January 24, 2025 • 16 mins
Exploring Improv and Unique Experiences with Dennis Upton
In this episode of Open Forum in The Villages, Florida, host Mike Roth chats with Dennis Upton about his extensive 23-year journey in improv. Dennis shares how he transitioned from teaching to improv through an adult education class and his continued engagement after moving to The Villages. He recounts memorable scenes, including a magical surf burial and his transformation into characters like Victor. Dennis also highlights the versatility improv offers in various roles, including being Santa Claus and participating in patient simulation work to assist healthcare training. The episode encapsulates the unpredictable and humorous essence of improv, encouraging listeners to explore and appreciate this art form.
00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:08 Dennis Upton's Improv Journey
01:18 Memorable Improv Moments
03:34 Unique Improv Experiences
06:28 Accents and Character Work
11:51 The Joy of Improv Shows
14:18 Conclusion and Show Information
Open Forum in The Villages, Florida is Produced & Directed by Mike Roth
A new episode will be released most Fridays at 9 AM
Direct all questions and comments to mike@rothvoice.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mike Roth (00:00):
This is Mike Roth on Open Forum in The Villages,
(00:02):
Florida.
I'm here today with DennisUpton.
Thanks for joining me, Dennis.
It's nice to be here.
Good.
Today we're going to be talkinga little bit about Dennis
background and his improvexperience and some of the
unusual improv experiences thatyou've had.
That fair, Dennis?
That sounds good to me.
Good.
So, how
Dennis Upton (00:22):
long have you been involved with improv?
I started 23 years ago.
Twenty three years ago.
I was getting ready to retirefrom my teaching career and I
thought, I need something elseto do.
And improv sure sounded like alot of fun.
So what type of improv trainingdid you take?
We, I actually started with anadult education class.
it was being taught by aninstructor who actually ran a
(00:45):
comedy club and one night a weekhe had improv.
And I think this was histraining ground to find new
people to perform for him.
So three of us from that classactually joined his improv
group.
Okay.
That was a way
Mike Roth (00:57):
to fill the stage.
Yes, it was.
And sell some beverages.
Good.
And.
How long have you been cominghere to The Villages?
Dennis Upton (01:05):
I think it was eight years ago.
We started coming down and Ithink it was the second year.
I thought, Hmm, there's improvgoing on in The Villages.
I should check that out.
So that's why I'm still here.
Eight years later.
Mike Roth (01:17):
Good,
Dennis Upton (01:17):
Good.
Mike Roth (01:18):
And in all the improv scenes that you've done, what
are a couple of your favorites?
Dennis Upton (01:24):
Well, sometimes when you do a scene, it turns
into magic immediately.
I remember one scene back home,another friend and I, and we
were just.
Surfs digging a, a burial sitefor a king.
And it turned magic and theaudience loved it.
And then you can't recapturethat because it's over and done.
And that's the trouble withimprov.
(01:45):
You wanna say, oh, I wish Icould do that again.
Well, one time down here in TheVillages though you asked me to
step in and try an in scene withan inventor.
And instead of just beingDennis, and one of the things I
found with improv, when you goon stage, you're never Dennis.
I'm in Dennis's body, but I wantto be another character.
So this character went on stage,became Victor, and he had sort
(02:08):
of a Russian Eastern Europeanaccent.
And I remember leaving the scenewhen we did that, and one of the
other performers came up to meand said, Are you Russian?
I said, No, I'm just not myselfwhen I enter the scene.
Mike Roth (02:22):
So, Victor,
Dennis Upton (02:23):
what was your biggest invention?
my country, not like yourcountry, Mike.
Very, very nice country, butpeople have flabby parts, you
know.
So I take product, I make I takegoat, goat milk, old goat milk,
and then I take hat from oldman.
Chop, chop hat up.
Very tiny pieces, mix it, go tomilk and let it stew for a
(02:45):
while, you know, in sun, verygood in sun.
Then, you take product and put,you get underneath your chin,
you get this shaky turkey typeything there, you know.
