Fish Out Of Water: A Sketch Writing Podcast

In this episode, Catherine Donnelly, joined us to talk about getting web series into festivals and what goes into writing and producing internet content. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode Jere and Tweedy are joined by Jake Michels (June's Cleaver, Geek and Sundry) to talk about the frustrations of being a writer or performer. I'm sure this conversation will link up to many types of writing and comedy. Of course they also read some sketches and do some pitching. Tweedy opens up like these two are his therapists. If you want to hear a man cry in his coffee about sketch comedy - then THIS is the episode for you.Check us out on Twitter: @foowpod See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

iO west is dead.Jeremiah and Ryan were both performers there for years and we will miss it dearly. We decided to scream into the black void that is the internet on this week's episode. We both loved the opportunities that iO gave us, we loved the community and we loved our teams. We gained many, many things from the theatre and we owe it a lot. We get into all positives and negatives on the podcast and if gossiping like high school kids is your thing then this is the episode for you. #RIPIOWESTCheck out our archives on Boardwalk AudioAnd Follow us on Twitter @foowpod See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Our dear, dear friend, Eddie Rowley, jumps on Fish Out Of Water with us this week to talk about Shakespeare, being an actual actor and what he thinks is funny. Eddie is a California Native that has been writing and performing for over a decade. In wit is only matched by his musical genius and he brings a new energy to the show. Plus he beat boxes so he's way cooler than us.Get more info on Dad Jeans HEREGet more info on June's Cleaver HERECheck FOOW on Funny or Die HERELike us on FacebookFollow us on Twitter: @FOOWpodSend your sketches to foowpod@gmail.com and we'll try to help fix them! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Boy Howdy is it good to be back!Jeremiah and Ryan took a 4 month hiatus to make some videos, work some jobs and kick some ass and we're all out of video ideas. So here we are, ready to do season 2 of the Fish Out Of Water podcast! We got really lucky to have our first guest of the new season be Henry Kaiser. This is actually the lost episode from season 1 but we wanted to start here because it was such a good episode. Moving forward we are switching up the format to feel like more of writers room where we have our favorite writers and best friends come on and share sketch notes, stories, and all the crazy bullshit we do in the real world. We are going to still be accepting user submitted sketches to get notes from our esteemed colleagues and we will also be pitching ideas just like we always have. If you have ever wondered what a sketch team meeting feels like or want to get some quick tips to make all your sketches better then stay tuned because it's about to get real. Stupid. It's about to get real stupid. But also with notes. It's about to get stupid AND WITH NOTES.Whatever just subscribe to us HEREFollow us on Twitter and don't miss a beat*: @FOOWPod*That was a sketch joke. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nate is a performer on The New Deal at the Upright Citizens Brigade and has been a writer/performer all over Los Angeles. He started performing comedy in college and has never stopped. You may recognize from TV shows and movies and all sorts of cool things.You can follow Nate on Twitter HEREYou can follow Fish Out Of Water on Twitter HERESend us your scripts to critique at foowpod@gmail.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Eric Owusu (Wuwu) joins Ryan and Jeremiah to talk about how he got his literary agent. He also has written sketch shows and pilots and pitched them all over Los Angeles. After joining a sketch team in college and going to Washington D.C., he was accepted into the CBS diversity showcase and moved to Hollywood. Now he writes for Raven's Home on The Disney Channel and also for Dad Jean's at iO West.We also want to thank Hayley Ellman for sending in a sketch to read this week.Find Eric on Twitter HEREFind us on Twitter HERESend us your sketches to read on the show at foowpod@gmail.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We are lucky to have Jesse Klein, writer for the Pack house team Haymaker, with us today. Jesse talks with us about idea generation and always being prepared with several pitches and sketch packets for every occasion. Another thing that Jesse shows us is a way in generate an infinite number of sketch premises and honestly it's pretty great. On the show we came up with over half of a dozen sketch premises in less than 5 minutes. The episode is worth the listen for that part alone.Jesse has written on house teams DJ Faucet, Mr. Worm and others at iO West and is also a contributing writer for Prairie Home Companion. He has studied at The Upright Citizens Brigade, Groundlings, Second City, iO West and the Pack Theatre. He also on every podcast that has ever been made.We also want to thank Josh Puterbaugh for letting us read their sketch this week.Check out Haymaker HEREFollow Jesse on Twitter HERESnd us your sketches to critique to foowpod@gmail.comFollow us on Twitter HERE See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Zora Bikangaga may possibly be our most interesting guest to date. This man has been on "This American