to finally welcome Stu Hughes to the show! Stu is a fantastic improviser and an even better human being and we know you are going to love this chat with him. Among the many things covered, Stu and Iain talk about how improv helps with confidence issues and how improv can genuinely help to change your life. They delve into the topic of short form vs long form and there’s also lots of fun chat about writing sketch comedy, the Oickers members of the LCI community and how Stu discovered improv and specifically LCI in the first place. They also both discover a mutual love of co-operative board games! It’s a really great chat that we are excited to share with you. So sit back, relax and enjoy Stu’s story about making stuff up.

Jamie is an incredibly creative individual who has recently discovered and fallen in love with improv. He is a very open individual and he gives us a great insight into his life journey that led him to LCI. He is a wonderful artist and he and Iain get into a great chat about what makes art successful and is it really worth what some people pay for it? It’s another fascinating chat with one of the newer members of the LCI community and we can’t wait for you to hear it! So sit back, relax and enjoy Jamie’s true story about making stuff up.

This week we welcome back friend of the show Sekki Tabasuares to discuss the topic 'Planning an Improv session' with our host Iain Luke Jones. There are lots of things to take into consideration when running an improv session and Iain and Sekki talk in depth about the thought process leading into preparing an improv session. It is a really great chat as always and we can't wait for you to hear it!

This week we are focusing on the topic 'Boundaries in Improv' and we welcome friend of the show 'San George' back to the podcast to discuss the topic with Iain. What are boundaries in improv? Why is it important that this topic is discussed? These are a couple of the point touched on and there is a lot of great personal insight and anecdotes from both Iain and San along the way. This is a really sensitive and important topic that we felt needed to be given the spotlight and we hope you enjoy the conversation.

On April 29th LCI has another awesome live improv show coming your way! 'Boss Birds & Friends' is back and this time the guest teams are 'Cats in Trenchcoats' (who are an LCI long form team) & 'Regular Job'. Our guest this week is Al Donohoe from 'Regular Job' & he is here to tell you all about who 'Regular Job' are and what to expect from them. Al has got a fascinating story to tell and in this chat you will hear all about his acting career taking off when he was a teenager, his discovery of improv & how his love of the UCB improv style inspired him to set uo 'The Atom Improv'. Al lives and breathes improv and we know you are going to love hearing his true story of making stuff up.

This week we welcome an LCI regular who is an up and coming stand up comedy sensation. She is the incredibly talented Melina Fiol. Melina is still relatively new to both improv and stand up, but in the short space of time she has been doing both she has made a big name for herself. She oozes charisma and passion for what she does and during the chat with show host Iain Luke Jones, she breaks down the importance of understanding improv to help add to your stand up tool belt and talks us through the process of how to plan a quality stand up routine. The conversation goes off on many a tangent and every avenue explored is one filled with incredible nuggets of information that are worth storing away for future use. Improv is the gateway to the success of so many people and you will discover that this is certainly the case for Melina as we discover her true story of making stuff up.

This week we are super excited to have Laura Hall on the show! Laura has been a part of Whose Line is it Anyway? ever since it crossed the pond to America and her musical expertise have helped her to carve out a very niche role in the improv world. In this chat Laura tells Iain how she got the Whose Line job inthe first place and gives some amazing insight into how the show works from the other side of the camera. She also has loads of great insight about various other Whose Line cast members and has some fantastic tips for anybody else out there who is interested in getting invloved in improv as a musician. Laura Hall is a true legend in the improv community and she is just as lovely as you expect her to be. Put the kettle on, sit down and relax because this is an chat that you are absolutely going to love!

This week we welcome that fantastic human being that is Stuart Moses to the show. Stuart is an associate teacher of LCI and has a workshop called 'Movement for Improvisers' taking place on March 26th at the Liverpool Arts Bar from 1-4pm. The workshop is aimed at shaking you out of your characterisation defaults and go to's that you might want to get out of. Tickets for the workshop are available on the Liverpool Comedy Improv website. During the chat you can hear all about Stuart's improv history and how it all started with table top role play gaming. Hear how he developed as a performar and teacher and how and why he started the Improv London Podcast back in 2015. A podcast that we highly recommed you listen to (after this one of course). We know you are going to love Stuart's true story of making stuff up.

This week we have two guests for the price of one! Hannah Carson and Hannah Savage (Sav) are recent converts to improv and are a big part of the current LCI scene. In this chat we get the low down on how they both discovered improv and how big an impact it has had on their life in such a short space of time. They are both incredibly fun and vibrant characters and it is chat that will definitely put a smile on your face as you hear both of them talk about how much they have been bitten by the improv bug.

We have kept you waiting a whole week, but now the time is finally here to for you to catch up with the second part of the fantastic Viola Spolin special with Max Schafer. We jump right back in where we left off & it is another really inforative and entertaining chat all about the origins of improv as we know it.

Today we are bringing you part one of a two part Viola Spolin special! Max Schafer is a leader of the teachings of 'spolin' and he is a deep well of knowledge in not just her techniques, but also in how she herself was as a teacher. Iain also delves into Max's improv history and we find out why he is so passionate about keeping the name 'Viola Spolin' present in the mind of improvisers all over the world. Part one is a really great listen and we can't wait to share part two with you all next week!

Tanya is a fun improviser who is a regular at the online drop ins. During this very enjoyable chat you will find out how she ended up leaving Bulgaria for the bright lights of Beverley (just outside Hull) and what ultimately led her to discovering the joys of improv. She does an excellent job at flipping many of the questions back to Iain and even has a few excellent questions of her own to pose him. It is a really fun chat that we know you will love listening to and we can't wait for you to hear it!

To kick off the New Year in style we welcome the founder of LCI Emma Bird back to the show to celebrate 50 episodes! Iain and Emma chat about the evolution of the podcast and the evolution of LCI both reflecting on all that has happened so far and looking ahead to the future. It is a great chat to kick off our 2022 journey and we can't wait for you to hear it.

Last week we shared with you an insight into the return to live improv at LCI courtesy of the 'Shindig' at the Fly in the Loaf on 26-11-21. We hope you enjoyed listening to that episode as much as we did and this week we have invited LCI regular and previous show guest Geoff Head to the show to discuss the gig in more detail with Iain. It is a really fun reflection on what was a truly fantastic night of entertainment and we can't wait for you to hear it!

This week we are discussing Friendship in Improv with returning guest and friend of the show San George. The improv community has been a place where people feel like they truly belong and can fully open up and be themselves and this means that the bonds that are formed run deep. Iain and San discuss how the improv community has impacted them and as good friends often do, they drift off topic on more than one occasion talking about improv in general and various other topics that crop up. It's a real fly on the wall oppotunity to hear two friends having a good old natter and we can't wait for you to hear it!

This week Iain welcomes back former show guest Dave Hodgson to discuss the 'Game of the Scene'. What actually is it? How do you discover it? How important is it? These are just some of the questions that are asked and answered in this very insightful and fun chat between two improv buddies. It's time to sit back, relax and enjoy delving deep into the Game of the Scene.

Dr. Ron is in the house! This week we have the pleasure of bringing you this wonderful treat of a chat with Dr. Ronald Harvey. Find out how he first discovered improv in Chicago during the 90’s and then forgot about improv before life led him to living in Bulgaria and ultimately back to improv. There’s all sorts of interesting topics discussed from music to psychology and it’s an episode we can’t wait for you to hear! Sit back, relax and enjoy Dr. Ron’s true story about making stuff up.