Improv and Magic – Details, episodes & analysis

My guest today is Chloe Crawford!

Chloe’s performance is a wonderful and unique blend of beauty and charm, mixed with power and a little danger.  She has performed all over the world, from London’s West End to Hollywood, Sydney, Vancouver & many other locations.  She has risen to become one of the most well-known women in magic today.  Some of her most memorable performances include Britain’s Got Talent, America’s Got Talent, The Illusionists on Broadway, The Magic Castle in Hollywood, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Brain Games on the History Channel, and Trick’d Up on A&E.  Her podcast “From Hot Mess to Success” is a show that pulls back the curtain of the entertainment industry and shines a spotlight on powerful women who have overcome adversity to create their own success.

Chloe shares a lot in this interview, including how she managed to change and evolve, and she shares the challenges of performing while struggle with her mental health.  There’s so much shared today that so many can learn and benefit from.

Learn more about Chloe by visiting her site, magicbychloe.com.

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My guest is a well-known improvisor and keynote speaker who’s been described as laugh provoking, engaging, and refreshing.  Today’s guest is Jon Colby.

Jon has been empowering people all over the world with improv for over 24 years.  His engaging and interactive approach has successfully helped audiences across the world to be better communicators, leaders, teammates, even salespeople.  He’s a graduate from the world-famous Second City Conservatory program and an educator with 15 years of classroom experience.  Jon currently travels the world teaching special improv programs that deal with team building, communication, leadership, and creativity to various companies.  Some of his clients include American Express, Honda, Charles Schwab, Paylocity and the YMCA.  Jon has a wonderful ability to loosen up even the quietist people, and he not only teaches how improv can improve your skills but also make you a happier person.

I had a great time talking to Jon.  He’s a guy with such a great personality and a very warm heart.  You’ll hear how he got to where he is today, and you’ll learn all about his approach to teaching improv including his “three Cs”. 

You can learn more about him and about his training courses at his website, joncolby.com.  And tell him LD sent you!

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Today’s guest is a true superstar of magic. My guest today is Colin Cloud!

He’s the only magician in history to perform on London’s West End, Broadway and the Las Vegas Strip.  Colin specializes in mentalism, and he’s so good that he’s been described as a real life Sherlock Holmes.  Colin performed as “The Deductionist” in the touring magic show The Illusionists.  He was also a contestant on Penn & Teller: Fool Us, and completed on Britain’s Got Talent in 2012.  You may also remember Colin as a semi-finalist on Season 12 of America’s Got Talent, and also participated in the very first season of America’s Got Talent: The Champions.  Colin Cloud has continued to be one of magic’s top performers, and is currently preparing to open his brand new show this Summer at Harrah’s in Las Vegas.

Colin and I had a great time talking about his beginnings as a performer, what drew him to mentalism, and his process in creating a great show.  This was an amazing interview you are sure to enjoy!

Visit Colin's website, colincloud.com, and follow Colin on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X and TikTok.

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Today is the return of LD's Tips! Today's tip is about how not every scene we do in improv needs to be funny. We often feel that funny scenes are a "requirement" in order to do good improv. Making the audience laugh is great, but it's even more special to make the audience feel. This tip talks about my feelings on exactly that. You'll either agree with me or disagree with me, but either way these are my feelings on what makes an improv scene special.

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My guest today is someone who I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know, he’s an excellent improv actor who hails from the great state of Nebraska.  Today’s guest is Dylan Oakes Rhode.

Dylan is a graduate of Wayne State, and has trained and performed at UCB and iO.  He now travels the country and the world teaching improv at various theaters and festivals.  In 2011, Dylan founded Backline Comedy, which originally began teaching improv classes in the basement of a small art gallery.  They recently opened their new theater, and have since become Omaha’s destination for live comedy shows. Dylan is also the founder of the Omaha Comedy Fest, which began in 2013 and has since been offering fans access to intimate shows and hilarious experiences with established and emerging comedians from across the country.

I had the opportunity to talk to Dylan just before one of his classes at Backline Comedy Theater.  In this conversation, he shares about his early beginnings in improv and the process of getting his theater started.  There’s a lot to learn in this conversation, and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.

Learn more about the Backline Comedy Theater by visiting backlinecomedy.com where you can find out about shows and classes.  And learn all about the Omaha Comedy Fest by visiting omahacomedyfest.com.

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Today is the 1 year anniversary of the Improv and Magic podcast, and we are celebrating with a very special episode.