life" because he pretended to be an Ugandan international student for an entire semester. After committing to the bit for so long he followed his new found love of acting and writing down to Los Angeles. I say down because he's from Northern California. Mr. B was a middle school teacher and a social issues theatre performer and talks about using some those real situations to create characters as well as write premises. Which just goes to prove that living a real life is just as important to comedy as being a comedian.Zora wrote, created and starred in HOA alongside the likes of Horatio Sanz and Cheri Oteri, he freelances for Cracked, he has worked on Drunk History, Adam Ruins Everything and he is a writer for the Upright Citizens Brigade maude team "New Deal".Listen to the this American life episode HERECheck out the trailer for HOA HEREGet tickets to see his maude team HERE See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Connie Shin joined us on FOOW this week to talk about writing for her Maude team Karate Karate, her process of formulating beats before she writes her sketches and the task of trying to identifying legitimate news stories vs ads.Connie Shin currently writes for the team Karate Karate at UCB's Maude night and sometimes Sketch Cram. She also performs improv with group "KanYay! West" and sketch with "Basic Bitches".Follow Connie on Twitter HERESee the trailer for "I do...Until I don't" HERETickets to see Karate Karate perform HEREFollow us on Twitter: @FOOWpod or click HEREFollow Ryan on Twitter: @imtweedy or click HEREFollow Jeremiah on Twitter: @whatisjeremiah or click HERESend us your sketches to critique at foowpod@gmail.comCheck out our 1st Fish Out Of Water Digital Sketch HERE See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Billy Merritt graced FOOW this week to talk about scientology, not writing for the Denny's Twitter feed and finding the deeper meaning in your sketches. We discussed writing material that appeals to all ages (and the fact that all kids across the world laugh at fart jokes) and using your "where" to help find the deeper meaning in your sketches if you're stuck while writing.Billy has been a performer, teacher and director with the UCB Theatre since it first opened in New York. He is a founding member of improv groups The Swarm, The Stepfathers and The Smokes.You can find Billy's improv workshop HEREFollow Billy on Twitter HEREFollow Billy on Instagram HERETickets to see Billy perform with The Smokes HEREFollow us on Twitter: @FOOWpod or click HERESend us your sketches to critique at foowpod@gmail.comCheck out our 1st Fish Out Of Water Digital Sketch HERE See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Brian James O'Connell (better known as BOC) stopped by to talk to us about digital comedy and screenwriting. He broke down the process that his comedy team "Dr. God" goes through as they create films and digital sketch. They started as an improv team and then decided to take it to the next level.BOC is also a co-founder of the Pack Theatre and the head of their digital program. He wants to make sure that everyone understands that if you can write and you look for the resources to create - you will be able to.You can find Blood Sucking Bastards HERECheck out The Pack Digital Program HEREFollow us on Twitter: @FOOWpodSend us your sketches to critique at foowpod@gmail.comCheck out our 1st Fish Out Of Water Digital Sketch HERE See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Joe Hartzler, the master of comedic suspense, joins us to talk about taking the audience on a laugh voyage, not just a laugh bus ride. Mr. Hartzler wants comedians to start using every part of the bit, not just the funny part. He helped us explore the nature of our comedy by showing us the many paint brushes that we have artists - not just the obvious ones. Joe has been a performer at UCB since 2007 and taught improv there for several years. He was a member of one of the first maude teams - Up Up Up. You may have also seen him helping sell xbox's on your television, as well as all over youtube.com. Joe is a comedy genius and I don't use that term lightly. Watch acting Tips with Joe Hartzler here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6i57qG1DGY Trophy Case can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikBNRBTcU9A Follow Joe on Twitter: @joehartzler Follow us on Twitter: @FOOWpod See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Joan Ford is super smart and thoughtful. That's what I liked the most about this conversation. We talked about the trap that many writers fall in to - especially when writing about something that bothers them or makes them angry. Joan spoke to the idea of writing characters that you don't like in real life and broke down a challenge she gave herself which was to find the humanity in them and make them relatable and more accessible.Ultimately, she was trying to find a way to make assholes funny. Joan is the coach of Bombardier at UCB and was the coach of Sugar. She was also a writer for nephew.Now she writes for Nerdist and is likes the challenge of remaining positive. Apparently all the positive video commenters only go to Nerdist. This week we read a sketch by Calder Holbrook (@CalderHolbrook) You can send in your sketches to foowpod@gmail.com and have our guests critique them on the air. You can get tickets to Bombardier here: https://sunset.ucbtheatre.com/performance/54087 You can buy Joan's book here: https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Action-Girls-Saving-Looking/dp/194209910X Follow her on Twitter - @JoanHaleyFord You can follow us on Twitter - @Foowpod @JeremiahBurton1 @imtweedy See you next week. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

