Can you name your top 3-5 improvisors (local or other) and why?
I'll start.
1. Bridget. She is just hysterical. She always, always has something to add. She's naturally funny. She is incredible stage confidence and no fear. She's often the only woman in the Wheel at SET and easily carries it off. I will miss seeing her.
2. Seamus. He recently left LV. He is super intelligent. He really listens. He also has this way of adding something really odd to scenes that no one else would have thought of. He was in the first longform team that I ever saw here locally.
3. Hartnett. Again with the intelligence. He's just overflowing with pop culture knowledge and has the gift of being able to dredge up information at a second's notice.
4. Mattingly. For someone who has mainly studied here in Vegas, he is such a natural. I love his characters. Paul also has the head full of geeky knowledge of which I am so envious.
5. (famous entry) Ryan Stiles. Just love that guy. He is the first person who really got me interested in improv, through the British Whose Line. I finally had the opportunity to see him live in February. He's awesome even when not taped and edited.
-Shoutouts to Amanda, Josh, and Homer, who are not only incredibly talented but warm and personable too.
1. Craig. Who would have guessed? I love passionate people and Craig is clearly passionate about improv. Finding your life's calling is such an amazing feat, and I feel Craig has. He's also super funny and giving and sees and highlights each improviser's special talents.
2. Amanda. I love that Amanda is so tiny yet has such a big stage presence. I aspire to that. I don't care what anybody says, it's hard out here for a female improviser. Amanda brings a humanity to her characters and scenes; she really stays 'in the moment' and honestly reacts with her characters.
3. Veronica. I know, I know, she's not in mainstage, but she's in Scriptless now and deserves it! We had IFA1 together way back when and she blew everyone away. I envy her physicality. She's just an all-around great performer and improviser. And she *loves* it, which helps.
Top 5 Recent 'Visors
1. Seamus - He was my favorite cast member the first time I saw the Second City perform in 2003. He always stuck out as bringing something outrageous to the table. I might also be influenced by my girlfriend, Erin, because Seamus is her all-time favorite improvisor EVER. She liked him so much that we named one of our dogs after him.
2. Bridget - She was the first Second City cast member that I actually met in person because she coached the Sandbox Association. I learned a lot from her during my stint with the group and I think that she is hilarious in her performances. I find it hard to find truly hilarious female improvisors, so I am gonna go ahead and say that Amanda and Andrea are also tied with Bridget for #2
3. Craig - He is hilarious. He's reminiscent of Bobcat Goldthwait in a way that I find comforting.
4. Paul - The dude is amazing. I just got done taking his IFA 1 class and I learned SO much. He's got more improvising talent in his elbow than most people have in their entire body. From what I've seen he almost always walks on to the stage as an entirely different character. The man is an improv machine. If I were a chick I would totally try to woo him. Okay, that's awkward.
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