The Backline - An Improv Podcast

This week, Rob and Adam tackle a tricky question: does your improv teacher have secrets to share, or are they full of it? With countless improv styles—many of them contradicting each other—it can be tough to know what to believe. Rob and Adam explore how improv ideas get passed down, why some “rules” stick, and how performers can figure out what’s actually useful.

This week, Adam Cawley talks with renowned improviser, director, and author Patti Stiles, a longtime Keith Johnstone student and key figure at the Loose Moose Theatre. Patti shares insights from her decades of international teaching and performing, exploring how whimsy, curiosity, and emotional honesty shape great impro. She also reflects on the early origins of the art form and what makes Loose M...

This week Rob and Adam discuss the transitioning your skills from the classroom to the stage. Why is it so hard to do what works in an exercise, onstage in front of an audience?

Rob and Adam talk about navigating your improv career, dealing with self-doubt, and having honest conversations with yourself about what's possible and what is probable.

This week, Rob and Adam dsicuss the time-honoured tradition of playing to the "Top of their Intelligence" by having a very dumb discussion about characters, point of view, and how much smart should you perform while improvising onstage.

Improv is not historically known for being offensive, but sometimes improvisers cross the line.  Why is comedy so frequently associated with offense?  Does comedy need to be provocative to be funny? What do you do if you offend your audience? All this and more.

Rob is no more. This week Adam welcomes Second City alumni, and star of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Colin Mochrie to the podcast.  Adam and Colin chat about pressure both onstage and offstage, and what it takes to find success in improv.

This week Rob and Adam chat about framing scenes prior, during, or after the action. Do scenes always need to start in the middle? What's the best way to execute a tag-in? If you mention an event, does it always have to happen onstage?

This week Rob and Adam, discuss platforms and tilts for improv scenes, how sketch influences scenes, and how to create action without blindsiding their scene partner.

Rob is no more.  In his stead,  far superior host Shreya Parashar takes over.  Adam and Shrea discuss making your own work, finding your voice, and figuring out what comes next.

The improv world is full of technique.  What techniques help individual improvisers? What techniques benefit the theatre you play at? Are there techniques you should embrace? Or some that you should avoid?

This week Rob and Adam discuss tethering: the act of linking your emotional state to what your partner is doing.  Also, some great questions about tethering from our friend Martin in Estonia.

The truth is out! After a tumultuous three weeks apart, Rob and Adam return to the podcast to air thier grievances, resolve differences, and answer your questions about improv.

In this Patreon exclusive, Will Hines, author of "How to be the Greatest Improviser on Earth" joins co-host Adam Cawley to discuss the subtle art of justification.

This week Rob sits down with one of the organizers of the Robin Hood Improv Festival in Nottingham, Lloydie, to discuss competition, inclusion, and finding community in the face of rejection.

This week Rob and Adam debate the merits of Game of the Scene, pulling premise, and how to create meaningful patterns that bolster your longform show.

This week Rob and Adam discuss connection, rapport, relationships onstage and offstage. Also, is it possible to have a meaningful conneciton with a stranger onstage?

This week Rob and Adam discuss improv forms!  What makes a good improv form? When does your improv format get in the way of your scenes? Also, the beloved format "Darwin's Christmas Tree" returns to the podcast!

This week, Rob and Adam dive into where improv ideas come from, how to wrestle with creative blocks, and why the supposedly “whimsical” act of creating can be surprisingly… boring.

Inessa Frantowski may literally be the only human on earth who has performed on The Second City Mainstage, The Upright Citizens Brigade's Maude Team, The Groundlings Sunday Company, as well as solo character work at The Just for Laughs Festival and America's Got Talent. This week she co-hosts the episode with Adam. Tips, Tools and insights into the different ways each theatre approaches the creati...

There's nothing more unfair when an audience picks their collective favourite onstage.  How important is it to be likable onstage? What can you do to stay on the good side of a discerning crowd?  And most importantly, is there any path back towards the audience's good graces?

This week Rob and Adam discuss the careful art of taking lessons from the classroom and applying them to the stage. 

This week Rob and Adam discuss personal growth, improvement, and developing yourself throughout your improv career.

This week Rob and Adam discuss one of the foundational rules of improv, "Always make the active choice."  In the age of modern improv, what does an active choice look like? How does an "active choice" interact wtih Game of the Scene? What's the difference between "action" and an "active choice?"

This week Rob is knocked unconscious, and replaced with Second City alumni, and Annoyance Theater mainstay, Susan Messing.  In this episode, Adam and guest host, Susan Messing discuss starting scenes, making strong choices, and controlling your own spine.