You put my product on, Mike, andpretty soon it tightens up, you
look good.
Share, you know, share thesinger.
She put too much on her face.
She can't even smile no more,Mike.
(03:05):
She used too much.
Kardashian, not enough.
They got this great big thing inthe back.
You know, Mike, not good.
But it works very good fordifferent parts of you, you
know?
Okay.
And That was when Victor enteredmy head.
I'm not sure who's entering myhead when I walk on stage each
time, but somebody comes out.
It generally works out prettywell.
(03:27):
Yeah, most of the time, and oncein a while you say, well, that
wasn't the best choice, but it'simprov.
Mike Roth (03:33):
Yeah, yeah.
And Before we started recording,you were talking to me about
some of the other unusual usesof improv that you've used.
Dennis Upton (03:42):
Yes I've been fortunate to have a lot of
different Performingopportunities Santa Claus is one
that comes to mind, and that'sbasically total improv.
I have been fortunate to have 30years of teaching 10 year old
kids, so working with littlekids doesn't scare me.
But sometimes you come up, andparents and children have very
unusual requests.
(04:04):
Sometimes it takes you bysurprise, sometimes you want to
laugh, and sometimes you thinkthat, The family needs a laugh.
So, being Santa Claus for manyyears in Buffalo, I'm Santa
Claus at the Buffalo Zoo, I'veworked with the Buffalo Sabres
and a number of private groups.
But also There's somethingcalled patient simulation work
and there are many colleges inthe Buffalo area who have health
(04:27):
care programs and they needpatients for the health care
students to work with.
So, one day I might have my handamputated and they're teaching
me mirror imagery.
Another day I might havepneumonia.
So, I'll cough like thatbasically all day.
And then walk away.
Your hand is healed.
Your cough is healed.
Another spot is one of ourhospitals.
(04:48):
It's a cancer institute andthey're teaching a wonderful
program with empathy.
So I'm always the same person.
I'm Greg.
I'm 66.
I have prostate cancer and thedoctors and nurses are learning
to deal with empathy anddelivering bad news to a
patient.
But because I will do this sixor seven times in a row, the
(05:09):
same six or seven peoplewatching their person with them
doing the role play with me,I've decided to make every
character different.
So, One of the characters, he'sjust a plain old laid back goat
farmer, Mike.
And he just, it just takeseverything just kind of comes
along, you know, it's kind ofeasy for him.
And then another one might be avery strict military person and
(05:32):
everything's black and white.
Yes.
No.
And it, it becomes a.
Something that the people I'mworking with kind of like it
because I'll change my shirt ormy hat.
They see now, here's a differentperson in Dennis body and
they're, they're kind ofcurious.
One day I was doing it and Ihave basically eight characters.
There were nine people doing it,and I wasn't certain what I was
(05:54):
going to do.
And then they said, put on thatplaid flannel shirt and come
back and be another character.
And so this is improv.
I knew I had to do something.
So, I slowed down my speechquite a bit.
And made it a person who hadsome challenges.
And they had to learn how todeal with a person with
challenges.
Do all the characters have tohave goats?
(06:15):
No, no.
But you know a couple of people,one of the guys said, I would
take your goats from you.
And I said What would you dowith them?
He said, I'd eat them.
I said, you're not going to getmy goats.
So it's improv again.
But what's nice, the group thatI did performing with was called
Comedy Sports, which is anational group of
(06:35):
improvisational locations.
And once a year they gettogether and they have like a
week of training and performancetimes.
And I got to take a class inaccents.
And it was so interestingbecause what they taught you was
to take a key word, and if Iwanted to do Irish, you had to
think of the word potato.
Because potato goes up and down,you know.
(06:57):
In an Irish voice, it goes upand it goes down, like that.
And if you think of that, youcan get Irish and the audience
is going to think you're stillspeaking Irish when you've
switched your voice back andit's not Irish anymore.
