See me perform improv

I'm in an improv troupe, JINX, and we have a bunch of shows coming up. Dates and times below. I hope you'll check us out!

When I tell people I do improv, the most common response I get is, "Oh, like that Who's Line is it Anyway show." Actually: no. Or, only a little bit.

Like that show, we do make it up on the spot - all of it. Which is exhilirating and a helluva lot of fun, let me tell you. But we find our comedy in different ways. "Who's Line" puts a premium on jokes, whereas we believe that the best comedy comes from playing it real - real characters, often in real situations. In fact, one of our 'bibles' is a book called Truth in Comedy, which comes out of the Chicago improv scene, where some of today's great comedians - Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Stephen Colbert - got their start.

I got involved with improv by accident (I happened to stumble into the equivalent of an improv open mic night, and ended up performing) , and it quickly became an addiction. This is not an uncommon experience. In an interview with The Believer, Tina Fey says,

"I became immersed in the cult of improvisation. I was very serious about it. I was like one of those athletes trying to get into the Olympics. It was all about blind focus. I was so sure that I was doing exactly what I’d been put on this earth to do...

...New York is filled with Second City alumni roaming the streets at night, looking for their improv fix."

And with that - here are the JINX show dates:

Thursday, Sept. 14, 8pm, $5
Friday, Sept. 15, 8pm, $10
Thursday, Sept. 21, 8pm, $5
Thursday, Sept. 28, 8pm, $5
Thursday, Oct. 5, 8pm, $5

All shows are at Flashpoint Gallery's Mead Theater, near 9th and G NW (about half a block from the Gallery Place metro stop).

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Improv links:

• Washington Improv Theater (WIT): Excellent improv theater company in DC and the reason I got involved with improv. Great classes and workshops. (Read my profile of their artistic director, Mark Chalfant.)
  

• YESand.com: YESand.com is an online portal into the world of improvisational theatre and comedy. Good articles on the art of improv, and active discussion forums.
  
  
• Improvhello: Blog run by WIT player Zack Phillips, chronicling developments in the improv world and other things that strike his fancy.
  

Improv books:

• Truth in Comedy by Del Close, Charna Halpern and Kim "Howard" Johnson

• Impro by Keith Johnstone

• Improvise by Mick Napier