Andy McIntyre 0:05
I would say that improv is a dumb, stupid and silly thing. But that’s the reason you should do it. Because we all need a little more dumb, stupid and silly. In our lives. I’m no rock climber, but I just don’t see it being the same as I’m sure they have a wonderful community.
Emily Iannuzzelli 0:20
Andy hates rock climbing.
Andy McIntyre 0:21
If there’s one thing you get out of this podcast, everybody is that I hate rock like, just just use the stairs. I mean, why gotta climb the rock.
Emily Iannuzzelli 0:35
Hello, hello, and welcome to time to heal. My name is Emily Iannuzzelli. And today I’m talking to Andy McIntyre, about improv comedy
Andy McIntyre 0:49
Hello, everybody. My name is Andy McIntyre. I am a public school educator and improviser in the Baltimore area, and I’m happy to be on this podcast.
Emily Iannuzzelli 0:59
Oh, well, thanks so much for talking with me, I realized that I didn’t send you the questions in advance, but like you’re such an expert, improviser. Fine. Yeah. I think that you’ll be fine. And like I told you kind of like what I wanted to talk about anyway. So yeah. And we met because you were my improv teacher? The two of us? Yep, that’s correct. Yeah. So how would you describe improv to someone who has never heard of it?
Andy McIntyre 1:30
One, I’d be a little surprised that at this point, someone had never heard of improv, it’s become a pretty big thing. You know, with the comedy world, almost everybody has an improv background. But I think there’s sort of two ways to talk about it. When you talk about improv as a show. It is a it is live theater made up on the spot, you’re seeing the performers on stage create their first draft of something live and in person. And there’s that sort of danger of it could go anywhere, it could go nowhere. And you so you’re sort of in on it with them, and you’re building the show with them simultaneously. And that’s sort of the show aspect. When you think about improv as a discipline, you know, learning a skill or whatever. improv is you learning how to take an information, respond to it in the moment and add on it and build and grow. And it’s a lot of it is just about, you know, building things with other people simultaneously and accepting the information that’s presented to you. And then putting your own self into it as well. And that is a really long definition of the term. Yes. and nice.
Emily Iannuzzelli 2:37
No, but that’s also a really good, I know that people everyone’s heard of improv, but I feel like it can be helpful sometimes to just like, go back to the beginning and, like, redefine what we’re talking about together. Absolutely. for that. Yeah. Um, so as I mentioned to you earlier, like, in my own experience, in product has been like a huge part of like, my healing and sort of recovering, like a sense of confidence, like to be able to do things without relying on like medicine. And I, you know, reach out to ask you to talk about it. You said you had thoughts about that. So?
Andy McIntyre 3:12
Oh, um, yeah, I mean, something that for everybody that does improv, I don’t feel like I’ve talked to anyone that regrets doing improv in any way, I’m sure they may have regrets about specific situations, they came out of a lot of the other sort of BS that sometimes goes along with just interpersonal interactions, but the actual like lessons and tenants of improv, I feel like generally improve people’s lives. And a lot of people do use it as a substitute for therapy, which it probably shouldn’t be. Because none of us, none of us that are teaching improvs are in any way therapy professionals or anything like that. But at the same time, you know, that improv teaches a tremendous amount of vulnerability. And that’s really what brings about change, if you want to make a change in your life is that you have to be vulnerable, like literally every, every, like, talk about how to like change behaviors is you have to be vulnerable to that change, you have to be willing to be in a position to accept it. And that’s one of the biggest things that improv does is, you know, if you want to do whatever, you have to be vulnerable to feel more emotions, or you have to be vulnerable to admit that you have an issue that you need to address or you have to be vulnerable, to admit that you need help. And so, improv does a great job of teaching vulnerability. And if there’s one thing that I think every good improviser is that they are vulnerable and willing to be affected by what happens you know, they don’t put up walls they just let things in and see how it impacts them. Because a lot of times we as a society vulnerability is associated with weakness. Yeah. You know, when you talk about like the vulnerable point, you know, in video games or whatever, like that’s where you attack you know, that you go after where it’s vulnerable or in sports, you know, where a team is vulnerable. That’s where you send your attack at, but really in like an interpersonal level, vulnerability is sort of the ultimate strength is admitting that this is the, you know, letting that change happen. letting things in is sort of the most important thing that you can do as a person. Yeah.
