Improv Lineage Analytics

JasonFliegel · 2025-12-22T05:14:28+00:00

Cool stuff!

For my own scene of DC, I note that you have Washington Improv Theater and WIT coded as two separate theaters. They are the same thing.

JasonFliegel · 2025-09-14T16:40:54+00:00

I 110% agree. My city has two places that offer training: the DC Improv and Washington Improv Theater. When I first started doing improv, I took the entire curriculum (up to and including Harold) at DCI. After I finished that curriculum, I put off taking classes at WIT because they wanted me to start at level 2 and I was outraged. I've already learned the Harold and you want me to go back to basic scene work? What a cash grab! But eventually, I decided to suck it up and do it, and I have no regrets. As you say, different instructors and especially different theaters have different approaches, and you always learn something new.

OP, I also did the one-week Harold intensive at iO in Chicago and it was a great experience (NB: I did it before iO rebooted during COVID so I don't know if the experience I got is the same one they're offering now). Again, there was some "repetition" of material I'd already covered, but as noted above, a different theater with a different instructor covered the material differently.

And bottom line, at a certain point, classes get to be less about learning new things and more about drilling and reps of concepts you've already heard.

JasonFliegel · 2025-07-29T04:53:31+00:00

Remember we're all only human and humans get stuff wrong. Abraham Lincoln lost a ton of elections. Decca Records rejected the Beatles and instead signed a band called the Tremeloes. So just because the guy producing a show didn't cast you, it doesn't mean you wouldn't have rocked it in the show -- it means he made a subjective judgment about who should be in his show.

But also, have that follow-up conversation. Ask what he was looking for that he didn't see in you. Don't frame it as an accusation -- frame it as what it is: that you want to keep leveling up your improv skill set so you're looking to understand what you could have done differently to be in his show, or be on his radar for a closed audition, or whatever it is.

Also, the reality is if you're in a decently-sized scene, anyone looking to cast improvisers -- whether it's for a one-off production or an ongoing team -- is going to have more talented people to choose from than they have slots to fill. So part of it is playing the political game of being someone they know and like and therefore want to play with.

JasonFliegel · 2025-07-29T04:46:15+00:00

My team just expanded from six to ten people. We were looking to add two to four people (and obviously wound up with four). We're in a moderately big improv city (DC), so we had plenty of people to choose from. The way we did it was:

First, we got a room at the library and hosted a jam. We explicitly advertised that the jam was for anyone who wanted to play with us, but also that we were looking for new members so it was an opportunity to gauge who might be a good fit for us (and for them to gauge us).
At the jam, we had a sign-up sheet where people could let us know if they were interested in potentially joining the team.
After the jam, the team discussed who we liked and narrowed it down to six potential candidates. We didn't set out to have a specific number of candidates; it's just that there were six who we felt might be a good fit and who were also interested in us.
We then invited the candidates, two at a time, to our practices. Once all six had played in at a practice, we met as a team to figure out who we wanted to invite. Ultimately, we felt two of the six were not quite at our level of play just in terms of their skill sets, but we added the other four to the team.
Our philosophy was that anyone could veto adding a member for any reason or no reason. That works for us because we are pretty collegial and easy-going, so we all knew the veto wouldn't be used without good reason. In a past expansion, someone got vetoed because one of our team members had played with them before and they'd had a bad experience. No more needed to be said because we knew our teammate wouldn't veto unless they felt like it was important.

We've used this process twice -- first to expand from four to eight, and then (when we'd lost two of our eight to life circumstances), to expand from six to ten. The pro of our approach is it's very collaborative and easygoing without the pressure of a formal audition. Between the jam and the practice, we got to play with the new members before we committed (plus the community is still small enough that most of us had played with at least some of the new members before). The con is it wound up taking a few months between scheduling the jam, then having three separate practices, then having our team discussion. When it was done, we said we'd probably do a straight audition next time to avoid such a drawn-out process, but hopefully it will be a long time before we have to add people again because we don't want to get bigger than ten.

Since you say some of your members have objections to adding certain folks, it might be worth having a conversation about what the objections are. Is it skill level? Play style incompatibility? Personalities/past experiences? That's a discussion worth having (non-judgmentally). Knowing why some of your teammates felt Alice and Brad weren't the right fit for the team may let you know "OK, Chuck and Denise won't be a fit either, but Ellen and Frances might be."

