Philosophy vs. Improv

It’s our season finale, and the end of Bill’s regular participation on the show. You may wish to weep, but let your tears be of joy as well as reminiscence.

We are re-joined by two of our favo…

Nessa teaches philosophy at Lone Star Community College and writes on the philosophy of humor. We’ve amazingly never had an episode specifically about this, so we thought we should get this on th…

Recorded back in June, posting now as we near the end of our season and Bill’s tenure on the show, this episode now bleeds with dramatic irony. Mark and Bill discuss how to give a good speech, AI…

LA comedienne and Second City faculty member Mary (whom you no doubt already met in the Prelude to this episode), joins us to act out a pet sitting job interview, talk about sharing our public sp…

What do you do when Bill doesn’t show up to the recording? You record for a bit anyway and get to know the guest! Meet Mary. Here’s her website.

Mark Schiff is a legendary stand-up (watch him on Carson) who currently podcasts with friend-of-PEL and philosophy enthusiast, Daniel Lobell (check out his YouTube channel) as We Think It’s Funny…

Khafiz Kerimov (philosophy guy) and Nicholas Bellinson (literature guy) both teach at (and co-commute to) St. John’s College in Annapolis, and they channeled the educational style of that school …

Kolby is the founder/editor of After Dinner Conversations, which curates short stories about philosophy. He’s also been a “producer” of improv shows. We talk about what makes a story philosophica…

Shannon the philosopher and Audrey the poet are Seattle improv buddies that form a duo called Closer to Clarity that uses improv to answer audience members’ big life questions (BLQs).

Through …

Greg teaches philosophy (and is Interim Provost) at Ashland, loves Xenophon, and runs a podcast. We reflect on the dangers of radon and other “natural” things. How might one of our government age…

Mark and Bill are joined by the actor/improviser who directs Camp Improv Utopia and is involved in managing improv spaces such as Denver’s Rise Comedy. We talk about the notion of community, with…

Mark and Bill introduce a new potential setting and some characters for ongoing use in future improvisations. We talk about techniques for doing that and wrap up by getting an update from Bill on…

Mark and Bill are joined by two north-of-the-border podcasters, Shawn Vulliez and Aaron Moritz, who incorporate both improv and philosophy in their dirty leftist podcast.

We simulate conversat…

Randy is a literature guy who has written a couple of books about improv and here joins Mark and Bill to talk about WINGING IT: Improv’s Power and Peril in the Age of Trump, wherein he basically …

Simon is a professor at New York’s New School for Social Research and moderates the New York Times’ philosophy offering, The Stone. He joins Mark and Bill to discuss his new book, On Mysticism: T…

It’s a TEAM PLAY episode just in time for the holiday season! Returning guests improviser and podcaster Sarah and recovering Philosophy Bro Tommy join Mark and Bill to talk AND EXPERIENCE friends…

Mike hosts the Hitchhikers and Appetizers podcast, and we recorded this episode a bit before Halloween, before the election and the consequent mass exodus, as a sort of memo to the future, i.e. y…

Lorraine teaches at Middlebury college and has recently written The Art of the Interesting: What We Miss in Our Pursuit of the Good Life and How to Cultivate It. How does “the interesting” fit in…

Welcome to the beginning of a new round of shenanigans on Philosophy vs. Improv. Let the senior slump begin!

Your hosts Mark Linsenmayer and Bill Arnett here talk a blazin’ stream of conscious…

Chicago’s iO Theater was graced on August 21 by Mark, Bill, and special guest theater educator James Whittington, who spoke about embodiment (see Maurice Merleau-Ponty), the possible disconnect b…