Emily Iannuzzelli 5:11
I remember like in in the 101 class, this was, I think it was like on the first class, like, on the first day, we did this, and you’ve taught one on one. So I’m sure you’ve done this exercise, like with students, too. But we did that thing where you have like, an imaginary ball, and then you like, throw it across the room and you pretend to drop it. And then you say, I failed, and everyone cheers for you. And I remember like, getting like, choked up, but that that part was so dumb. I mean, it wasn’t so dumb. But it was just like, I’d never been in a situation like that, where we’re like it. Like it was so on combative, you know, like, no one was gonna come and like, take advantage of you in this in this like, moment of failure.
Andy McIntyre 5:55
Yeah, so that particular game or exercise, where do you call it is called loser ball.
Emily Iannuzzelli 6:01
Okay. That’s a fun name.
Andy McIntyre 6:05
Yeah. It was invented by an amazing woman and amazing improviser named Jill Barnard, out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. And she writes a book called The small cute book of improv, that’s a great little primer for people on the small, cute book of improv. And she’s just an absolute delight of a human being. And yeah, and that’s sort of the thing where, and what I love about that is that it’s not like you’re celebrating an actual failure you make you’re intentionally failing, and then getting rewarded for it. And that’s, that’s one of the greatest. One of my favorite improv exercises. Whenever I teach, like intro workshops, whenever I teach beginning classes, I always do that workshop, because I think it just creates that super safe environment that people can feel just really comfortable. And because then, like, you’re trying to look as dumb as possible. And that’s the great thing about improv too, is that you end up having the most success when you just really go and try to look as dumb as possible. And that’s how you win the audience over and that’s how, you know, have have fun in a lot of ways is that, you know, actually by losing,
yeah, yeah, yeah.
Emily Iannuzzelli 7:14
So as a teacher of improv, like, as, you know, for thinking about is like therapy, right? You’re like the therapist? In some ways. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I’m sure that you see, a lot of people come in, like, especially like at earlier levels that do like cut up walls. Do you? What do you do to get what do you do to create like, a vulnerable environment or an environment where like, it’s okay and safe for people to feel vulnerable?
Andy McIntyre 7:40
Um, I do you think like those silly icebreaker games, like just getting people to look silly. And, and just getting people to, you know, drop that down. Because if you’re taking an improv class, if you’re taking that leap, in the beginning, you’re already a little bit ready. Right? Like, I’m not going into a boardroom of executives like barging, in my way. Insane. All right, guys, we’re gonna do some improv. But that’s not how it works, right? That’s outside of like kids who get stuck in high school drama classes. No one ever is forced to do improv, like, it’s, you know, it’s always a choice. So they’re already in a decent headspace to let go a little bit, but then, you know, doing exercises, and, and doing things like that, that just get them to be silly. And also, modeling is a huge thing, just, you know, being vulnerable with the class and letting them impact you. And showing that this is how you’re absolutely, that’s silly that you’re not judging them that you’re not doing anything like that is a huge thing. And one thing that I always start, whenever I talk about whenever I teach improv especially, I always talk about good discomfort and bad discomfort. And that the idea that good discomfort is that area where you’re growing and changing and it feels weird, but it also feels kind of good. And you know, that’s where you can make leaps and be vulnerable. Let people in do things. The bad, just comfort is when you start to feel unsafe start to feel, yeah, you know, it’s, it’s, it feels dangerous, you feel panicky. And I tell people, you know, like, please, if you start to even engine to that zone, we need to stop, we need to debrief, we need to talk about what got what got to that situation, why it got there so that we can get back into that good kind of discomfort where you can learn something new and develop a skill. And just just that level of openness, I think goes a long way. So improvised people taking an improv class or a very captive audience to be vulnerable and open. You’ll always get those people that are too cool for school and
Emily Iannuzzelli 9:36
even I will do the thing that they sign up for, like Stand up, stand up or something
Andy McIntyre 9:40
right. Um, and even I mean, even when I started doing improv I had because years of Irish Catholic upbringing have made me surprisingly stoic, you know, shocking. I know. That, you know, someone with that kind of guilt and shame built into their their upbringing. Good have Uh, you know, a bit of a wall up, and you know that but that’s just just, it’s just a little one, you know, um, you know, there was a lot of breaking that down and you know, I’m a naturally pretty witty and funny guy. And that’s one of the things that attracted me to improv. But sometimes wit is the death of good improv, in a lot of ways where you’re just kind of quibbling about the thing, and you’re commenting on it and not being in it, which is like a big thing with improv. And so just getting that more to be more open and do that is a huge thing. So just, you know, like, getting people to stop trying to be funny, and just be funny is sort of the way it happens.