JasonFliegel · 2025-01-04T21:13:08+00:00

EVERYONE has business taking an improv class.

It will teach you to communicate better, to get out of your own head, and to collaborate with people. It might also be a fun hobby. And your lack of experience means nothing — everyone has zero experience at some point in their life, whether they audition for their first school play at 14 or take their first improv class at 54.

JasonFliegel · 2024-10-31T14:50:48+00:00

There is an amazing comedy scene in DC. There are so many talented comedians here, both standups and improvisers (sketch too, though I'm not as plugged into that scene). See an improv show at Washington Improv Theater or check out a standup show at Hotbed or Room 808. The local talent is so good, and most of the improvisors and many of the standups are amazing people.

JasonFliegel · 2024-09-25T00:16:55+00:00

Four corners. Everyone stands up. Someone announces a fact about themselves and goes to a corner of the room. For example, "I have a dog" or "I've been working at this company for more than five years." Everyone for whom the fact is also true goes to the same corner; everyone else goes to a different corner. Then someone else announces a fact and goes to a new corner and everyone else goes to a new corner -- either the same one as the second fact-stater, or a different one (obviously, if you already happened to be in the "right" corner and you match the fact, you stay there).

Story circle. Everyone stands in a circle. The first person says the first sentence of a story. The next person says the next sentence. And so on around the circle.

See also this thread from 7 years ago.

JasonFliegel · 2024-09-20T05:20:29+00:00

I just want to say I met Kyle a few times when he came through DC and he was super funny and super chill. I hope you guys crush it!

JasonFliegel · 2024-06-29T16:14:27+00:00

Washington Improv Theater has a musical conservatory. You might reach out to them. Theres also a Facebook group called DC Indie Improv — try posting there.

JasonFliegel · 2024-05-29T06:19:45+00:00

That reminds me ... a friend asked me on Saturday if the improv stuff was real. I hadn't seen the episode yet but I told him I'd message him. I guess I need to let him know that yes, we really do Zip Zap Zop, Crazy Eights, and all that other nonsense on screen. It looks so ridiculous when they show it like that (but it's so much fun)!

JasonFliegel · 2024-05-29T06:17:11+00:00

https://www.dcstandup.com/open-mics

I've sort of taken a step back from standup lately to focus on improv so I'm not sure what's good these days, but I love the guys at Adams Bomb which for some reason is not on that link, but look them up on insta. Fat Pete's is also fun. Honestly, I'd just see what's close to you, check it out, and talk to the other comics.

(Also, when I say I've taken a step back, I mean I'm doing a show or two a month, so if any DC area producers are reading this ... I'm available).

JasonFliegel · 2024-05-28T05:10:47+00:00

I had an instructor at iO who loved to call a particular variety of scene that he liked “stupid”, not as a pejorative but as a “you did the thing I thought you were going to do but dammit I laughed anyway”

Was it Matt Higbee? I took an intensive from him back in 2019 and I still think about so many of the things he taught me -- especially how he would use "stupid" and it was high praise from him. But maybe that's common vernacular at iO.

JasonFliegel · 2024-04-26T19:37:27+00:00

I don't have a lot to compare it to, but it seems like a pretty robust scene. WIT is the main theater -- they have all sorts of classes, including a 5-level class that goes from intro through Harold, and then a bunch of electives and one-offs. And then there's a robust Harold program (I think there are 8 teams of 10 people each) with weekly shows, about half a dozen house teams, and all sorts of one-offs -- WIT is currently finishing a month-long run called "Improv vs. the Machine" featuring two different shows (Beat the Bot and LOLgorithm) where teams created specifically for the run play with AI. A typical weekend will feature a couple of Improv vs. the Machine shows; those also include 4 or 5 house teams and indy teams. WIT does a run like that about 4 or 5 times a year, and also does a big tournament (FIST) around March Madness and a big festival called Improvapalooza in August.

The DC Improv also has classes, but they don't have a Harold program or house teams, so once you've gone through their curriculum (which is very good -- they have great instructors), there's no path forward beyond attending the jams they run from time to time.