Today we look back at everyone's answer to the final question: What's the one piece of advice that has served you well that you'd want everyone else to hear?

A very special thank you to all of our guests who've come on the show and shared their stories, and an even bigger thank you to all of you listeners out there for tuning in!

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Today I got to talk to one of the most respected and celebrated names in magic.  He’s the most versatile magician in the world.  He is Dan Harlan.

Dan has invented, performed, and taught more magic than any other magician... ever!  In fact, he even updated the entire Tarbell Course in Magic, which is an eight-volume encyclopedia containing over 1200 tricks!  Dan is one of the most innovative modern magicians, and his cutting-edge miracles have delighted audiences in over 20 countries around the world. He has been featured at Caesar's Magical Empire in Las Vegas, headlined at the world-famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, and guest-starred at Masters of Magic in Saint-Vincent, Italy.  Dan has also consulted for top professional magicians, including Kevin James, Jeff McBride, Keith Barry, and David Copperfield.  He is also co-founder of The Mystic Tower, which produces brand-new, mind blowing magic.

If you love magic you’re definitely going to love what Dan Harlan has to say.  Whether you’re a magician or not, you’re going to be amazed by all of the incredible wisdom shared in this interview.

Visit Dan’s website, danharlanmagic.com to learn more about him and his shows.  Be sure to also visit themystictower.com for unique, mind-blowing magic, as well as Dan’s Masterworks book project.

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My guest today is Patti Stiles.

Patti is an actor, director, playwright and teacher who specializes in improvisational theatre. She is a former Artistic Director of Rapid Fire Theatre in California, and a founding member of the award winning show Die Nasty – the live improvised soap opera.  She is known as the “Queen of Improvisation” by the Canadian press.  Patti has been featured on the cover of the Spanish improv magazine Status; she is a contributor to the book The Art of Making Mistakes and has been interviewed for the books Something Like A Drug and The Improv Handbook. She’s also been interviewed for numerous podcasts and University papers, and her blog has been translated into French, Italian, German and Portuguese.

Patti Stiles released her first book in 2021 titled Improvise Freely, which has received an enthusiastic response from improvisors, teachers and impro companies around the globe, and was even translated into Italian in 2022.  In Improvise Freely, Patti talks about throwing away the typical improv rulebooks, and encourages performers to be free to unleash their creativity.

I highly encourage you to learn more about this fantastic person by visiting her website, pattistiles.com.  And be sure to also pick up a copy of her book Improvise Freely, which is available at Barnes & Nobel, Good Reads, Book Depository, Bokus, and Amazon.

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Today’s guest is beyond talented and a true inspiration to so many.  My guest today is Lisa Lynn.

Lisa Lynn is a multi-talented performer.  She is an actor, singer, improviser, director, writer, and voiceover artist.  After receiving her Honours Degree in Musical Theatre in 2009, Lisa moved to London and has been working as a performer there, and around the world, ever since.  Lisa has been teaching and performing improv since 2015.  According to her she is a story teller; all of her emotions are readily available to her, always bubbling below the surface; and she loves the work. In 2018, Lisa brought her love of improv and musical theater together with the creation of Acaprov, an improvised a cappella musical show.  Every performance is unique. Acaprov takes a location and title from the audience before spontaneously creating a non-stop musical that will make you laugh, cry, dance in your seat, and sing all the way home!

Visit Lisa’s website at lisalynn.co.uk, and learn all about the incredible show Acaprov by visiting acaprov.com.

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My guest is someone who’s loads of fun to talk to and learn from.  Today, I’m talking to Chris Alvarado.

He’s an amazing improv teacher and performer, and trained at The Second City Conservatory in Chicago, iO West, and UCB LA.  Chris created his workshops to provide a space for work that is fun, but also meaningful.  He believes in exploring beyond the rules so performers can find their own source of inspiration and make meaningful connections with others, which I’m also all about.  Chris currently performs at the Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica, California, and has also appeared two shows on HBO Max called “Minx” and “Hacks”.  He also co-created the web series "7p10e," about a couple who begin dating long distance.

You’ll be able to tell how much he cares about what he does, and how fulfilled he gets in sharing this artform with his students.  There’s a lot of fun, and lots of great words of wisdom shared in this episode.  I really hope you all enjoy this as much as I did.

Learn more about Chris and his workshops by visiting his website, chris-alvarado.com.  Find out how you can book him for workshops and sign up for his amazing classes.  And feel free to learn more about West Side Comedy Theater at their website, westsidecomedy.com.

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