And the Scottish was kind ofgood, too, because They did that
with rolling your"R"s and it's agreat, good idea for Motor car.
So now if you talk like that,then you drop some sounds, it
sounds a little bit like you'reScottish and the audience,
(07:19):
they'll, they'll sort of fill itin for you because it's not
really good Scottish, but it'sScottish in my head.
Mike Roth (07:25):
Okay.
And so if you ask, ask to.
Come on down to New Orleans.
How would that sound?
Dennis Upton (07:31):
Well, I talk a lot like this.
You kind of let your voice dropa little bit.
Sometimes, I tell jokes once ina while.
Mike, you want to hear a joketold by a Southerner?
A Southerner telling a littlejoke.
I got a Southern joke here foryou.
Actually, this is Dennis talkingto a Southerner.
So, I was driving throughGeorgia.
And it was just after Christmas,we were on our way down to The
Villages, and I, I had to getgasoline, and the gas station is
(07:55):
there, but they had thisbeautiful manger scene right
nearby in the town, and I neededa little walk, so I walked over,
and I saw the manger scene waskind of unique, because the
three wise men were wearing firehats, I thought.
That's a little unusual.
Mike Roth (08:09):
Three wise men, wear a fire hat.
Dennis Upton (08:11):
That's exactly right.
Mike Roth (08:12):
Were you Macon Georgia?
Dennis Upton (08:13):
I wasn't Macon Georgia, Mike, yes I was.
,So I went, when I paid for thegas, I said, you know, that's a
really remarkable scene you havethere, the Christmas scene, but
I'm a little confused about thefire hats on the wise men.
And the lady behind the counter,she says, I'm y'all ever read
the Bible?
I said, yes ma'am, I've read theBible.
(08:35):
Well, y'all ought to know betterthan that because right in the
Bible it says, talks about threewise men came from afar.
So that's best told with asouthern accent.
Mike Roth (08:44):
We're going to take a break now and listen to Dr.
Craig Curtis.
Should people who want to reducetheir risk of Alzheimer's and
improve their brain health takesomething like Centrum Silver,
which is advertised as a brainsupplement?
Dr. Craig Curtis (09:00):
Well, another great question, Mike.
So in a study published lastyear, they actually showed that
people that took a multivitaminsuch as Centrum Silver, Centrum
silver actually did slightlybetter on memory tests and this
was a double blind placebocontrolled study Sponsored by
the alzheimer's association.
(09:20):
However, the alzheimer'sassociation has come out and
said we still don't have enoughinformation to recommend a daily
multivitamin.
There was a study that showed noeffect of a daily multivitamin a
few years back that was also adouble blind placebo controlled
study.
So we do have conflictingevidence on whether or not you
should take a dailymultivitamin.
Mike Roth (09:41):
So the question is, take a multivitamin if you have
an unhealthy diet.
If you have a healthy diet, getyour vitamins from natural
foods.
Dr. Craig Curtis (09:48):
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Mike Roth (09:50):
Thanks very much, Dr.
Curtis.
Dr. Craig Curtis (09:51):
Thank you for having me, Mike.
Warren (09:52):
Good.
With over 20 years of experiencestudying brain health, Dr.
Curtis's goal is to educate thevillage's community on how to
live a longer, healthier life.
To learn more, visit hiswebsite, craig curtis md.com, or
call 3 5 2 5 0 0 5 2 5 2 toattend a free seminar.
Mike Roth AI 9-11-24 (10:08):
I'm back with Dennis Upton Are there any
other jokes that only can betold with a particular accent?
Well, my talking dog joke.
That takes a little longer.
You want to hear the talking dogjoke?
That's really quite funny.
That's not the one where theguy's driving down the road and
sees a sign.
Says,
Dennis Upton (10:24):
Talking dog for sale.
Mike Roth (10:26):
The talking dog for $3..
Dennis Upton (10:28):
Yeah, I paid 10 for mine and Mike.
It was 10.
Wow.
