Philosophy vs. Improv

What do you do when Bill doesn’t show up to the recording? You record for a bit anyway and get to know the guest! Meet Mary. Here’s her website .

Mark Schiff is a legendary stand-up ( watch him on Carson ) who currently podcasts with friend-of-PEL and philosophy enthusiast , Daniel Lobell (check out his YouTube channel ) as We Think It’s Funny . These gents join Mark and Bill to talk about stand-up vs. improv ( hear our prior treatment of the topic ), comedy LPs, waterless urinals, bad press, the path to enlightenment, and how to get...

Khafiz Kerimov (philosophy guy) and Nicholas Bellinson (literature guy) both teach at (and co-commute to) St. John’s College in Annapolis , and they channeled the educational style of that school into a new podcast called Invasive Thoughts . They join Mark and Bill to talk about various educational technologies, teacher-student relations, circle-drawing competitions, the passivity of thinkin...

Kolby is the founder/editor of After Dinner Conversations , which curates short stories about philosophy. He’s also been a “producer” of improv shows. We talk about what makes a story philosophical, Kolby tells some stories, and we run some scenes about teleporter shenanigans and guidance counseling. Finally, Kolby (fictionally) makes an INDECENT PROPOSAL to the podcast. In the p...

Shannon the philosopher and Audrey the poet are Seattle improv buddies that form a duo called Closer to Clarity that uses improv to answer audience members’ big life questions (BLQs). Through these guests and their BLQs, philosophy and poetry face off and mind meld and do-si-do as we play through two wacky corporate office scenes and return once again to Empty Street for an attempted gas sta...

Greg teaches philosophy (and is Interim Provost ) at Ashland , loves Xenophon , and runs a podcast . We reflect on the dangers of radon and other “natural” things. How might one of our government agencies become more natural, and would we want that? Are fart jokes the most naturally funny kind? Then, Greg the trucker visits Empty Street and embezzles dead mules. Listen to The Partially...

Mark and Bill are joined by the actor/improviser who directs Camp Improv Utopia and is involved in managing improv spaces such as Denver’s Rise Comedy . We talk about the notion of community, with a scene about the neighborhood watch and a return to Empty Street to deal seriously in a public-service-announcement/after-school special sort of way with the issue of buying liquor underage. How d...

Mark and Bill introduce a new potential setting and some characters for ongoing use in future improvisations. We talk about techniques for doing that and wrap up by getting an update from Bill on his substitute teaching and talking about what makes for a good teacher. You can choose to watch this on unedited video . Hear more PvI . Support the podcast ! Check out other Evergreen Podcast offerings...

Mark and Bill are joined by two north-of-the-border podcasters, Shawn Vulliez and Aaron Moritz, who incorporate both improv and philosophy in their dirty leftist podcast . We simulate conversation as competing knowers-of-the-good-life and talk about using improv for political purposes. Note that this was recorded back in December when we were in the thick of Luigi Mangione fever and not yet consum...

Randy  is a literature guy who has written a couple of books about improv and here joins Mark and Bill to talk about WINGING IT: Improv’s Power and Peril in the Age of Trump , wherein he basically blames improv for giving us the orange man. Can one be an expert about philosophy, or improvisation for that matter? Is the essence of these activities in the historical products (e.g. Christo...

Simon is a professor at New York’s New School for Social Research  and moderates the New York Times’ philosophy offering, The Stone . He joins Mark and Bill to discuss his new book, On Mysticism: The Experience of Ecstasy , and we used the occasion to explore how art and mysticism might be connected, including engaging in improv rituals. You can watch this on unedited video . We d...

It’s a TEAM PLAY episode just in time for the holiday season! Returning guests improviser and podcaster  Sarah and recovering Philosophy Bro Tommy join Mark and Bill to talk AND EXPERIENCE friendship, with our longest single improv scene to date. What is friendship? Is it gendered? Do you know your friends enough to imitate them? Does one friendship or fast-casual restaurant have to die...

Mike hosts the Hitchhikers and Appetizers podcast , and we recorded this episode a bit before Halloween, before the election and the consequent mass exodus, as a sort of memo to the future, i.e. you. We blister our way through many topics including discovery, hospital dramas, time travel sex, self-experimentation, ancient aliens, sharkNATO, Flintstone furniture, the first Wisconsin Thanksgiving, S...

