Improv Comedy - 'Did You Just Make That Up?' and Beyond.

I have no acting training, no improv experience, and no familiarity with the concept of an 'improvised radio comedy panel game show' (although I'm not sure that anyone knows exactly what that means). Yet, when friend and colleague Robert Zirk approached me and a few others with the idea for 'Did You Just Make That Up?' - Kickfm's eternally in-production comedy show - I was easily coaxed.

Maybe my judgment was skewed after a night of heavy news release writing, or maybe I was just seduced by the allure of unimaginable radio stardom. In any event, I was genuinely excited to be a part of the program.

Imagine my shock when the first taping - and a handful more - turned out to be tasteless messes of comic putrescence. There was a giant burrito, a hobo clown on a train, and an anthropomorphic baseball bat that had a penchant for little boys. Horrible, frightening material.

Luckily, since those dark days, we have produced sketches that are witty, impressive, and - dare I say - hilarious. However, the humor didn't come easy. After those first few shows I retreated deep into the damp recesses of my home with only a computer screen to light the way. And I watched improv...

Old episodes of 'Whose Line is it Anyway?' became nightly viewing. Excerpts from improv comedy shows on YouTube were like training videos. The videos that I found myself watching the most, however, were from the 'Hello My Name is Show.'

Image via http://ccr.stanford.edu/blog/

 The series was created by cast members of the very popular CollegeHumor website, and is based around improvised interviews between a host and a created character. To date, there have been 11 episodes, with standouts including an incompetent Irish actor and an employee of Satan.



All episodes of the Hello My Name is Show can be found at collegehumor.com/hellomynameis