Yeah, because you know that dog,when I went and talked to him,
because the guy, when I saidMike, I said to the guy, Tell me
about your dog.
He says, go talk to the dogyourself.
So I walked out back and therehe was tied up to a chain.
I says, hey dog, talk to me.
And he says, alright.
You see that, that trailer overthere?
(10:50):
There was a fire in that trailerjust last week.
And little Jimmy was, he wasgonna get burned.
But I called fire department.
They came, they saved him.
And then he says, you look overthere, see that creek down
there?
Tom and Susie, they were downthere playing in the creek.
Susie fell in and she's going todrown, Mike.
But I called the police, theycame too, they rescued her.
(11:10):
I says, that's good.
So I walked back up front, I'mtalking to the guy up front, I
said, you want to sell that dog?
He says, I do.
I said, how much are you goingto sell that dog for?
He's gonna sell for ten bucks,he says.
I said, ten bucks, that's notmuch for a talking dog.
He says, it is, that dog's aliar, he didn't do none of that
stuff.
So that's a good one when spokenwith what in my head is a
(11:33):
southern accent.
Mike Roth (11:35):
Yeah, I think that works in almost any accent.
Dennis Upton (11:37):
Yeah, it is a good one.
Mike Roth (11:39):
Could be an Eastern European dog.
Dennis Upton (11:41):
Yeah, well, Victor, I don't know, he has
maybe an Eastern European goatthat could talk.
We'll see how that works.
I'll adapt it to the country.
That might be a good idea.
Mike Roth (11:51):
So Dennis, you've played in several of our shows
here at The Villages.
Worked in the show in February.
And I know you're not going tobe in the show in April.
Huh.
Why don't you tell our listenerswhy they should go to an improv
show?
Dennis Upton (12:06):
Well, back home when we would do a show, we'd
say, Thank you for coming to ourshow.
Thank you for paying to see ashow that hasn't been written
yet.
And that's kind of what improvis.
You're going to see a show thathasn't been written yet.
And the beauty of improv is youcan never predict what's going
to be said, and how it's goingto be said, and the mistakes
(12:27):
that are going to be made Andthose can be the funniest
things, the mistakes.
If you're on stage as aperformer, you learn when you've
made a mistake, take a bow.
They're going to laugh at it, sodon't try and justify your
mistake.
Mike Roth (12:41):
We call, in our set of rules for improv, there are
no mistakes, just opportunities.
Dennis Upton (12:47):
Oh yes, yeah, and it's an opportunity because you
really have to take what's givento you We call it justifying.
Try and use it somehow and makethe scene go forward.
And once in a while, you runinto a car crash and then you
have to try and straighten itout.
It's a lot of fun because,again, it's unpredictable.
It's meant to be just funnyhumor.
(13:09):
So check it out if you haven't,and if you have, you know you
want to come back.
Mike Roth (13:13):
Tell everyone about that, that improv festival that
you go to.
Is that open to anybody?
No, the improv things that wehad actually were sort of
closed.
We had, I think, 25 cities atthat time in the U.
S.
and a couple in Europe.
And it was all doing the sametype of improv, which is comedic
short skits.
Maybe there's long form, shortform.
(13:34):
This is all short form.
Right, right.
There's, I also learned thisweekend at a convention I was
at, that there's medium form,where the scenes run 20 minutes,
30 minutes.
Oh.
Okay, as opposed to long form.
But it's all fun.
Mm hmm.
Mm hmm.
Any last words of improv youwant to give to our listeners,
Victor?
(13:55):
Well, you know, it's kind offunny when you said medium form.
My idea immediately went to somekind of person with a crystal
ball doing improv.
So that, that's where the headgoes, folks.
If you're, you talk to an improvplayer too much, they're not
good at scripts, but they'regood at inventing places in
their head that don't existuntil they start talking about
it.
So just let your head be openand come and play.
(14:17):
It's just fun.
Thanks for being with us,Dennis.
Sure enough.
Speaker (14:21):
Remember, our next episode will be released next
Friday at 9 a.
m.