Emily Iannuzzelli 10:39
Yeah, I think that’s like, really interesting, too, because I think that one of the super cool things about improv and like, I’m, like, my, my, like, sort of journey with like, ADHD, like, kind of like, goes parallel with improv. So I just think of it that way. But I, I think there’s this, it like, requires you to be super present and to like, pay attention until it get out of your head, you know, like you, you have to remember, like the one game in your class. And we were like, doing like the, the one year anniversary thing. And like the I was doing it with john Barker. And I like we had to like notice something that they were doing, he was like talking with his hands. And it was just, it was really surprising to me, that that the funny thing like didn’t come from anywhere else, except for just like, right there. Like it was just all I had to do was like not think and like pay attention.
Andy McIntyre 11:38
Yeah, it’s, um, I know, a ton of improvisers that have Attention Deficit issues, whether it’s add, ADD, ADHD, whatever. And in some ways, that can kind of be a superpower for improv. Because, like, when you have an attention deficit, you’re processing a ton of information, because you can’t shut things out. You know, if it manifests differently in everybody, but like, one way that it manifests is that you can’t shut things out. And, you know, that’s that sort of like squirrel, like that ADHD thing. And so you end up being able to, like, notice those things, you know, you sometimes take in more information. JOHN Mueller, who I do an improv duo with and is one of my best friends like he is extremely ADHD and has learned, you know, over years and years of doing it to really challenge it, channel it into being like, sort of an improv superpower. So,
Emily Iannuzzelli 12:32
yeah. Like, how much do you think that the aspect of community factors into the beauty of improv?
Andy McIntyre 12:41
Um, it’s a huge thing. One thing I frequently talk about with people and frequently joke about with people, is the fact that there’s literally no protocol for making friends as an adult. Like none.
Emily Iannuzzelli 12:55
Unless you have kids, and then you just set up playdates for the kids. And then
Andy McIntyre 12:59
yeah, right. But then like, but then like, you’re you’re you’re almost work acquaintances, and not actually friends. I mean, you may become friends. Yeah, but, but that’s, it’s interesting with like, dating, like, there’s a protocol for dating, you know, there’s like, like, it’s weird if you go up to someone at a bar and try to be friends with them. Like, that’s a weird thing to do. But it’s not weird to go up to someone at the bar. And like, try to date them. Like, that’s not unusual, you know? Or, like, so it’s just there isn’t that protocol. So, you know, and it doesn’t have to be improv. It could be pottery, it could be whatever, you know, rock climbing, softball, bar trivia, whatever, like, you know, it’s getting those social things. But I know for me when I moved to Maryland in 2006, and like, didn’t have like, I had my wife, but I didn’t have a lot of friends don’t like, just look, I mean, I have friends like that I grew up with it. We’re still in touch with you and all of that. But I had some coworkers that like maybe we’d hang out after work or go to a happy hour or something. But like, didn’t really have friends. And really, it wasn’t until I started doing improv that like I really made like friend friends and some of my absolutely best friends are people that I’ve met doing improv. So like that community aspect and it’s just improv is so built on the word Yes, that everybody sort of gets welcomed in or should get welcomed in. interpersonal dynamics can always have issues with that, you know, there’s, um, and it’s even though it’s, you know, it’s improv. It’s Yes, it’s like, welcome. It’s all, you know, open, it’s still, you know, theater and theater by nature is a little bit clicky. You know, there’s like the people that get cast, the people that don’t get cast, the in groups, the out groups, that’s any social dynamic, but, um, I don’t know, I feel like so many people have found their tribe with improvisers in a way that like, I’m no rock climber, but I just don’t see it being the same. I mean, I can see it being supportive and helpful, but I just like I’m not picking on rock Is there anything but I’m sure they have a wonderful community.
