Neuroinclusive Improv and Comedy

This marks one year of making podcast episodes! There are some changes happening next week, and here's what those changes are. And the things not changing (most of it isn't change). Yeah, STUFF IS HAPPENING!

This kinda-but-not-really-an-episode talks about how this series started, and what I have planned with the name change for the podcast project.

Note

This podcast has been renamed a couple times to best fit what it nee...

Icebreakers. They're common in an improv class, at the top of a jam, or maybe when a team is just getting to know each other.

Some people love them.

Some people hate them.

Some of us have a love/hate relationship depending on the day or the icebreaker in question.

Many of the people who really dislike icebreakers are neurodivergent people, which is why such a seemingly simple thing is getting an episode.

But many students, neurodivergen...

In part one of this episode series on emotions in improv, we looked at what alexithymia is, who experiences it and the variety of expression, and how it affects improv performers and the shared improv practice.

This episode, part two, now explores some ideas of what students can do if they approach exercises with assigned emotions, and what teachers can do to make their classes and exercises more inclusive for those with alexithymia...

Alexithymia involves how a person identifies and experiences emotions, so it has a lot to do with an improv practice.

Part one of this two part episode series explores what alexithymia is, how it affects improv, and suggests some ways to practice improv if you experience it.

Part two covers some ideas of what students can do if they approach exercises with assigned emotions, and what teachers can do to make their classes and exercise...

Notes (feedback) can be confusing for some student performers because of communication differences. This episode discusses what teachers can do to help improve and resolve some of the typical communication issues around questions and notes.

Why can’t a student just ask for clarification? That can be loaded in some improv cultures (for now), and as such it can put a lot of burden on some students. Classes can be structured to make th...

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 everyone on August 27! )

Getting notes can be hard for students, particularly when there is a communication gap between neurotype. This episode lists five reasons students might have to make this part of a session difficult, and some things st...

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 between neurotypes (such as between an autistic and allistic humans, or when verbal processing disorder exists, and so on). There’s sometimes a communication gap because different neurotypes fundamentally communicate in different ways.

So t...

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/performing improv.

We’ll be starting with a three part series on getting Notes as a neurodivergent improviser. This is a very common request from improvisers I’ve spoken with regarding this podcast. And the first three episodes of the new seaso...

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 neurodivergence (they are called hyperphantasia and aphantasia), but regardless of what or how much you have you can do great improv.

For more information see “part 1” of this episode, which covers how visual imagination works and how it affects...

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 not a pathology - it’s a difference. However, having difficulty communicating in a way other people understand it can be frustrating and isolating.

Because we’re misunderstood. And we don’t want to be! And it’s often why we mask.

There’s sc...

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 episode.

Communication is a challenge in improv, especially when we have different neurotypes playing together (which is probably… always). Our cognitive wiring is a fundamental difference between us, and at times it can lead to communication...

I had A WEEK. So you’re getting AN EP 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 neurodivergent improviser. But you’re getting that one next week, friend, because I’ve been thinking about this stuff instead.

And you know what happens when we get all focused on a subject. Well… this.

So this week I’m talking ab...

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 hyperphantasia to aphantasia, then go into how it affects improv.

How you visually process details in a scene are not just important for exploring the environment, scene painting, or describing an object (the obvious parts). You can also use it...

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 expressions. This, of course, can affect how we position ourselves in scenes if we are trying to be the voice of reason and respond naturally and honestly.

Thanks for reading Improv and Neurodiversity - The FlatImprov Podcast Substack! Subscribe...

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 reading from, or writing, a completely different book.

It can be hard when our brains are so different in a word that’s constructed for a different (neurotypical) wiring altogether. And here we are up on a stage with everyone watching us. Y...

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 monologue infodump, and I was told I should turn that monologue into a podcast.

So here we are.

What we're talking about today is edit moves, with focus on the speed of those edit moves and what it might have to do with your neurotype (A...

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 subconsciously - you might not even realize you do it! But it's essentially suppressing your natural reactions, responses, physicality or expressions in order to hide some of your natural behaviours or instincts. Your first reaction.

Masking ca...

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 two cats, Shumai and Althea. She currently performs with her longform indie teams, Jace Spam and Dolly Lana, and with her Improv College narrative house team, Oops! We Fell In Love. Find Sabrina online: Instagram and Linktree.

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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 second beats might be challenging to a bottom-up thinker. You need to get used to wrapping up a bunch of details into a single idea, gist, or synopsis regardless of what direction you think in. The synopsis is where top-down thinkers star...