Your Improv Brain
Do you learn, coach, or perform improv and comedy? Then this show is for you. Jen talks about the intersection of comedy and different forms of thinking. How do our brains work when learning and performing improv. Because there are so many different types of brain wiring that affect how we learn and perform together.
Good comedy is neuroinclusive when you're performing or learning it. That means that you create a supportive environment inclusive and accommodating of all cognitive types and abilities to learn, write together, or perform. This includes both neurodivergent and neurotypical individuals, and all the different ways we experience life. Which is… you, since that is every type of human brain!
These episodes are about the many different types of brains that exist in the comedy and improv space. It features the voices of neurotypical and neurodivergent performers, any and all of the variations of brain types we have.
The topics we discuss are relevant to comedy, improv, acting, and performance. We can be better at comedy and acting if we try to understand each other. When we do, we work together more efficiently, learn more effectively, and function on teams with more success. And we're funnier.
These episodes are not for diagnosing people, making excuses for bad behaviour, or a form of therapy. They are for discussing, learning, and being human in your improv or comedy practice!
Hosted by Jen deHaan, an autistic and ADHD comedy performer, improv enthusiast, and writer. Produced by https://StereoForest.com.
Note: This podcast was formerly called "Neurodiversity and Improv"! New name, same kinda stuff.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
- Update frequency
- every 9 days
- Average duration
- 25 minutes
- Episodes
- 38
- Years Active
- 2023 - 2025
Getting Notes and Feedback You Don’t Understand - Part 2
Welcome to part two of this three-part series of episodes about receiving notes as neurodivergent improvisers. (Note: This episode is offered as an early release to supporters, and opens up to everyo…
Getting Feedback & Giving Notes in Comedy Classes - Part 1
This three-part series of episodes is about receiving notes as a neurodivergent improviser. This episode covers WHY getting notes is hard in improv, particularly when there is a communication gap bet…
Introduction to Season 2 of the Show
Welcome back, improvisers! Season 2 of the Neurodiversity and Improv podcast is coming your way. Every two weeks you can expect a new episode about the intersection of neurotypes and learning/perform…
Visual Imagery and Improv: How it Affects Memory and Recall
Most humans have some amount of mental imagery, or visual imagery. You might find that you use the visuals to help you build and remember improv scenes. The extreme ends are considered to be neurodiv…
How Neurodiversity Affects Improv And Comedy: Being Misunderstood
Neurodivergent humans might communicate in a different way, a way that is difficult for neurotypical humans to understand. Different social communication styles not necessarily a deficit, and it’s no…
Communication in Improv Scenes: Finding the unusual thing
Last week I promised an episode about finding the unusual thing: how you find what’s weird at the top of a scene when you’re setting up the base reality that leads to the game. And here is that episo…
Neurodiversity and Observation: How it can improve your scenes
You’re getting an episode that gets real.
So this week I experienced something related to last week’s episode (ep 10). I wrote all of the notes for an episode about finding the unusual thing as a neur…
Your visual Imagination & how it affects improv scenes
So in this episode you learn about the spectrum of visual imagination, from lots to none, and explore how you imagine visual details in improv. I cover what the spectrum of phantasia is, from hyperph…
Masking and Improv Comedy: Being the voice of reason
Masking is a common behaviour for autistic and/or ADHD people. It’s a trait that can be subconscious or conscious, and one we take on to suppress natural reactions, responses, physicality or expressi…
How to Commit: Honouring YOUR unique brain in improv
We’ve all heard those sayings like “do not compare your chapter 1 to their chapter 6.” But that can be pretty hard to do. Especially when we get notes that relate to our brain wiring! Maybe we’re rea…
Fast and Slow Edit Moves in Long Form Improv Comedy
This episode was inspired by a discussion I had with another improviser about fast and slow edit moves. They were told by a teammate to edit faster. The answer I gave them was a bit of an opinionated…
Masking and Improv: Character Matching (Peas in a Pod) Scenes
Masking is a common behaviour for autistic and/or ADHD people (or those of us who are both). It's sometimes referred to as camouflaging, mimicking, or being a social chameleon. You might mask subcons…
The Intersection of Misophonia & Improv with Sabrina Banes
Very excited about this ep! This week I am joined by Sabrina Banes, an improviser who has a condition called misophonia.
Sabrina Banes is an improviser and Tarot reader who lives in Brooklyn with her …
Top-down thinking in improv (for bottom-up thinkers)
If you are a bottom-up thinker, there are certain techniques in long-form improv that might work better if you try to do top-down thinking instead. Why would you do such a thing? And When?
Game and se…
How Bottom Up Thinking can Affect Dealing with Plots in Improv
Bottom-up thinking or bottom-up processing is common way for autistics to process information. It’s wired into our brains and affects EVERYTHING. How does this type of thinking affect doing improv sc…
Thoughts On Being Perceived (on the Improv Stage & In Class)
The sense of being perceived is all about the activity you are doing when you are being looked at by other people. Having strong feelings about this kind of perception is common particularly with the…
What is Neurodivergence and How it's Relevant to Improv Comedy
This episode details what neurodivergence is, and why it’s relevant to improv. I include a couple of examples in there. Check out the transcript to see the text version of this episode.
Downloadable c…
Hello, Neurodivergent Improvisers
Introduction by Jen to the new FlatImprov podcast. We're starting with the intersection of neurodivergence and improv.
Note from 2025: This episode was done on a whim to test the podcasting features a…