Emily Iannuzzelli 15:04
Andy hates rock climbing.
Andy McIntyre 15:06
If there’s one thing you get out of this podcast, everybody it’s that I hate rock like, just just use the stairs. I mean, why you got to climb the rock?
Emily Iannuzzelli 15:15
Look at them just look at them don’t climb it. Yeah,
Andy McIntyre 15:18
like we invented elevators. Come on, come on people get with the program now. Um, but you know, it’s just that I think improv I’ve seen so and it probably is just also like my narrow bias because I haven’t once I found improv, I was like, Alright, I found my group I’m I this is my, this is my tribe. This is my, this is my, you know, social network. This is my family. So I didn’t look at other places to find them. But, um, but yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s a really great thing. And anyway, that because humans are social animals, you know, by by design, that we are operating a society and just, you know, finding that social aspect is is so incredibly important to Yeah, everything.
Emily Iannuzzelli 16:00
So what how did you say you moved to Maryland in in 2006? And then that’s when you started doing improv?
Andy McIntyre 16:08
No, actually didn’t start doing improv until 2011. How did you get started today? Um, I don’t want to do this story. So you might remember when I when you saw the mental health show that I did, so I’ve struggled with depression pretty much my entire life. And when I first moved to Maryland, and I was teaching in Baltimore County, and was putting a lot of pressure on myself because being a new teacher is very hard. Being a teacher in general, but especially being a new teacher is incredibly hard and was in a very dark place for a lot of that year. You know, went to therapy. Took antidepressants, you know, all that still on any depressants, but um, you know, so that put me in a dark place. So I wasn’t going to be, you know, going out and making the Yuk Yuks during that year, but then changed jobs got the job I currently have that’s in Howard County, Maryland. And you know, just was busy but then was something was there’s just this itch and I’d always kind of regretted not doing improv when I was in college. Because a few of my friends were part of the college improv team there and had just always wanted to do it. And then finally, I was like, You know what? I’m gonna I so I googled, you know, improvin so I live in Columbia, Maryland. So I’m like halfway between Baltimore and DC. I was like, Oh, the Baltimore ones a little closer. So I’m going to do that one. I’m so glad. And then I so yes, I started taking classes with the Baltimore improv group and got super super addicted. Yeah, for lack of a better word and spent just as much free time as I could, you know, doing improv. I’ve traveled the country doing improv. And it was all just because like, as I said earlier, that I’m like, always been sort of funny, witty, whatever, and have been a huge comedy fan, you know, watching sketch comedy, stand up all that stuff. But I also hate, you know, like, planning. improv sounds perfect. Yeah. But, um, but yeah, so that just took me on that. And then it’s been just a huge part of my life. And, you know, yeah, done improv basically non stop ever since. Yeah.
Emily Iannuzzelli 18:27
So do you find that it’s like, has like a healing quality to to you? Or would you describe it like, in a different way? Like you said that it was like an addiction, right? Oh, I totally get because before we, we got like, shut down. I was also, you know, like, they’re like three or four nights a week and just like couldn’t get enough.
