Comedians and self-proclaimed “improv perverts” Dan White and Tim Lyons are breaking improvised skits out of the comedy club and delivering them in tightly-packaged podcasting form. Improv geeks still grieving SPONTANENANATION with Paul F Tompkins need look no further than Improv is Dead for an improv comedy podcast with familiar structure, if a bit more crass in vibe. Each episode Dan and Tim welcome their guest comic(s) with a freeform conversation that eventually generates a keyword to start that installment’s improv segments. 

And when that improv begins is when Improv is Dead deploys its secret weapon: sound effects. While not as detailed as a fully sound-designed modern audio drama, the sound effect work found throughout Improv is Dead does wonders to add a sense of place to a style of comedy that can easily drift off into a vague dream logic. Scenes that would normally come unstuck are given roots. And, like the house-style sense of humor, the sound effects have very few boundaries. Listeners hear anything from sex toy foley on a Home Shopping Network skit to detailed, lovingly crafted scatalogical soundscapes as comics find new and exciting ways to make characters defecate in the name of comedy.

We were fortunate to talk with White about the podcast, how they differentiate from other podcasts, and their future plans in podcasting. See below for our full Q&A.

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DISCOVER PODS: How’d you get into podcasting?

LYONS: By putting it off until it was an absolute necessity (pandemic). We really love podcasting and have great respect for the form, especially with some of the major shows coming out of Chicago, but we were never sure how we could or should go about creating something of our own that other people would be interested in. Once the global pandemic hit and we were starved for a creative outlet, we just sat down and said “How can we do what we do on stage and not make it feel cheap or just a couple of dudes clowning around?”. We recorded a few, they were bad, but we kept doing it until we finally found a groove that worked for us. With improv, we’re used to failing on a weekly basis, but now we’re able to edit out some of that failure and just leave in our great successes!

WHITE: Yea, Tim and I (and our good buddy/frequent guest Damian Anaya) had a live show every Tuesday night at the iO theater called FUDGE. Every week we’d play to packed houses and it felt like a place to be. When the pandemic hit and the theater closed that all just kind of went away. We were resistant to start a podcast because improv is such a live medium and we were skeptical we could find a way to do it justice. But the more we played around with the form the more we realized it could actually expand what we were able to do on stage. I love physical comedy and that’s obviously the major element missing in an audio space, but without being beholden to stage parameters or physics we’ve discovered we’re able to create comedy we never would have done on stage. It’s been very fun to learn the form. Plus, it allows us to perform for people all over the world – now you don’t just have to be in Chicago, New York, or LA to enjoy the world’s best improv comedy. I hope the spirit of those Tuesday night shows lives on a bit in this and we can share that fun with people all over.

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DISCOVER PODS: In your own words, why should listeners tune in to Improv Is Dead?

LYONS: It’s an improv podcast, but it’s really an all around comedy show. If you’re someone who is looking for just flat out silly comedy, this is where you want to be. The fact that we’re performing with some of the best improvisers in the world and you get to carry that around in your pocket is just awesome. We love comedy and we especially love that improv allows us to take it to heights you might not have thought possible when just sitting down to write. You’ll meet a lot of great, diverse performers and if we do our job right, you’ll laugh your ass off.

WHITE: Improv is Dead is really trying to merge the spontaneity of live improv comedy with the immersion of audio sketch comedy – really seeing the comedy in your mind’s eye. I grew up listening to audio sketch comedy – Adam Sandler, Norm McDonald, even old Monty Python stuff. I really loved Mike O’Brien’s 2015 album Tasty Radio which featured a few folks we know from Chicago. There’s a few improv podcasts out there that we love but the immersive audio effects – sound effects, ambient backgrounds, voice modulation, etc. – really felt like a way to do it a whole new way. When Tim and I discussed it we realized it was really a way to make our show unique. It’s been one of the most rewarding creative endeavours of my career because I think we’re really doing something with improv that hasn’t really been explored fully. In my opinion, it’s the best way to experience improv outside of a live show in a dark, dirty theater at 10PM in a major city. 

