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Philosophy vs. Improv - Podcast

Philosophy vs. Improv

Mark Linsenmayer (host of The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast) and Bill Arnett (head of the Chicago Improv Studio) each try to teach each other their crafts via conversation, sketches, and what can only be called performance art. No taking turns!

Philosophy Comedy Improv Society & Culture
Update frequency
every 14 days
Average duration
52 minutes
Episodes
102
Years Active
2021 - 2025
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PvI#21: Sentient Garage

PvI#21: Sentient Garage

The scene is its own entity. What else might be its own entity? Can a machine that passes the Turing test know what it’s like to be a bat? We bring in emotions from irrelevant contexts, and we ke…

00:54:13  |   Wed 15 Dec 2021
PvI#20: The “Other” Story w/ Jenny Hansen

PvI#20: The “Other” Story w/ Jenny Hansen

What is “othering”? Why did Bill get such a bad grade? Is it because of his feather quill pen? Don’t miss our anti-vaxxer drama!

This is our first episode with a real philosophy professor on i…

00:50:18  |   Thu 02 Dec 2021
PvI#19: Broken Atomic Dogs

PvI#19: Broken Atomic Dogs

Let’s all lose our jobs and talk instead about fundamental ontology and social dynamics. 

Image by I don’t remember. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop.

Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get…

00:41:51  |   Wed 24 Nov 2021
PvI#18: Utopias w/ Jill Bernard and Michelle Gilliam

PvI#18: Utopias w/ Jill Bernard and Michelle Gilliam

Hell is NOT other people, and the more the merrier, with our second episode with guests being with TWO guest improvisers, Jill, co-founder of HUGE Theater and her friend Michelle, owner of Improv…

00:50:07  |   Thu 18 Nov 2021
PvI#17: The Imitation Game (with Toaster)

PvI#17: The Imitation Game (with Toaster)

Riffing on resemblance. Eventually invoking the spirit of a toaster. Mark is wrong: the God Emperor of Dune can’t drink water at all, just dried food.

Learn about Del Close.

Philosophy bare…

00:46:49  |   Thu 04 Nov 2021
PvI#16: The Legend of Kermit’s Gold w/ Tim Sniffen

PvI#16: The Legend of Kermit’s Gold w/ Tim Sniffen

Do you believe in miracles? If doctors believed in miracles, would they just let surgeries finish themselves? Do assumptions of a logical universe make it not just unjustified by psychologically …

00:49:32  |   Thu 21 Oct 2021
PvI#15: There is no “I” in “Dahyulectecs”

PvI#15: There is no “I” in “Dahyulectecs”

Who stole Carmine’s lunch? I think you know. Are there only a certain number of “logical” directions from one idea to another? Are there no mistakes, or are there mistakes that know?

This week…

00:47:13  |   Thu 14 Oct 2021
PvI#14: Action Idealism!

PvI#14: Action Idealism!

Are so-called “material objects” really just a scam? These two cut-ups (Bill and Mark) cut up the world in various ways, showing you how to teach, how to act, and how to haggle. 

Learn more ab…

00:43:10  |   Thu 07 Oct 2021
PvI#13: F*** Your Grapes

PvI#13: F*** Your Grapes

Beauty is cool, but is art always aiming at beauty? Generations disagree about their music. Snakes disagree about how much they should worry.

Image by 3rd grader Ariana; google says the image …

00:40:32  |   Thu 30 Sep 2021
PvI#12: Stand by Me II

PvI#12: Stand by Me II

Bill gets really real, with his unlogical emotions. When we feel things, do we know why? Is there a why?

Image found in a serious academic paper to reflect the seriousness (the snapped bra str…

00:34:25  |   Thu 23 Sep 2021
PvI#11: The Trolley Opportunity

PvI#11: The Trolley Opportunity

Bill gets to have the power of live and death, with a bit of moral luck. Is he enthused?

Image found on twitter by a kid told to draw a fruit salad. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop.

Hear more…

00:35:37  |   Thu 16 Sep 2021
PvI#10: Reasonable Beasts

PvI#10: Reasonable Beasts

Turkeys speculate in a game scene. Are they reasonable and/or jive turkeys? Then, geometry is subject to ad hominem attack in an instructive relationship scene.

Image by Ava from this site. Au…

00:30:59  |   Thu 09 Sep 2021
PvI#9: Keepin’ It Super Real

PvI#9: Keepin’ It Super Real

Why is lying wrong? Scene conceptions clash. It is hard to lie in a pretend scene, because the pretending is already a lie. You can lie inside-out or outside-in.

The relevant PEL episode to fi…

00:37:36  |   Thu 02 Sep 2021
PvI#8: Here Ought to Be Dragons

PvI#8: Here Ought to Be Dragons

Mark and Bill do impressions of people you don’t know. The is-ought distinction is bravely explored. Does pretending to be cavemen help? Magic business is afoot. Childhood speaks.

We’ve now pa…

00:40:30  |   Thu 26 Aug 2021
PvI#7: Meritocracy Now!

PvI#7: Meritocracy Now!

Does it make sense to try to have everyone get what they “deserve”? We act out the desert machine but yet get no predictable cake.

Judgebot 5000 enters our lives. Is this our first really go…

00:37:55  |   Thu 19 Aug 2021
PvI#6: Let’s Have Made a Deal!

PvI#6: Let’s Have Made a Deal!

We try to be boring. Bill tries to make a discovery amidst the canards. Mark tries to be a good meta-dupe. But is our success in these attempts guaranteed by the deal you have already made with u…

00:51:37  |   Thu 12 Aug 2021
PvI#5: What Is Bread? Are You Bread?

PvI#5: What Is Bread? Are You Bread?

Two micro scenes and a mystery number of interruptions reveal our underlying definitions. How will we overcome the lag between our words and become like-minded? How many beats in an heirloom beet…

00:44:58  |   Thu 05 Aug 2021
PvI#4: Death at Not a Doctor’s Office

PvI#4: Death at Not a Doctor’s Office

Is death something to be feared? What’s next? What are the DETAILS? Do not adjust your listening device or call an ambulance. That sound you hear is not ground hum nor tinnitus but is the sound o…

00:47:48  |   Thu 29 Jul 2021
PvI#3: Equality of Ignorance

PvI#3: Equality of Ignorance

Bill starts us with a scene: Behold the Doctor’s Office, where anything can happen, and often DOES. Is this whole thing a bad idea? Do you think you’re BETTER than this idea? Do you? If you need …

00:48:37  |   Mon 19 Jul 2021
PvI#2: Real Lava Accommodation

PvI#2: Real Lava Accommodation

Mark starts us off this time: What is reality? Bill pushes back, which is rather his point this round. Hilarity ensues, given that the world is just a construct of our minds and we want it to do …

00:39:24  |   Sun 18 Jul 2021
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