Andy McIntyre 18:46
When you do something that makes you feel good, your brain releases dopamine. And people like it when their brain releases dopamine it’s the same sensation that when you take drugs, it’s the same you know, whatever. It’s, you know, it’s that it’s that reward center in the brain and improv does that so like I don’t have it’s not a physical addiction, obviously, because you’re not you know, you don’t go through withdrawal but you feel like you get like, if you don’t do improv in a while, like I mean, I’ve done significantly less improv during the Coronavirus I mean, so, you know, I’ll do a show or popping into online jam and it’s, it’s, it’s great, but it’s obviously not the same. Um,
Emily Iannuzzelli 19:24
no, I can’t wait to like hand someone something imaginary. Yeah, imaginary.
Andy McIntyre 19:31
Instead of doing this on the camera, like, hey, handing them the imaginary thing on stage. Yeah, it’s, um, it’ll just be like a game called house. House good. I’m just going to need a minute here.
Like we don’t we don’t get
Emily Iannuzzelli 19:46
it. Like you just don’t understand how long I waited
Andy McIntyre 19:50
to hand someone a newspaper that’s legendary. Yeah. I mean, I think for me, like it was healing in that it created a safe investment. meant for me. And it just a place where I can feel really happy. And when you have a safe place where you feel really happy, you can’t help but heal. Um, but I was in a pretty decent mental health spot when I started doing improv. So, you know, I made a few other things changed in my life and, and just, you know, also decided that, you know, sort of an hour never situation, which that it never is actually a real thing. It’s an illusion in our head. Now, we’re never there’s always you can always do the thing. Just want to make that really clear. But we have those moments where like, we have to do something. And that was and I did improv and yeah, so it was it was a healing journey in that way. But it wasn’t like, I didn’t know how bad I was feeling to know how much better improv can make me feel, I guess is a way to put it.
Emily Iannuzzelli 20:49
Yeah. Yeah, there there is this like, interesting. Like, I’m finding like, in talking to people about healing, like, it’s, there’s this interesting like, line, where, like, obviously, like, like healing can be, can be like that you’re suffering and you have this huge wound, and you have to, like, get back to where you were before. But then, but then there’s also like, a sense in which, like, you can heal to like new heights that you’ve never been before. Right. And like, like, be come better than you ever were. So yeah. You know, I think creativity kind of like helps in that process. But,
Andy McIntyre 21:34
yeah, I mean, I think something with just sort of the human condition is that we are trained, or just just sort of a bit self preservation, but to think that the situation that we’re in is normal, right? And to feel comfortable with it. I know for me, because I I had just really tough times in 2006, where I went on behavioral meds, change jobs lost my insurance, because healthcare is stupid. And so I stopped taking the meds but I was feeling okay, like I could manage, I could regulate and everything. But even then, even while doing improv, I was still like, it was just cryptkeeper creeping back in. And like, I mean, it’s so like, I you know, improv was fun, and all that, but. So in, like, three years ago, two years ago, something like that, I started taking, you know, antidepressants again. And it was so weird. Like when I first started taking them and felt like normal, how foreign and it felt like it just felt like it felt terrible. Like I’m coming out. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like, I was like, that’s like, What is? I do, because I was so used to feeling like a little panicky, just kind of a sad kind of numb. And then when I wasn’t feeling that way, it just felt like so weird. I was like, This is bad, I need to fix this. But really, it was actually just sort of like how, like, when you skinned your knee that scab itches for a little bit, right before it actually heals. It was it was that in a lot of ways. Um, but yeah, it’s so you know, we’re just getting back to the point, it was a bit of a digression. It’s just like, we feel, you know, we don’t know what good is because we just like, as a matter of, I think self preservation just learn to adapt to the circumstances were given. So we always have the ability to do better, and the ability to make things you know, make things feel better, make things seem better. When you know, even though we may think like, things are pretty good, but the reality might be that they’re actually bad, you’ve just gotten used to the way things are.
