Improv Conspiracy Blog

During 2015, Improv Conspiracy member Mike Brown is going to have a chat to every single member of the Conspiracy - about life, about improv, and everything in between. This is: You're Going To Meet Some People.

Today, Mike chats with Hayley Tantau. Hayley currently performs with Harold Night team Endless Cash.

Mike Brown: Hey Hayley!

Hayley Tantau: Hey Mike!

First question: What did you do today?

Today I woke up, ate some breakfast, wrote some sketches, then I went to training for the Improvised Movie. I've been doing that every Sunday, Dan's directing us and we're going to Perth in you know, three weeks. Also we'll be doing it for [the Melbourne International] Comedy Festival. So yeah we're training for that. After that I went home, went for a run, tried to write some sketches but didn't, and then I came here [The Dan O'Connell Hotel] to warm up my level two students, then I watched them perform, now we're here.

Now we're here.

We're here.

Do you have a Sunday routine of sorts? It sounds like you do.

It is, yeah yeah. It's usually just Movie training and then Sunday nights with Improv Conspiracy, somewhere a run will fit in, and then the mornings are pretty slow tho, if I'm pretty hung over or something.

Sometimes a sleep-in.

Yeah, I like to do a lot everyday.

Do you like to plan out your day?

Not really. I like to do something comedy related and I like to go for a run every day, I think that keeps me focused.

Jayden Masciulli took The Improv Conspiracy's Level 1 Intensive course in January 2015. He was gracious enough to write an article about his experiences!

"YES, AND... WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?!" - MY FIRST WEEK OF IMPROV
By Jayden Masciulli

I signed up to The Improv Conspiracy’s Level 1 intensive workshop on a whim. I had only been to one Harold Night, and while I loved every manic second of the show, it never really occurred to me that I would - or could - actually do it. 

Maybe it was the liberating feeling of graduating from uni a few weeks earlier. Maybe the haze of New Year’s resolutions got the better of me. Maybe I was drunk and looking for new and creative ways of embarrassing myself in public (actually, that was the exact reason. It was New Year’s after all). Regardless, when I first spotted on my Facebook feed the ad for TIC’s upcoming workshops, a little part of my brain fired up – the part responsible for my irrational need to make others laugh, and my ability to absolutely nail 21st birthday speeches on cue. Maybe I could do this. 

I had no idea what to expect on the first day. All that self belief I had when I triumphantly typed my credit card details online had vanished. I’m not an actor. I’m not a fan of being the centre of attention. I’m not even that funny. What the hell was I doing?

During 2015, Improv Conspiracy member Mike Brown is going to have a chat to every single member of the Conspiracy - about life, about improv, and everything in between. This is: You're Going To Meet Some People.

Today, Mike chats with Simon McCulloch. Simon currently performs with Harold Night team Dirt Squad.

Mike Brown: I’m with Simon!

Simon McCulloch: Heyyyyyyyyy.

And I’ve got questions.

Shit.

So you got added to a Conspiracy [Harold Night] team at the start of 2014?

End of 2013. 

End of 2013. So December.

Just after that reshuffle.

So you’ve been performing on a team for a year now?

Yeah exactly! The Foggy Windows thing was the start of December, didn’t do a show until January.

Since then you’ve done iO [Chicago training workshops] and now you’re on a new team who are called…

It’s Dirt Squad. I think it was just a joke name but it stuck.

What do you think of the name?

I love it, actually. It’s like any kind of name, it takes on its own thing after you get clumped into a group of people enough times and it’s just like – oh that, that team.

I know it’s very early on, but how are things in Dirt Squad compared to how things were in Foggy’s. Are they the same, are they different?

The things that remain the same…

You’re doing improv, that’s number one.

True.

During 2015, Improv Conspiracy member Mike Brown is going to have a chat to every single member of the Conspiracy - about life, about improv, and everything in between. This is: You're Going To Meet Some People.

Today, Mike chats with Ryan Zorzut. Ryan currently performs with Harold Night team Endless Cash (this Wednesday, 7:30pm), and will be seen as part of the Improv Conspiracy Touring Company's production of Now Showing: The Improvised Movie during Perth's Fringe World festival in February.

What's your favourite thing about improvising?

I guess it's probably the community. It's like hanging out with people, making friends. 

How long have you been in the Conspiracy for now?

It's been one year. One year in January.

How is your progress from the classes to now? You've been on a couple of different teams now, how have you got to know everyone here?

I've been with a few different groups of people. I think the amazing thing is how close you get to people you get straight away. As soon as you do a scene, you instantly have a relationship with them that's outside of improv. That's the amazing thing.

I should probably start this by saying that the following will not apply to every scene, it may not be how you want to play as an improviser, it might be something you vehemently disagree with, and it certainly will not help you choose the perfect Christmas present for your mother (it’s probably something that smells of lavender. Mums love anything that smells like lavender. Get your mum some lavender). 

All of this has been knocking around in my head recently, and I thought I might share it with you, because it might help your scene work, it might make things easier for you, or it might just lock a little bit more down for you. 

Along with a sense of play and fun, we’ve been looking a lot at mirroring in Level 1, and there’s a pretty simple reason for that – it’s a really quick and easy way of connecting with you scene partner.