There's such a freewheeling nature to 'Second City,' and the greatest thing about 'Second City' was having a sophisticated audience night after night who appreciated what it was. They knew it wasn't all going to be great when you improvised, so they were very forgiving that way.
I've always loved improvised movies like Christopher Guest and the 'Spinal Tap' era of comedy.
I come from the world of improv; I love any show or any vehicle that gives me an opportunity to be in the moment.
To me, it's weird when people review improv at all.
I think not every improviser is a good stage actor. Certainly not every stage actor is a good improviser.
I used to go to open mics in New York when I was starting out, and it was mostly just people who wanted an audience to look at them for eight minutes on a stage.
Having done film, TV and theatre, the nicest final bit of the jigsaw is to do live comedy, because you can talk to the audience. It feels really natural to be able to laugh with them, but at the same time still be within the framework of a play.
I met my wife, Nia Vardalos, at The Second City, and she was chomping at the bit to move to L.A.
I've always loved improv. It's my thing.
There's different kinds of improv. There's Second City improv where you try to slowly build a nice sketch. There's stuff you do in college coffee houses where you just go joke, joke, joke. Bring another funny character with a funny hat on his head. Christopher Guest is more the line of trying to get a story out.
I love improv. 'Crazy, Stupid, Love,' the script was really great, but the directors were open to letting you try different things. And that felt like a muscle I hadn't exercised in a really long time.
