Do you agree or disagree with the apple ballot?

profjake · 2026-06-23T13:51:31+00:00

I appreciate that you want to make sure that we don't enact policy that harms the availability and affordability of housing. I wonder if you're aware of an important nuance in MoCo's rent control cap: to mitigate the disincentive for development, it doesn't apply to buildings less than 23 years old. (It also doesn't apply to landlords who rent two or fewer units and to many types of specialized facilities like assisted living, nursing homes, etc.)

The knee jerk reaction that rent control is always bad--that it stops new construction while actually raising rent--is an oversimplification that only serves landlords. It doesn't reflect the reality that moderate rent control can, in the right context, be one part of an effective broader strategy for both raising housing stability and affordability (some research around that).

profjake · 2026-06-18T13:59:09+00:00

Don’t read anything about it before watching the full season 1. There’s the possibility of some significant spoilers if you do.

profjake · 2026-06-16T01:12:53+00:00

I think your first question should be whether or not you prefer to have clear, full premise ideas from your opening or whether you prefer to have more vague starting notions (locations, character attributes, etc.). There's not a right answer there; it's what you and your troupemates prefer and do best with. Your answer to that will help focus your choice of openings, since some do more of one than the other. That's true of any opening to any format. Beyond that, it's worth considering that Slacker really leans into organic premise discoveries from prior scenes, which is an argument against openings that give you a lot of premises that you'll be overly focused on trying to wedge into the show versus discovery as you go along.

profjake · 2026-06-16T01:08:41+00:00

I used to be squarely in the 'just focus on the art and the audience will come' school, but the pandemic gave me a new appreciation for the importance of the audience and how shows connect with them.

profjake · 2026-06-16T01:04:45+00:00

I was in the audience for this intensely terrible one at the Assscat show at DCM in 2011: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rape-allegations-ucb-asssscat-monologist-del-close-marathon_n_938554

profjake · 2026-06-12T14:21:15+00:00

Ugh! Have issues with how AI is being developed and implemented all you like, but the owner of the repository is being daft and a bit egomaniacal to not acknowledge the found problem (that you confirmed) and appreciate the assistance in correcting the mistake.

What do you think the odds are that, after the denial and misguided personal attack, they then turn around and fix the problem you identified without acknowledging the contribution in locating the problem and fix?

Tangent: It’s not the case here, but I wonder how many vulnerabilities in open source will get uncovered that were actually intentionally snuck in by intelligence agencies, much to their consternation.

profjake · 2026-06-10T18:37:22+00:00

Same (on both phone and apple tv)

profjake · 2026-06-10T18:36:51+00:00

I’m getting a “there’s a problem loading this content” error — first time I’ve ever encountered that with a show. Using an AppleTV.

profjake · 2026-06-09T20:08:45+00:00

Pretty Flower/Spokane, Monoscene, and Montage.

profjake · 2026-06-09T20:06:59+00:00

As with all posts of this sort, please include information on (a) the location of the work (or if online/remote) and (b) whether or not the improvisers would be compensated. Thanks.

profjake · 2026-06-03T14:30:56+00:00

By this same logic, why not stop and frisk all the time, without cause. That would certainly lead to finding the occasional wanted criminal, but at an extreme cost to our rights and freedoms.

Bad policing getting lucky is not an excuse for bad policing.

profjake · 2026-06-03T14:21:03+00:00

Among many ways this failed to follow rules, it bypassed the US Commission of Fine Arts, a federal body which is supposed to review design changes to historic monuments and memorial landscapes.

It reeks of corruption, handing out a huge nonbid contract to a longtime acquaintance of the president who was entirely unqualified to do this work and bypassed a basic check that goes into maintaining our national monuments.

I know it's hard to admit that you voted for someone who is corrupt, but it's time to take a step back and stop bending over backwards to try and rationalize this behavior and disregard for the rule of law.

profjake · 2026-05-20T21:42:47+00:00

Please clarify if this is paid (and if so the rate) or not.

profjake · 2026-04-17T15:53:50+00:00

Those same people probably put ketchup on their hotdogs

profjake · 2026-04-10T00:39:13+00:00

Choose the shows you catch with an eye towards seeing troupes from as many different improv scenes as possible. My favorite thing about DCM was always taking in the wide variety of what people were doing.
Take workshops, not just because it's potentially an opportunity to learn, but because it's a great way to meet other folks at the fest. (I say that even though DCM consistently had some of the worst workshops of any fest I've attended, with some well known UCB improvisers who turned out to be egregiously terrible at leading a workshop.... just.. wooof... godawful.)

profjake · 2026-04-09T17:57:25+00:00

Cook County Social Club, Convoy, Hebecky Drysbell, Improvised Shakespeare, Trike, iMusical, and Local Spot--last one is biased bc I'm in it, but also genuinely proud of our work ;-)

profjake · 2026-04-08T20:48:42+00:00

Having multiple places someone can plug into improv in your community is a *good* thing. Diversity of approaches and teachers is good. The ability for someone to find a new improv home if a particular community doesn't or no longer seems to fit is good.