Emily Iannuzzelli 23:36
Yeah, I think that’s actually like another really cool thing about improv, right? That, that like, like you learn it on stage, or like in the classroom, and then it kind of applies to your life is sort of this idea of like, letting go right of just like starting over. You know, like, you can’t hold on to a scene, like are, you know, like, even if it’s like, the best thing ever, it just like, ends and then you kind of start over? Yeah, yeah, I remember I was in a like, in a writers group in Charlottesville. And my friend Marian, like, wrote this story. And in her story there, she used this phrase, like, making, I don’t remember what it was, it was like making x a solid thing. It was like making joy a solid thing or making this moment, and I like totally plagiarized from her. And I use like, every story and every poem, every like, grocery list that I wrote, like, From then on, I was like, obsessed with this idea. And I think that like doing improv, like, helped kind of cure me of that, where it’s like, some things like maybe you want to make solid things, but other things like you just release like you just like, let them go. And that’s one of
Andy McIntyre 24:44
the blessings and curses of improv a little bit. And I think that’s why people also start doing sketches like that scene was so good, I got a you know, yeah. So, you know, sketches really taking that nebulous, improv and making it a solid thing in a lot of ways not to say that improv is the only way to do sketches. Obviously, you know, people have been writing short comedic sketches forever, just the way they’ve been doing short improvise scenes forever. But I think that like, it’s sort of the blessing and curse of improv is that because everything is so sort of ephemeral, that you know, that impression, I think in general tend to be a little bit more introspective and reflective than in general. And I think the more you do improv, the more reflective you get, and you’ll sort of analyze things, and then you end up a lot of us, I think, feel like our own worst critics were, we’re only as good as our last scene or our last show. And, um, and so that’s, again, a little bit of the addiction memory. metaphor when it’s like you chase that high of that good show the next time and yeah, so, but that’s a great, I mean, it just lets you roll with the punches, because I just see, I mean, this year with Coronavirus, yeah, these last four years in American politics have been tumultuous. And I don’t know just the ability to roll with the punches a little bit and I see it like, in my work as a teacher that I’m a lot less stressed out than a lot of my other colleagues because I’m, you know, I can I can let things go a little bit and I can take that information and and, you know, change into something that suits me with my own input to build on it, whether you know, whatever it might be, and, you know, it’s one of the it’s, it’s a reason that one of the major professional development schools of thought right now is called applied improvisation. And it’s people that you know, improvisers that take improv skills and do corporate workshops, essentially, for how to adapt, you know, how to use those thinking processes, you know, whether it’s like, collaboration or, you know, confidence or vulnerability, whatever, all those skills from improv.
Emily Iannuzzelli 26:57
Um, we need to do you have you done that? Like, like, have you has your school Done, done that, are you this is something that, I mean, I know that.
Andy McIntyre 27:06
Yeah. So almost every Improv Theater now has some version of a corporate training wing. UCB Second City, Washington property or Baltimore improv group. Everybody, right? Like they it’s a thing that they do. I’ve done a couple of trainings with some organizations I’ve bandwidth. I’ve led some improv workshops at my school just to like, be still a little bit but also teach the mindfulness that’s a word that everybody loves right now is mindfulness. And that’s what improv is, you know, it’s your you have to be mindful, you have to pay attention you have to focus. Um, so I’ve done and I think it’s, it’s beneficial. But I don’t know for me, like improv is extracurricular more than anything, even though I mean, I’ve obviously I teach it because I am, you know, it’s just when I, I’m the type of person when I do things, I like to also teach other people to do things. Like literally every job. Every place I’ve been, like, when I was in school, I was a tutor. When I was in college, I was a TA. When I worked at my college radio station, I was teaching all the tech classes when that now I’m an educator. And as soon as I started doing improv, I very quickly got into teaching improv. So it’s
Emily Iannuzzelli 28:19
like the wrestling coach, right?