Should you want to become amajor supporter of the show or
have questions, please contactus at mike at rothvoice dot com.
This is a shout out forsupporters Ed Williams, Duane
Roemmich, Paul Sorgen, KathyLoving, and Dr.
Craig Curtis at K2 in TheVillages.
We will be hearing more from Dr.
(14:42):
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(15:06):
All rights reserved.
This is Mike Roth on Open Forum in The Villages,
(00:02):
Florida.
I'm here today with DennisUpton.
Thanks for joining me, Dennis.
It's nice to be here.
Good.
Today we're going to be talkinga little bit about Dennis
background and his improvexperience and some of the
unusual improv experiences thatyou've had.
That fair, Dennis?
That sounds good to me.
Good.
So, how
Dennis Upton (00:22):
long have you been involved with improv?
I started 23 years ago.
Twenty three years ago.
I was getting ready to retirefrom my teaching career and I
thought, I need something elseto do.
And improv sure sounded like alot of fun.
So what type of improv trainingdid you take?
We, I actually started with anadult education class.
it was being taught by aninstructor who actually ran a
(00:45):
comedy club and one night a weekhe had improv.
And I think this was histraining ground to find new
people to perform for him.
So three of us from that classactually joined his improv
group.
Okay.
That was a way
Mike Roth (00:57):
to fill the stage.
Yes, it was.
And sell some beverages.
Good.
And.
How long have you been cominghere to The Villages?
Dennis Upton (01:05):
I think it was eight years ago.
We started coming down and Ithink it was the second year.
I thought, Hmm, there's improvgoing on in The Villages.
I should check that out.
So that's why I'm still here.
Eight years later.
Mike Roth (01:17):
Good,
Dennis Upton (01:17):
Good.
Mike Roth (01:18):
And in all the improv scenes that you've done, what
are a couple of your favorites?
Dennis Upton (01:24):
Well, sometimes when you do a scene, it turns
into magic immediately.
I remember one scene back home,another friend and I, and we
were just.
Surfs digging a, a burial sitefor a king.
And it turned magic and theaudience loved it.
And then you can't recapturethat because it's over and done.
And that's the trouble withimprov.
(01:45):
You wanna say, oh, I wish Icould do that again.
Well, one time down here in TheVillages though you asked me to
step in and try an in scene withan inventor.
And instead of just beingDennis, and one of the things I
found with improv, when you goon stage, you're never Dennis.
I'm in Dennis's body, but I wantto be another character.
So this character went on stage,became Victor, and he had sort
(02:08):
of a Russian Eastern Europeanaccent.
And I remember leaving the scenewhen we did that, and one of the
other performers came up to meand said, Are you Russian?
I said, No, I'm just not myselfwhen I enter the scene.
Mike Roth (02:22):
So, Victor,
Dennis Upton (02:23):
what was your biggest invention?
my country, not like yourcountry, Mike.
Very, very nice country, butpeople have flabby parts, you
know.
So I take product, I make I takegoat, goat milk, old goat milk,
and then I take hat from oldman.
Chop, chop hat up.
Very tiny pieces, mix it, go tomilk and let it stew for a
(02:45):
while, you know, in sun, verygood in sun.
Then, you take product and put,you get underneath your chin,
you get this shaky turkey typeything there, you know.
You put my product on, Mike, andpretty soon it tightens up, you
look good.
Share, you know, share thesinger.
She put too much on her face.
She can't even smile no more,Mike.
(03:05):
She used too much.
Kardashian, not enough.
They got this great big thing inthe back.
You know, Mike, not good.
But it works very good fordifferent parts of you, you
know?
Okay.
And That was when Victor enteredmy head.
I'm not sure who's entering myhead when I walk on stage each
time, but somebody comes out.
It generally works out prettywell.
(03:27):
Yeah, most of the time, and oncein a while you say, well, that
wasn't the best choice, but it'simprov.
Mike Roth (03:33):
Yeah, yeah.
