Hey Factory Fans!
Mike is back this week with another awesome Miserable Comedians! Surprise!
A quick note about the strip, I’ve generally had positive experiences with comedy improv. This strip kind of represents the negative. One of the guys who quit my group while we were changing from a short form to a long form group started referring to the group as a “cult”, which is why I did that title. It wasn’t a cult, but when you work with people in a creative endeavor for a long time, you sometimes get to know them a little too well. And some of the touchy-feely acting exercises do see pretty weird, but over the years, I learned that many of them actually work. There was also a little friction between people with stand up backgrounds and those in improv. Some never wanted the two to cross paths, but they’re actually quite close in many ways. Anyhow, just FYI.
Over at Super Frat, check out my video from The Walk Show at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade at Super Frat.
TheBigBadWolf: I wanted to ask you about your improv group, The Ninjas. What made you decide to try improv?
Initially, I just wanted to do some sketch comedy and maybe meet a funny girl that I could date. As I got more involved in the scene, I really grew to enjoy it. Kept me sharp creatively. I was in an improv group of one kind or another for a good 10 years or more. Towards the last few years, I got into directing a group, which I now regret. I was only doing it to have a group and it turns out it’s a bad idea to direct your own improv group. I still may go back one day, but right now I just don’t have the time.
The Ninjas were the group that I formed. Chris Moreno, artist for Super Frat, was in the early incarnation. We had our moments and several incarnations. It did help broaden the Philly improv scene. I’ll tell ya, I enjoyed it more than doing stand up.