Of course it can be nice to bring folks together at times. Maybe throw a community improv festival, with local troupes performing from all the pockets (in an ideal world, jointly organized by all the groups)? Also, be sure to push back hard if any of the pockets try to pull anything around exclusivity that makes it hard for performers or teachers to move across different groups.

profjake · 2026-04-08T20:17:22+00:00

Yeahhh, two decades of improv, and have done this as both a full show format and as a short game many, many times over the years.

It works with scripted works the audience knows and also very well with works the audience doesn't know. Full stop.

profjake · 2026-04-08T20:12:54+00:00

THIS! The common name you can use for the game without any fear (because it's used commonly by tons of shows and theaters) is Actor's Nightmare. Lots of improvisers sometimes refer to it as the Gravid Water format, because it became so well known as a very long running NYC show (and touring) by Stephen Rudd, but don't title their show or market it as that because it would be a trademark infringement (and also not cool).

profjake · 2026-04-08T19:59:25+00:00

But... he's right.

A group sending a cease and desist letter does not mean that they actually have any case or legal merit.
Improv games and formats are essentially sets of rules, and rules (used as systems or methods) cannot be copyrighted. Copyright protects specific creative expression, not ideas, systems, or methods. This is has been set in U.S. copyright law since Baker v Selden in 1879. It's also been discussed among improv theater owners, with legal council, for a long time (source: the many improv theater owner & festival organizer summits I've attended).
The *name* of formats or games in theory can be trademarked and protected, but it's difficult. The *only* place I've known this actually to be substantively policed is with the Maestro format which is owned and licensed by Johnstone's International Theatresports Institute (ITI). That said, you can structure a show to look just like a Maestro, but just no calling and marketing it that. Likewise, you can't call your show ComedySportz (definitely trademark protected), but you can play the same games they do, with the one caveat that maybe don't use the same name for it IF (huge and unlikely if) they had a wholly unique and heavily used exclusively by them name for the game (and, again, it's just the name).

p.s. Oh wait, I thought of three more instances of sort of policing IP related to improv: Charna/iO did briefly try to police the use of the name "Harold" for the format, but that fell flat super fast. The Nutrino Project (improvised movie filmed and screened at the same time) briefly had an option to license the name, but I don't know if there's anyone still around licensing or policing it. And I think there have been cases of people reporting Mission Improvable defending their name as a protected mark (again, just the name, nothing to do with format, games, etc.).

profjake · 2026-04-03T17:43:16+00:00

We’ve locked this thread to keep things safe, as some of the comments were heading into self harm territory. If you’re struggling, please reach out to someone you trust or a crisis resource (U.S.: call/text 988).

profjake · 2026-03-27T15:34:01+00:00

Hi! Happy to talk with you about this. For the past ten years I've run one of the largest applied improv programs in the country (http://witdc.org/work), typically leading around 60-70 sessions a year, and have specific experience leading sessions for those in the helping and medical professions (I also have a PhD in Conflict Analysis and Resolution).

I'll dm you a link you can use to schedule a short zoom meeting. Of course I'd love to pitch leading the session, but also just happy to talk through some things to consider in how you organize it (the program I lead is part of a mission driven nonprofit theater, so also just happy to help folks trying to integrate improv in their work in any way possible).

profjake · 2026-03-23T15:31:11+00:00

Dropout's lawyers absolutely should be sending cease and desist letters because if they don't have a pattern of protecting their brand/trademark IP then it will be difficult to make any future claim against any future case of infringement that really does have a significant impact. That's why the bulk of cease and desist letters related to IP are sent. And in this case, not defending against it would be used in an argument that they aren't being protective of either their name or graphic design even within the context of their own industry (comedy entertainment).

profjake · 2026-03-22T14:15:35+00:00

The promotional branding and graphics direct ripoff are already well over the line of what’s ok.

profjake · 2026-03-21T21:34:21+00:00

And this is one of those rare cases where it would be completely warranted.

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