And Before we started recording,you were talking to me about
some of the other unusual usesof improv that you've used.
Dennis Upton (03:42):
Yes I've been fortunate to have a lot of
different Performingopportunities Santa Claus is one
that comes to mind, and that'sbasically total improv.
I have been fortunate to have 30years of teaching 10 year old
kids, so working with littlekids doesn't scare me.
But sometimes you come up, andparents and children have very
unusual requests.
(04:04):
Sometimes it takes you bysurprise, sometimes you want to
laugh, and sometimes you thinkthat, The family needs a laugh.
So, being Santa Claus for manyyears in Buffalo, I'm Santa
Claus at the Buffalo Zoo, I'veworked with the Buffalo Sabres
and a number of private groups.
But also There's somethingcalled patient simulation work
and there are many colleges inthe Buffalo area who have health
(04:27):
care programs and they needpatients for the health care
students to work with.
So, one day I might have my handamputated and they're teaching
me mirror imagery.
Another day I might havepneumonia.
So, I'll cough like thatbasically all day.
And then walk away.
Your hand is healed.
Your cough is healed.
Another spot is one of ourhospitals.
(04:48):
It's a cancer institute andthey're teaching a wonderful
program with empathy.
So I'm always the same person.
I'm Greg.
I'm 66.
I have prostate cancer and thedoctors and nurses are learning
to deal with empathy anddelivering bad news to a
patient.
But because I will do this sixor seven times in a row, the
(05:09):
same six or seven peoplewatching their person with them
doing the role play with me,I've decided to make every
character different.
So, One of the characters, he'sjust a plain old laid back goat
farmer, Mike.
And he just, it just takeseverything just kind of comes
along, you know, it's kind ofeasy for him.
And then another one might be avery strict military person and
(05:32):
everything's black and white.
Yes.
No.
And it, it becomes a.
Something that the people I'mworking with kind of like it
because I'll change my shirt ormy hat.
They see now, here's a differentperson in Dennis body and
they're, they're kind ofcurious.
One day I was doing it and Ihave basically eight characters.
There were nine people doing it,and I wasn't certain what I was
(05:54):
going to do.
And then they said, put on thatplaid flannel shirt and come
back and be another character.
And so this is improv.
I knew I had to do something.
So, I slowed down my speechquite a bit.
And made it a person who hadsome challenges.
And they had to learn how todeal with a person with
challenges.
Do all the characters have tohave goats?
(06:15):
No, no.
But you know a couple of people,one of the guys said, I would
take your goats from you.
And I said What would you dowith them?
He said, I'd eat them.
I said, you're not going to getmy goats.
So it's improv again.
But what's nice, the group thatI did performing with was called
Comedy Sports, which is anational group of
(06:35):
improvisational locations.
And once a year they gettogether and they have like a
week of training and performancetimes.
And I got to take a class inaccents.
And it was so interestingbecause what they taught you was
to take a key word, and if Iwanted to do Irish, you had to
think of the word potato.
Because potato goes up and down,you know.
(06:57):
In an Irish voice, it goes upand it goes down, like that.
And if you think of that, youcan get Irish and the audience
is going to think you're stillspeaking Irish when you've
switched your voice back andit's not Irish anymore.
And the Scottish was kind ofgood, too, because They did that
with rolling your"R"s and it's agreat, good idea for Motor car.
So now if you talk like that,then you drop some sounds, it
sounds a little bit like you'reScottish and the audience,
(07:19):
they'll, they'll sort of fill itin for you because it's not
really good Scottish, but it'sScottish in my head.
Mike Roth (07:25):
Okay.
And so if you ask, ask to.
Come on down to New Orleans.
How would that sound?
Dennis Upton (07:31):
Well, I talk a lot like this.
You kind of let your voice dropa little bit.
Sometimes, I tell jokes once ina while.
Mike, you want to hear a joketold by a Southerner?
A Southerner telling a littlejoke.
I got a Southern joke here foryou.
Actually, this is Dennis talkingto a Southerner.
