Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average Improv
Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average Improv, is a podcast that teaches Long-form, Narrative, Theatrical, Improvisation, or as we call it: Muprov. The hosts, Hal Munger and Julian Bernado are experienced and innovative Muprovisors, who are excited to spread the word about their favorite ways of doing their favorite activity. On the show they provided practice plans that you can use for your ensemble, teach fun formats, and chat with guests who bring a wide variety of perspectives! Intro Music By Sebastian Blue Hochman
Listen on:
Why Mu?
1) Mu is the greek root of words like muse and music. Ancient poets would invoke the Muses before telling an Epic story. Like an Epic, our shows are long and follow a continuous narrative.
2) Mu is a statistical symbol that represents the population average. We come from a lineage of students of Patricia Ryan Madson, who teaches the improv maxim: Be Average.
3) Mu is an important word in Zen Buddhism, meaning nothing or no. While most improv centers Yes, we believe that sometimes the best was to say Yes is to say No. Our practice involves emptying our minds to that we can be present and react our stage partner.
A NEW PLAY
Our 90-minute improvised stage play, The set, costumes, props, music, lights, and sound are all created on the spot!
Episodes
Monday Mar 25, 2024
Monday Mar 25, 2024
Sometimes the best thing to do is be obvious. Why not take the path of least resistance? It can be hard to feel confident enough to do things the easy way but at the end of the day that is what fundamentals is all about!
Improv Wisdom, By Patricia Ryan Madson:
https://www.amazon.com/Improv-Wisdom-Dont-Prepare-Just/dp/1400081882
A New Play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2qDjmWah6g&t=4306s
Monday Mar 18, 2024
Monday Mar 18, 2024
Fundamentals go deep! This episode goes from 0 to 100 starting out with the familiar mirror exercises building from Blocking to Yes And, but then taking it two steps beyond the idea of "Yes, and." Experienced improvisers can skip over some of the initial steps but hopefully it is fun to see the whole trajectory laid out!
Mirror Study: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1108155108
Hofstadters MU: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach
Monday Mar 11, 2024
Monday Mar 11, 2024
Whether you are a total beginner or a veteran, if you want to reach the next level of improvisation the best way to do it is to go back to the fundamentals! Rather than going for a traditional intro series, we will pull back the curtain and talk about teaching muprov and how to design a course to teach these fundamentals. You may know some of the exercises, but I bet you will be surprised by the way we use them :). Trey is a wonderful guest and teacher and we are so happy to have him join us to kick off this series!!!
Sunday Mar 03, 2024
Sunday Mar 03, 2024
This episode is a short one ;). Hear our takes on Impro Amsterdam, Birthdays, running, and Tob/Bottom. Stick around to the end of the episode and you might win a prize! We have a lot of fun!
Join us next week for the first episode of our Muprov Fundamentals Series!
Sunday Feb 25, 2024
Sunday Feb 25, 2024
Fire, Earth, Water, Air. After 100 years it is finally time to put your fists together and let those eyes glow. Thats right, magic is real and you can become the improv Avatar. Similar to our episode on The Ordeal, this one explores a forbidden technique on the the frontier of what is possible.
This episode is shorter than normal because we are saving Sign-Off-Palooza for next time!
Monday Feb 19, 2024
Monday Feb 19, 2024
We break down our own way to understand status and do some status duels! If you have never heard of status, learn it, if you have heard of it, learn our way and find yourself a powerful opponent! Hal had fun dueling for the real life status in this episode as well :).
Monday Feb 12, 2024
Monday Feb 12, 2024
Miranda stays on the podcast to debrief the Tailor of Malta. (So listen to episode 09 if you haven't). Seeing how improvisors analyze their own shows is a great way to apply that learning to your own improv! Stick around for the sign off to get the low down on Swedish dish-clothes, Homebrew Syrups, and drinking Sap.
Sunday Feb 04, 2024
Sunday Feb 04, 2024
John Mistele, Miranda Johnson, and Will Gutzman join the podcast to put on a special Shakespeare show full of hats, shipwrecks, and gnomes! I won't spoiler the ending but boy are there surprises in store....
Sunday Jan 28, 2024
Sunday Jan 28, 2024
You know the drill if you have been here for the Hero's Journey, but before we can do our epic show for you, there has to be an even-more-epic practice run! In these practice run Hal and Julian play all the characters and in keeping with our tradition, accidentally ran a little over time... it is okay though because every minute is GREAT!
Monday Jan 22, 2024
Monday Jan 22, 2024
The GIGASPINE is back with JOHN MISTELE! These Gigaspine episodes in which we talk through how to build a whole show are my favorite thing that we do on the podcast and this one lives up to the high standards set by the Anna Wang in Hero's Journey 07! If you want to get a better narrative intuition, there is really no better way than hearing first hand how we actually solve the problems of what comes next: where and when should you Tenuki?