Andy McIntyre 28:21
Yes. I’m also a wrestling coach. So you know, yeah, I coached football coach wrestling coach lacrosse, the when the Coronavirus sort of first shut down, everything was very weird to have a ton of free time. Ah, I mean, I mean, one thing I did this actually, because, you know, one of my other struggles has always been just like physical fitness. And so I really focused on that. And I’ve gotten in pretty good shape over the past six months. And I’ve been like riding my bike every day, pretty much. Yeah, putting doing about 17 or 17 to 20 miles a day and, and just getting and, you know, trying to eat a little better, like, when I was going because previously, I would, you know, leave my house at a little before six in the morning to go to school. And then if I was doing improv and stuff, I might not get home till like 11 at night. So I was eating a ton of fast food just to like, you know, cuz it’s not like I could be near a fridge. I could keep cooked food. Yeah, right. Um, you know, even a sandwich is gonna get all mushy and gross by eight, you know, sitting in your backpack for 18 hours. Yeah. And so like, I stopped eating fast food almost entirely. And that’s what I mean. And so hopefully when things start to revert back to normal I can carry these habits through, but
Emily Iannuzzelli 29:40
that’s probably like another instance of where you’re like, I didn’t realize like, this. Is that like, that was normal before. Right,
Andy McIntyre 29:48
right. Yeah. Yeah, that that eating royal farms chicken boxes twice a week isn’t necessarily nice
Emily Iannuzzelli 29:56
and amazing.
Andy McIntyre 29:59
Not to say that, you know, probably not the best way to do things, you know, as good as those Western fries are, you know, it’s you know, maybe, maybe, maybe cook your own little chicken breasts and thumbnails. Um, so yeah, so that’s, that’s sort of been another aspect of it.
Emily Iannuzzelli 30:19
Cool. That’s awesome. That’s really awesome. Um, like, what would you say to someone who is listening to this who used to think improv was like dumb or stupid or like a silly thing? But now they’re like, hey, That actually sounds really cool. That sounds like maybe something I would want to try. Like, what? Like, what could they do you know, to take the plunge? And then also, you know, it’s what, like, how can we incorporate improv just like, into our everyday lives? Like are like, Are there any, like, things that you do that are like, come from improv in your everyday life that you can like, share with us?
Andy McIntyre 30:55
One, I would say that improv is a dumb, stupid and silly thing. But that’s the reason you should do it. Because we all need a little more dumb, stupid and silly in our lives. And not like, in the positive sense of those words, I think that also sort of skews into, into how it gets into your life is that you take the positives and things a lot more. And just approaching things from a place of Yes, rather than a place of No. It’s just going to open up your world. And the other the other big thing with improv is that it’s that yes. And there’s an exercise that a lot of corporate workshops have, where they’ll, like, pair you off with someone and have you plan a party. And you know, the first time they say you have to plan the party, but every time someone says something, you have to say no, but let’s do this. And then you don’t get anywhere. Because he’s like, like, Oh, we should have pizza at the party. No, but we should have crabs. No, but we should definitely have a theme. No, but we should have, you know, just never get anywhere. But then most of us say, think we’re saying yes, but we’re actually saying yes. But where we kind of say like, Oh, that’s a great idea. But what about this? Whereas just actually saying like, yes, that’s, you know, it’s like, it could be you know, it’s like using the same party thing. It’s like, yeah, you know, let’s have a party, we should have pizza. Yes. And if people don’t like pizza, we could have crabs for them, too. And then you’re building a better party. So I can, you know, it’s like, yes, and we should make sure that there are, you know, gluten free options for for diet reasons, or whatever. And then you keep going from there. And you just find the ways to work together to make the most people happy. I would say if you’re considering taking improv, do it. And, you know, everything’s awful right now with the Coronavirus. Like, that’s not an exaggeration. I feel like
Emily Iannuzzelli 32:52
we’re an excuse, right?
Andy McIntyre 32:54
Yeah. But one of the it’s sort of a weird, improv is having this weird, like, amazing Renaissance right now with online improv, where people are doing shows with people all over the country all over the world. Like I did a show. I’ve done shows with people in England with people in India.
Emily Iannuzzelli 33:13
I just checked a show for a bunch of people that had never met in person, like no one in the whole trip had ever met in person before. And I was like, This is Oh, that’s awesome. Yeah.
