Sep 14, 2026 · 37 min · 8 segments
I got to sit down with award-winning international improviser and teacher Jonathan Pitts, co-founder of the Chicago Improv Festival and longtime Second City teacher, to explore what improvisation can…
Jonathan PittsGuest
Rashmi SchrammHost
Some of the things that you talked about, which is I can keep learning, I can keep playing.
And it gives you energy back, which I could see very easily, you know, when we were playing together and also learning.
For me as well, it's definitely that way where it feels like a healing thing.
And yes, I'm learning about the art form when I'm doing it, but I'm actually learning more about myself is what I find later on.
If I were to be like very quiet in the car on my 40-minute drive home and just contemplate or integrate what all showed up for me during like a two-hour play session, I could be like, oh, wow, you know, like I never realized I have it.
I haven't really like come into this other corner of my psyche in a long time.
And so like wonder what's there or that kind of work I think is so important.
For someone who may not have been to an improv show or maybe curious of like maybe they want to take an improv class now.
My definition of improvisation, and it took me until my 50s before I found my definition.
I remember when I used to produce the Chicago Improv Festival for 20 years, I'd be on TV, I'd be on radio, and I'd get that question a lot.
What is improv? And I'd have to give a lot of the answers that were good for selling improv and selling the festival.
Improvisation is shared spontaneous communication discovered one moment at a time.
I used to feel like, should theater be in it? I'm like, no, because it's not always done in theater.
And should I include the audience or not include the audience? If the audience is there, they're part of that same shared spontaneous communication discovered one moment at a time.
And it feels like my truth connected to improvisation because that leaves room for all kinds of different ways of doing it and different pursuits of doing it.
And for anyone who wants to do it, you know, I would say yes, but I want to give you this one caveat.
Some of the things that you talked about, which is I can keep learning, I can keep playing.
And it gives you energy back, which I could see very easily, you know, when we were playing together and also learning.
For me as well, it's definitely that way where it feels like a healing thing.
And yes, I'm learning about the art form when I'm doing it, but I'm actually learning more about myself is what I find later on.
If I were to be like very quiet in the car on my 40-minute drive home and just contemplate or integrate what all showed up for me during like a two-hour play session, I could be like, oh, wow, you know, like I never realized I have it.
I haven't really like come into this other corner of my psyche in a long time.
And so like wonder what's there or that kind of work I think is so important.
For someone who may not have been to an improv show or maybe curious of like maybe they want to take an improv class now.
My definition of improvisation, and it took me until my 50s before I found my definition.
I remember when I used to produce the Chicago Improv Festival for 20 years, I'd be on TV, I'd be on radio, and I'd get that question a lot.
What is improv? And I'd have to give a lot of the answers that were good for selling improv and selling the festival.
Improvisation is shared spontaneous communication discovered one moment at a time.
I used to feel like, should theater be in it? I'm like, no, because it's not always done in theater.
And should I include the audience or not include the audience? If the audience is there, they're part of that same shared spontaneous communication discovered one moment at a time.
And it feels like my truth connected to improvisation because that leaves room for all kinds of different ways of doing it and different pursuits of doing it.
And for anyone who wants to do it, you know, I would say yes, but I want to give you this one caveat.
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