Philosophy vs. Improv

Mark and Mary are joined by improvisor/comedian/actress/filmmaker/host Vickie to talk about code switching and authenticity. Can you be authentic and still work a day job? Can Problem Solvers, Inc. solve the office restroom schedule? Are authentic hippies really beatniks? Also, displaying comic America on Korean talk shows, ethical pornography, commerce vs. art, granola in your hair, feet picks vs...

How does your body talk to you? Your favorite hosts-of-a-philosophy-and-improv-comedy show Mark Linsenmayer and Merry Mary Hynes re-connect after both being sick to get a bit Halloweeny so as to talk about various food-related monsters, experiencing art by disgraced creators, inner homunculi a la “Inside Out,” movie talk, Nietzsche’s nose fetish, and more. Sponsor: Get 15% off at...

Mark’s Partially Examined Life co-host Seth joins us (i.e. Mark and Mary) to introduce Seth to improv and continue introducing philosophy to Mary. We discuss Seth’s attraction to depressing texts, act out couples’ therapy and monster beauty parlor, and open up a few philosophical cans of worms: Is truth relative? (Hint: no!) Does outer beauty reflect inner beauty? You can choose...

It is a new era, a new dawn, a new beginning, with a new font of improv wisdom in the form of Merry Mary Hynes, whom you’ve met , and in turn a fresh challenge for Mark to engage in philosophy tutoring with a brilliant but free-from-academic-philosophy-training partner. Sponsor: Get 15% off at MasterClass.com/IMPROV . We start off with some improv to explore the idea of being a co-host, then...

It’s our season finale, and the end of Bill’s regular participation on the show. You may wish to weep, but let your tears be of joy as well as reminiscence. We are re-joined by two of our favorite improv guests for a Team Play episode to talk ship of Theseus, philosophy vs. mythology vs. video games, Renaissance contemporaries, long-lived turtles, “realist” morality, goodby...

Nessa teaches philosophy at Lone Star Community College and writes on the philosophy of humor. We’ve amazingly never had an episode specifically about this, so we thought we should get this on the table before we wrap our season (and Bill’s regular participation) and reach 100 episodes. We go through the main theories (superiority, incongruity/surprise, unconscious triggering, i.e. fun...

Recorded back in June, posting now as we near the end of our season and Bill’s tenure on the show, this episode now bleeds with dramatic irony. Mark and Bill discuss how to give a good speech, AI in academics, and we have a tear-stained visit to Empty Street. Though the Everything is Alive improv podcast has featured many an inanimate object, we do not believe a literal douche is among them,...

LA comedienne and Second City faculty member Mary (whom you no doubt already met in the Prelude to this episode ), joins us to act out a pet sitting job interview, talk about sharing our public spaces with animals, and finally return to Empty Street to see if we can get some animal action going in the convenient mart/Taco Bell/Subway. In the post-game (which we’re including on this public ep...

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 .