Plus – for the first time we’re having performers join us simultaneously from New York, LA, Chicago, and beyond. Thanks to zoom we’re literally improvising in real time with our favorite people from Upright Citizen’s Brigade (UCB), Second City, iO, the PIT, Groundlings, etc. It feels like we’re really breaking down some geographical walls between comedy communities. As the show grows we really want to keep building an international community of performers. 

DISCOVER PODS: What kind of feedback have you heard from your listeners?

LYONS: The feedback has been wonderful and quite honestly what makes us excited to continue doing it. “I can’t believe I’m enjoying improv is audio only form” is something we’re hearing a lot and it’s something we had reservations about when we started.

WHITE: Yea, just hearing that people listen to the show is the best. We’re Trinidad and Tobago’s #1 rated improv comedy podcast. I think we had 6 or 7 downloads there last month alone. So there’s a lot of pressure to deliver week after week. Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

DISCOVER PODS: Describe your recording set up? What equipment are you using?

LYONS: We both started with an Audio-Technica mic which is incredible for the price and we edit the show in Adobe Audition. As two people who work in the Adobe Suite for work, they do an incredible job of making each application feel familiar if you’ve used other software in their suite. My brother-in-law gave him a mic about 5 months into recording and we found out that it’s one of those very cool Shure SM7B that all the influencers use. My voice sounds like sh*t though and no mic will ever solve that problem for me.

WHITE:  I own a MacBook Pro and know how to do about six things on it. I spend a lot of time YouTubing “Ctrl+Alt+Delete on Macs.” That’s honestly the most time-consuming part of the podcast. The hours I’ve spent googling “Ctrl+Alt+Delete on Macs” because I can never remember.

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DISCOVER PODS: What’s the biggest challenge you face as an indie podcaster?

LYONS: For us it was figuring out that you just have to start producing it and putting it out there. It’s going to evolve as your listeners show up and your first episode will be nothing like your most recent, which is really cool. The fact that it’s evolving as you go is something we learned from doing live shows and it’s nice that the same can be said about producing an improv podcast. We’ve had the amazing support of the Chicago comedy community and really all the major hubs in getting people to listen and spread the word. Improv is Dead, but it’s not dead dead ya know?

WHITE: Figuring out “Ctrl+Alt+Delete” for Macs.

DISCOVER PODS: Where do you want to take your podcast?

LYONS: Like anyone who starts a podcast, we’d love to see the listenership grow not just within the improv community but in the comedy community at large. We’d love to play with even more diverse voices from all over the world and meet folks from all walks of life. Like with other improv shows like Hey Riddle Riddle or Hello from the Magic Tavern, we’d love to see the world of our show build on top of itself and become something that’s not only ours, but also our listeners or as we call them on our patreon, Improv Perverts.

WHITE: To the UK. Someone on twitter reached out recently and asked us to perform in the UK. They didn’t provide any financial incentive for us to do so and were in no position to offer us a performance. They just lived in the UK and wanted us to do a show there. So – in the most literal since – I’d like to take the show to the UK. (Thanks for listening to all our UK listeners).

DISCOVER PODS: What other podcasts are you listening to now?

LYONS: There’s some incredible pods happening right now, especially launched in 2020, but we love listening to Hey Riddle Riddle (Erin and JPC really helped us when we were just starting out) and My Neighbors are Dead. Talkin’ Shop is a great podcast about improv from two dudes who can’t get enough of it and Queer Movie Night with Deb Duncan and Peyton Lynch. Deb was on an episode of Improv is Dead with her wife Kayla playing music and they are two very talented, good people. The theme to these is that they are a lot of Chicago and midwest folks, but another great one from our doppelgangers and west coasters is called American Detour. Ryan Creamer and Max Knoblauch have that best friend chemistry you love to hear and put a lot of work into the series.

WHITE: Tim nailed my favorites. I love Hey Riddle Riddle and those folks have been super good to us. MEGA is very funny with some hilarious guests. The WGA East has a great podcast on writing called OnWriting : A podcast by the WGA East. Finally, Lily Sullivan just started a show called Going Deep – it’s super funny and Lily has been one of my favorite performers since our time overlapped in Chicago. She’s so funny. I’m excited about that one.

DISCOVER PODS: Anything else you’d like to add?

WHITE: A lot of people think Tim Lyons is my dad but we’re actually just friends. It’s important that listeners understand that he’s not my dad.

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