So, I was driving throughGeorgia.
And it was just after Christmas,we were on our way down to The
Villages, and I, I had to getgasoline, and the gas station is
(07:55):
there, but they had thisbeautiful manger scene right
nearby in the town, and I neededa little walk, so I walked over,
and I saw the manger scene waskind of unique, because the
three wise men were wearing firehats, I thought.
That's a little unusual.
Mike Roth (08:09):
Three wise men, wear a fire hat.
Dennis Upton (08:11):
That's exactly right.
Mike Roth (08:12):
Were you Macon Georgia?
Dennis Upton (08:13):
I wasn't Macon Georgia, Mike, yes I was.
,So I went, when I paid for thegas, I said, you know, that's a
really remarkable scene you havethere, the Christmas scene, but
I'm a little confused about thefire hats on the wise men.
And the lady behind the counter,she says, I'm y'all ever read
the Bible?
I said, yes ma'am, I've read theBible.
(08:35):
Well, y'all ought to know betterthan that because right in the
Bible it says, talks about threewise men came from afar.
So that's best told with asouthern accent.
Mike Roth (08:44):
We're going to take a break now and listen to Dr.
Craig Curtis.
Should people who want to reducetheir risk of Alzheimer's and
improve their brain health takesomething like Centrum Silver,
which is advertised as a brainsupplement?
Dr. Craig Curtis (09:00):
Well, another great question, Mike.
So in a study published lastyear, they actually showed that
people that took a multivitaminsuch as Centrum Silver, Centrum
silver actually did slightlybetter on memory tests and this
was a double blind placebocontrolled study Sponsored by
the alzheimer's association.
(09:20):
However, the alzheimer'sassociation has come out and
said we still don't have enoughinformation to recommend a daily
multivitamin.
There was a study that showed noeffect of a daily multivitamin a
few years back that was also adouble blind placebo controlled
study.
So we do have conflictingevidence on whether or not you
should take a dailymultivitamin.
Mike Roth (09:41):
So the question is, take a multivitamin if you have
an unhealthy diet.
If you have a healthy diet, getyour vitamins from natural
foods.
Dr. Craig Curtis (09:48):
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Mike Roth (09:50):
Thanks very much, Dr.
Curtis.
Dr. Craig Curtis (09:51):
Thank you for having me, Mike.
Warren (09:52):
Good.
With over 20 years of experiencestudying brain health, Dr.
Curtis's goal is to educate thevillage's community on how to
live a longer, healthier life.
To learn more, visit hiswebsite, craig curtis md.com, or
call 3 5 2 5 0 0 5 2 5 2 toattend a free seminar.
Mike Roth AI 9-11-24 (10:08):
I'm back with Dennis Upton Are there any
other jokes that only can betold with a particular accent?
Well, my talking dog joke.
That takes a little longer.
You want to hear the talking dogjoke?
That's really quite funny.
That's not the one where theguy's driving down the road and
sees a sign.
Says,
Dennis Upton (10:24):
Talking dog for sale.
Mike Roth (10:26):
The talking dog for $3..
Dennis Upton (10:28):
Yeah, I paid 10 for mine and Mike.
It was 10.
Wow.
Yeah, because you know that dog,when I went and talked to him,
because the guy, when I saidMike, I said to the guy, Tell me
about your dog.
He says, go talk to the dogyourself.
So I walked out back and therehe was tied up to a chain.
I says, hey dog, talk to me.
And he says, alright.
You see that, that trailer overthere?
(10:50):
There was a fire in that trailerjust last week.
And little Jimmy was, he wasgonna get burned.
But I called fire department.
They came, they saved him.
And then he says, you look overthere, see that creek down
there?
Tom and Susie, they were downthere playing in the creek.
Susie fell in and she's going todrown, Mike.
But I called the police, theycame too, they rescued her.
(11:10):
I says, that's good.
So I walked back up front, I'mtalking to the guy up front, I
said, you want to sell that dog?