Andy McIntyre 33:22
And like a highway or improv that I’m working with right now. You know, they’ve just they, you know, as of recording this, but not as of releasing this. They had just started, they just started their very first like, run of shows. And it’s from people all over the world. And it’s an amazing thing. And right now, you know, you can do improv, with the best improv teachers in the world. Yeah, the way you could, like if I wanted to do an improv class with Billy Merritt, who’s a very well known and respected UCB teacher, a year ago, I would have had to go to LA and take a class. I live in the DMV, and that’s a long commute. So I wouldn’t be able to do that. But I literally just finished an online class with him. It was great. It was amazing. He’s a really good teacher. So I’m, so you know, it’s you can do that. Now, if you know, you used to have to live in Chicago to take second city classes. Now you can live anywhere, there’s an internet connection. And so you know, now is the time to do it. You know, because then you’re also going to get that more applied aspect because you’re not really going to be putting out a ton of shows. I mean, you could theoretically but you’re mostly going to be doing it from a perspective you know, you miss out on a lot of like the interpersonal stuff. And things are always like, these online calls are great. Like I haven’t seen you in months and months. So this has been awesome. You know, it’s still better than not seeing people. I was actually just one of my Facebook friends like, like met and fell in love with someone like Just like doing online interactions and like move cities and like, like she’s like, throwing her Lifeline improv. I don’t know if it was improv necessarily, but it was like, various, like, online stuff and just connected with this person and. And my friend john Mueller that I mentioned earlier also, like found a little bit of romance actually doing online improv So, you know, like, anything’s possible. So if you’re really lonely, everybody, and you want to have a little chance of love. Maybe you could do a long line for now. I don’t think
Emily Iannuzzelli 35:33
love is the best medicine. Sure.
Andy McIntyre 35:36
I mean, yeah, it’s uh, that’s every Doctor Who episode right? The power of love triumphs over everything. So, yes, yes, it does.
Emily Iannuzzelli 35:46
Um, so thank you so much for talking to you. This was like, This is so fun to get to connect again. And it was that I just really enjoyed our conversation about the James Yeah, effects of being vulnerable and, you know, finding a community through doing improv So, um, how can people find you or follow you? And are there any projects or, you know, any podcasts that you’re working on or anything that you want to plug?
Andy McIntyre 36:14
Yeah, so you can find me on Instagram @bigAndyMac. And yeah, that’s, that’s where you can find me if you want to do that. As far as projects, I do a podcast called silver linings playback. And my best friend Joel and I, we watch bad movies and try to find the silver linings in them. Yeah, you can find it wherever you get podcasts. If you go to my Instagram, there’s the link tree in the Instagram bio. But you know, apple, Spotify, Stitcher, wherever you get your pod wherever you normally listen to podcast, we’re all on there. And it’s been really fun and sort of a nice way because Joel, my co host lives in Los Angeles. So, you know, we meet once a week and we watch bad movies. And we’ve been doing it since May, I think. Um, so you know, every Monday, a new episode drops. And so there’s, you know, we do a different theme of movies every month and you can, but we’ll, we’ll see.
Emily Iannuzzelli 37:20
Yeah. Awesome. All right. Thank you so much. No problem. Thank you for listening. And thank you so much to Andy for sharing his wisdom and wit with us. You can learn more about Andy and his podcast by clicking the link in the show notes. Just a reminder that a transcript of this episode can be found on the website time to heal podcast.wordpress.com a Braille version is available upon request. thank you as always to my dear and talented friend Aaron crew who helps produce this podcast. Check out our company on brand voice for innovative copywriting and voiceover solution. You could subscribe to the podcast to get alerts about new episodes. We also have a newsletter that you can sign up for on the website. Follow the pod on Instagram, Twitter under the handle time to heal podcast. We also have a Facebook group that you can join to connect with the community. And if you’re interested in trying out improv shoot me a note because we are always happy to have you
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