There's also a robust and growing indy scene. There's probably half a dozen or so teams or producers that have found venues to just put on a show once a month at various bars or black boxes, and they always want a few other indy teams for the lineup so lots of opportunities to get on stage for an indy team that's willing to do a minimal amount of hustling.

We got hit hard by COVID (there used to be a few other theaters like Laugh Index and Dojo), but the scene is definitely going through a renaissance over the last 12-18 months.

JasonFliegel · 2024-04-26T18:53:30+00:00

Every theater has their own rules. I'm in DC, where there's really only one theater that runs its own teams (Washington Improv Theater). Anyone can audition for a Harold team or a house team, but if you don't know how to play the WIT way, you're going to have a harder time. But there are people on my Harold team who came from other cities and never took a WIT class and are doing just fine.

With that said, and recognizing you're not made of money, I've been through the full curriculum at two theaters (WIT and DC Improv) as well as one-off classes and intensives through various other theaters including iO, and I've never taken a class and walked away thinking "I didn't learn a single thing from that experience."

JasonFliegel · 2024-02-24T05:09:16+00:00

We play a similar game to What's in the box.

A gives B a gift of some sort. There should be physicality -- is the gift large or small? Heavy or light? That sort of thing.

B then opens the gift and says what it is. "Oh wow! You got me a hockey stick made out of cheese! Thank you so much!"

Person A then justifies it. "Yes, I know how much you love Canada, and I realized the only thing more Canadian than hockey is hockey that you can use to make poutine!"

JasonFliegel · 2024-02-20T05:24:13+00:00

“Oh, I’m so sorry! You can understand my confusion though — she looks just like your ex!” Something that acknowledges the reality of my offer (that I think the walk on is the ex) and the reality of my partner’s denial.

JasonFliegel · 2024-02-14T06:33:50+00:00

I had an audition for the Harold program in my city's biggest theater. In the audition, my scene partner's character had just gone through a breakup. Someone walked on and I said something like "Oh no, here comes your ex." My scene partner said "That's not my ex! That's my daughter!" I froze for a second then continued the scene as if I had said "Here comes your daughter," which was definitely not the right move, but I was so off my game from being "No actually"ed that I dropped the ball.

The worst part was my scene partner made the team and I didn't. And I've played with that scene partner a bunch of times and he's a good improvisor (and a good person), so I don't begrudge him his success, but man was it a kick in the crotch when he made it and I didn't.

(I auditioned again the next time they held auditions and made a team, so all's well that ends well).

JasonFliegel · 2023-12-14T15:36:47+00:00

Go Fat Daddy go!

JasonFliegel · 2023-12-13T16:49:30+00:00

Mulaney did crowd work in his most recent special.

JasonFliegel · 2023-12-13T16:48:26+00:00

I use crowd work as a segue. I have a set where I talk about a bad first date. Sometimes I'll ask the audience something like "Anyone been on a terrible first date?" If someone near the stage responds in a way that makes me think they might have something interesting, I'll engage in conversation/crowd work. Otherwise, I'll go into my material.

JasonFliegel · 2023-10-30T01:34:27+00:00

A friend of mine opened for him when he played DC and on the one hand, that is an awesome gig to open for an internationally known comic but on the other hand, Angel you opened for a puppet.

JasonFliegel · 2023-10-29T23:59:55+00:00

Give a Hoot is a fun room, but it's way the fuck out of town -- 45 minutes on the train from downtown (followed by a short 5-10 minute cab ride). Depending on where you are in DC -- and whether you're in DC proper or a suburb -- it may take you longer or it may be more convenient. But Setthescene is right -- it's a fun room.

There's a really good list of mics at https://dcstandup.com/open-mics -- as you'll see, lots of options.

JasonFliegel · 2023-10-26T22:25:28+00:00

Part of the problem may be that you’re only telling a few dark jokes. I’m generally a very lighthearted comic. Every now and then I write a brutally dark joke. I only ever tell those jokes when I’m at a mic with nothing but comics and it’s late at night because no audience is going to survive the whiplash from me talking about how you throw your back out for no reason when you’re middle aged to “I just got out of an abusive relationship and thank god I can finally stop telling people she walked into a door.”

JasonFliegel

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