He says, I do.
I said, how much are you goingto sell that dog for?
He's gonna sell for ten bucks,he says.
I said, ten bucks, that's notmuch for a talking dog.
He says, it is, that dog's aliar, he didn't do none of that
stuff.
So that's a good one when spokenwith what in my head is a
(11:33):
southern accent.
Mike Roth (11:35):
Yeah, I think that works in almost any accent.
Dennis Upton (11:37):
Yeah, it is a good one.
Mike Roth (11:39):
Could be an Eastern European dog.
Dennis Upton (11:41):
Yeah, well, Victor, I don't know, he has
maybe an Eastern European goatthat could talk.
We'll see how that works.
I'll adapt it to the country.
That might be a good idea.
Mike Roth (11:51):
So Dennis, you've played in several of our shows
here at The Villages.
Worked in the show in February.
And I know you're not going tobe in the show in April.
Huh.
Why don't you tell our listenerswhy they should go to an improv
show?
Dennis Upton (12:06):
Well, back home when we would do a show, we'd
say, Thank you for coming to ourshow.
Thank you for paying to see ashow that hasn't been written
yet.
And that's kind of what improvis.
You're going to see a show thathasn't been written yet.
And the beauty of improv is youcan never predict what's going
to be said, and how it's goingto be said, and the mistakes
(12:27):
that are going to be made Andthose can be the funniest
things, the mistakes.
If you're on stage as aperformer, you learn when you've
made a mistake, take a bow.
They're going to laugh at it, sodon't try and justify your
mistake.
Mike Roth (12:41):
We call, in our set of rules for improv, there are
no mistakes, just opportunities.
Dennis Upton (12:47):
Oh yes, yeah, and it's an opportunity because you
really have to take what's givento you We call it justifying.
Try and use it somehow and makethe scene go forward.
And once in a while, you runinto a car crash and then you
have to try and straighten itout.
It's a lot of fun because,again, it's unpredictable.
It's meant to be just funnyhumor.
(13:09):
So check it out if you haven't,and if you have, you know you
want to come back.
Mike Roth (13:13):
Tell everyone about that, that improv festival that
you go to.
Is that open to anybody?
No, the improv things that wehad actually were sort of
closed.
We had, I think, 25 cities atthat time in the U.
S.
and a couple in Europe.
And it was all doing the sametype of improv, which is comedic
short skits.
Maybe there's long form, shortform.
(13:34):
This is all short form.
Right, right.
There's, I also learned thisweekend at a convention I was
at, that there's medium form,where the scenes run 20 minutes,
30 minutes.
Oh.
Okay, as opposed to long form.
But it's all fun.
Mm hmm.
Mm hmm.
Any last words of improv youwant to give to our listeners,
Victor?
(13:55):
Well, you know, it's kind offunny when you said medium form.
My idea immediately went to somekind of person with a crystal
ball doing improv.
So that, that's where the headgoes, folks.
If you're, you talk to an improvplayer too much, they're not
good at scripts, but they'regood at inventing places in
their head that don't existuntil they start talking about
it.
So just let your head be openand come and play.
(14:17):
It's just fun.
Thanks for being with us,Dennis.
Sure enough.
Speaker (14:21):
Remember, our next episode will be released next
Friday at 9 a.
m.
Should you want to become amajor supporter of the show or
have questions, please contactus at mike at rothvoice dot com.
This is a shout out forsupporters Ed Williams, Duane
Roemmich, Paul Sorgen, KathyLoving, and Dr.
Craig Curtis at K2 in TheVillages.
We will be hearing more from Dr.
(14:42):
Curtis with short Alzheimer'stips each week.
If you know someone who shouldbe on the show, contact us at
mike at rothvoice dot com.
The way our show grows is withyour help.
Text your friends about thisshow if you enjoyed listening,
or just tell your friends aboutthe show.
We thank everyone for listeningto the show.
The content of the show iscopyrighted by Rothvoice 2025.
(15:06):
All rights reserved.
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