Jill Bernard has been performing with ComedySportz-Twin Cities since 1993, and is also a founding member of HUGE Theater. Her one-woman improv piece, Drum Machine, has been featured at the Chicago Improv Festival, the Toronto Improv Jamboree, the Miami Improv Festival, Philadelphia Improv Festival, and the ComedySportz National Tournament, among others. She has taught and performed improv in Norway, Canada, and over thirty of these United States, in cities that include Juneau, AK; Spokane and Seattle, WA; Washington DC; Bowling Green, KY; Phoenix, AZ; and also on an episode of MTV “Made.” She is one-half of the duo SCRAM with Joe Bill of the Annoyance Theater. An Artistic Associate of the Chicago Improv Festival, she has studied at the Annoyance Theater, Improv Olympic, the Brave New Workshop and other organizations; and is the recipient of the 2005 Chicago Improv Festival Avery Schreiber Ambassador of Improv Award, and the 2007 Miami Improv Festival award for Best Solo Show.How were you first introduced to improvisation?
We played Freeze Tag at cast parties for our high school plays. Yeah, I know at other high school parties they were getting drunk, we were playing Freeze Tag.
You have performed and taught in over a dozen festivals across thirty states. What is it about the traveling and festival experience that appeals to you?
I have this theory that great improv is happening everywhere in the country, not just Chicago, New York and LA. It's thrilling every time I get to see that I'm right. There's no reason that there's great improv in Cheyenne, WY or Charleston, SC or Honolulu, HI, but there it is! I also like getting to work with different students and see what regional habits are, if a whole city has a certain style to their improv related to the culture of that place, that's fascinating to me. I also love travelling. I love going to different cities and seeing what famous person has a house there that features an audio tour.
What is "Drum Machine" and how was it created?
Drum Machine is my one-woman improvised sweepingly epic historical musical. I say that to the audience and they laugh, and then I do it. Most of the time I use a little drum machine for accompaniment, whenever possible I switch that out for a live musician, it's so much better. It came about in 2002, I had heard of solo improv and seen Lisa Jolley's show "Jolley on the Spot" plus Andy Eninger's "Sybil." I woke up one morning and said, "There should be a show called Drum Machine." At the time I was living down the street from a music store. I walked down the block and said to the guy, "I'd like to buy a drum machine." He said, "What kind?" I said, "I have no idea, what's a drum machine?" He sold me the little cute Zoom Rhythmtrak 123 that I still use, and a little amp. I went home and spent some time laying in bed giggling and trying out the show. Originally it was just an extension of the ComedySportz game Day In The Life Musical where you create a musical based off what an audience member describes as an exciting day they've had. It's grown and changed since then. I performed at Red Curtain Cabaret some short slots, then the Chicago Improv Festival the next year, and it's taken off from there.
Many people that have been improvising for as long as you have discuss getting in an "improv rut". Does this happen to you and if so how do you overcome it?
I have the good fortune of having a terrible memory. I can't remember things. Everything always seems new to me. So I never get bored, it's how I've played ComedySportz for 17 years and still get excited every night.
There's a different kind of improv rut I call the "Sine Wave of Suck" which happens to everyone. It starts at about your ninth month of improvising, you think you've got this on lock-down and suddenly you suck. A few weeks pass and suddenly you're funny again. The first time it happens, it's terrifying, but it will continue to happen throughout your improv career. Eventually you'll learn to laugh it off, 'hello old friend!' Things to do while you're in the rut are focus on fundamentals, be efficient, provide support. I used to advise people to try to suck more and maybe they'd come around the other side, but someone who read my book really misunderstood what I was going for there, and was actively trying to ruin every scene. I think I'll revise that for the fourth edition.
What do you say to yourself right before you take the stage?
I don't know! I hope it's inspiring. My improv brother (I call him that because we started improvising at exactly the same moment, from the same audition) Eric Knobel used to say "LET'S DO THIS" in a really intense voice before we went to do corporate shows, just to relieve the tension of how tough those shows can actually be. I hope that's what I say.
I'm coaching a team right now for the Brave New Institute in Minneapolis, and when they ask my team their show goal, I make them say "To do our jobs." Our job is to play, you see. I don't really like show goals that overburden the performer. Asking someone to think about a lot of stuff consciously is going to prevent them from sailing into the zone and just doing good magical improv that flows. At least that's what I think. I don't want a lot of stuff laid on me right before I go onstage.
What was your inspiration for writing "Jill Bernard's Small Cute Book of Improv"?
I just wrote it in one spurt, overnight, on my little typewriter.
Can you tell our readers about the improv scene in Minnesota and the HUGE Theater?
In the metro area there's two big short-form theaters, ComedySportz and Stevie Ray's Comedy Theater, both celebrated their 20th anniversary last year. There's a sketch and long-form theater called the Brave New Workshop that started in 1958. A new space just opened up called Yes And Studios. There's a lot of independent teams running around performing where they can.
HUGE Theater is a non-profit. We started in 2005, and we're just about to open a theater because we believe all those independent teams deserve a home. We want there to be a place where you can see great scenic improvisation every night of the week. It was started by Nels Lennes, Butch Roy, myself, Joe Bozic and Mike Fotis - although Mike and Joe are tied up rocking the scene at the Brave New Workshop so Butch, Nels and I have pushed on to open the theater. We're in the construction phase right now. The pre-construction phase, actually, the city has yet to give the final signatures as I write this. You can read along at our blog at http://www.hugetheater.com for all the latest.
