As improv teachers, we all want to show everything. But it’s good to leave room for students to make their own discovery — Tourist season is back now that travel is in full swing. Improv friends from afar come to Oslo. I get really excited to show them ALL foodie places in Oslo. I want to make sure they don’t miss ANYTHING. I made a foodie map, even. But this is my mistake…

Of all the things I created, I have a special place for CLOUD ATLAS. I like having a bit of cultural touch to my improv scene. Most of them have been of Asian culture, given who I am, with teams like Monosodium Glutamates, and Herring and Chopsticks, and the online…

What you can still learn from a basic exercise — I’m always amazed at how much insight you get from the simplest of improv exercises. In this case, it is the circle game “Zip, Zap, Boing” (Zip=pass to next; Zap=pass across circle; Boing=return to sender), which might be our first improv exercise ever. …

I like USA. I was chatting with a good (US-)American friend about a podcast, when they said, “It’s just like NPR.” “What’s NPR?” “It’s like PBS. Oh right, PBS is also an American reference.” “That’s ok. I know PBS.” (public radio) I do fool some people that I know all…

Don’t be precious to throw away your idea — We often make a personal rule which works for us, right? A rule I made up for myself is a “5 Second Rule” (You won’t find it in improv textbooks) Let’s say I am on the sideline/backline with an idea for a walk-on or an edit. …

For many improvisers, their only roadblock to the next level is REGRET. Regret is many. Regret over the choices they made in the scene. Regret for saying No to an offer. Regret for saying Yes. Regret for being tentative. Regret for not jumping into a scene. Regret for jumping into…

Things you pick up from drawing a volume of work and how it translates to improv — I wanted to draw a universe of humans. But, because I get figure drawing models in Norway and most available learning resources are Western, my drawing techniques were geared towards Caucasian features— the facial features, the skin tones, even the poses (very few people doing “V” signs). Recently I’ve been…

Playing with your heroes can be daunting, but you can be a little reckless — Like any improviser, I have many heroes. Colin Mochrie, whom I grew up watching… or idols like Susan Messing, Anděl Sudik, Heather Anne Campbell or Patti Stiles. I would have only dreamt of improvising with them. In the past, this was fantasy. Today, the occurrences are real. One of the…

What you can learn from watching absurd amounts of online improv — The infinite monkey theorem states that, given an infinite amount of time and infinite number of monkeys banging on an infinite number of typewriter, one of them will accidentally create the complete works of William Shakespeare (or, for Eastern reference, Mahabharata.) This is why I enjoy watching online improv. Monkeys…