Lorraine teaches at Middlebury college  and has recently written The Art of the Interesting: What We Miss in Our Pursuit of the Good Life and How to Cultivate It . How does “the interesting” fit into human flourishing? How do we know when some attractive stimulation is really in our interest and really good? Can we find something interesting even the most tedious, repetitive tasks...

Welcome to the beginning of a new round of shenanigans on Philosophy vs. Improv. Let the senior slump begin! Your hosts Mark Linsenmayer and Bill Arnett here talk a blazin’ stream of consciousness and then have a pretty long improv scene. Are we already always philosophizing? Hear more PvI . Support the podcast ! Check out other Evergreen Podcast offerings . Watch the proceedings unedited on...

Chicago’s iO Theater was graced on August 21 by Mark, Bill, and special guest theater educator James Whittington , who spoke about embodiment (see Maurice Merleau-Ponty ), the possible disconnect between meaning and tone, and being in the physical presence of greatness. They acted out scenes (while still sitting!) about an unsuccessful party and Experiences-R-Us. Both audience members eventu...

Our long lost episode. Consider it a mystery box. Hear more PvI . Support the podcast ! You’ll get all of our post-game discussions and other exclusive bonus content. You can choose to watch this on YouTube .

Important announcement for Chicago-area listeners : On Wed. 8/21, Mark and Bill will record a live episode of PvI at iO Theater  (1501 N Kingsbury St.). Our show runs from 6-7 pm followed by a Bill-hosted regular improv event called The Green Room . Admission is free, parking is plentiful, no reservations required. Come meet us! Internationally best-selling author David  wrote a book &nb...

Danny was in a sketch troupe called Maximum Party Zone back in the day with your improv host Bill, and they’ve now revived that trio to create the MPZ Listening Party podcast , which workshops sketch ideas in real time as a fun form of conversation. So we try out some of their tricks, such as combining two properties (in this case nominally The Apprentice  and Argyle to create a pretent...

Tamler teaches philosophy at The University of Houston and hosts the Very Bad Wizards podcast . He joins Mark and Bill to talk about personal identity and whether the “self” is necessarily co-extensive with a particular body. Plus: meditation, Daniel Day Improv’s method acting, All of Me  vs. Regarding Henry , what does “metaphysics” mean to YOU, dreams as improv, uns...

The actor/writer/comedian  joins us to talk about the philosophy of fashion, from the ancients to the present: Is clothing a mode of self-expression or something more (or less)? What does retro fashion say about the current state of culture? Should you wear clothes that you have to be sewn into? If you only had one little piece of cloth to wear, where would you put it? Are philosophers anti-f...

The philosopher and entertainment journalist direct from Mark’s Pretty Much Pop podcast  joins PvI for an hour of merriment. We talk parenthood, philosophy of race, the RULES of improv (or the singular answer to a philosophy question), old 9th graders, one black Peggy, using racy improv in a classroom setting, and more. Here’s an excerpt from the essay Lawrence refers to by philos...

The Hitchhikers and Appetizers  co-host joins Mark and Bill to talk about cultural relativism. We talk about foreign-ness, what parts of ethics seem to apply to all cultures, the Museum of Soup, pushing back tactfully in a scene, and more. In my culture, listening to this episode while in a work meeting is polite. Everything you want to know about the torturer droid . Hear more PvI . Support...

David is co-host of the excellent  Overthink podcast , popular among the young people today, and so we have him monologue to children as an anti (?) drug speaker. How can drugs change us, our sense of self, and the ways we see the world? Can some drugs be considered “natural”? Also, legally defensible drug use at work, and Nancy Reagan the Heel. Follow David @DrPenaGuzman1 . You c...

The co-host of the Those Who Aunt podcast joins Mark and Bill to joke about the family as the fundamental political unit and its special place in ethics. On the flip side, what questions should you ask yourself about your character at the start of a scene? Plus, Jan. 6, Platonic eugenics, transcending physical desire, a story that doesn’t quite get started, a military upbringing, and the rea...