David Baldy, who has had many writers jobs and various production jobs in Hollywood, was kind enough to stop in and talk to us for damn near 2 hours. This episode is loaded with tips on how to get that staff writer job you've always wanted. Mr. Baldy, took calculated risks but also made sure he was prepared for the job he wanted. He started as a writers assistant and worked through the ranks until he reached the level of Co-Executive Producer. He shared with us how he got started and also how he navigated through the maze of the writing industry. Most of the stuff he talks about is actionable and replicable. Give this episode a listen with a pencil near by because you might just need it, Also, he's into Crossfit, so of course we talked about that. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Charlie is a writer for the team "The Truce" and a host of the popular indie improv show "Purgatory" at the Clubhouse. He also hosts Catharsis: Dramatic Improv at UCB Sunset. We delve into a deep conversation in this episode and It pops up fairly organically. Charlie brings up an interesting point that it's easier for Straight White Males to find everything funny because of our place of privilege in society. It makes for an interesting discussion. We'd love to hear what everyone thinks. So chime in on twitter: @FoowPod We also talk about Cartoons, what are some things that we feel might turn an audience off and how we can earn those balls. You can also find tickets to see Chuck at iO West here: http://ioimprov.com/west/show/the-truce-da-vinci-3/ Follow him on Twitter here: @charlesmihelich You can send your sketches for us to read and critique with our guests to foowpod@gmail.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Anna is a phenomenal writer and one of the funniest people we've had on our podcast BUT that pales in comparison to how hard of a worker she is by all accounts. So, obviously we were very appreciative that she made time in her busy schedule to come on and talk with us. And talk she did, we spoke about the best practices for getting to be a part of the CBS diversity showcase. She explained how she puts a packet together, what should and should not go into it, how long it should be and also some of the lesser known requirements. Madam Cecilia also gave us a brief tutorial on taking notes when they are given to you. Spoiler Alert: You're argument against taking them is almost always wrong. Anna was also a staff writer for Awesome TV, a writer on the teams Sugar and Bombardier at UCB, a writer/performer on the team Jet Jaguar at iO West, and she now coaches iO West house team, Wilton. Get tickets to Maude Night: https://sunset.ucbtheatre.com/performance/50635 Follow Anna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theannacecilia Visit her website: http://annacecilia.net/Anna_Cecilia/Home.html You can follow Fish Out Of Water on Twitter: https://twitter.com/foowpod You can send us your scripts to read and critique: foowpod@gmail.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bob Wiltfong has had many successes in life. He was a writer and correspondent for "The daily Show With Jon Stewart", he was in the pilot episode of "The Chapelle Show" and had a very lucrative run with a one man show at the fringe festival. He talks about how he accomplished all of that and he also gives pointers so that we can actively pursue the same goals if we so choose. Follow Bob on Twitter: twitter.com/bobwiltfong Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/foowpod Send us sketches to read: foowpod@gmail.com We'd also like to thank Brad Layden for sending in a sketch this week: twitter.com/wunderbrad Here's that video, "Toast", that Bob was talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaYtFLGELB8 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Our old friend, Hal Rudnick, joins us this week and talks about his process in creating characters and writing sketches. You may know Hal from "The Midnight Show", "Screen Junkies", and "Tournament of Nerds" plus he's been all over your TV and internet. BUT THAT'S NOT ALL, Hal is in the next season of "America's Got Talent" doing an original character he calls Eric Jennifer. Mr Rudnick is a character expert. He would have a PHD from Harvard in character creation - if that was a thing. Hal teaches Character 101 and 201 at the Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles. he also teaches sketch and improv and holds the record with most Harold teams. I believe it's 6. Anywhoo, get to know Hal by: Following him on Twitter @HalRudnick Watch him on Screen Junkies - https://www.youtube.com/user/screenjunkies And Most importantly, follow Eric Jennifer on twitter @EricJennifer007 Also follow us: @FOOWpod And send us your sketches to go through on the podcast with our guest at foowpod@gmail.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Will Hine is an improv legend,. He's also an author, a sketch writer, a maude director, a teacher, a podcaster and an honest, genuine guy. Not to mention he's insightful and thoughtful when finding the comedy nuggets in the mundane details. This is a great episode in finding the truth in comedy, the grounded reality that we can all relate to and laugh at together. You may want to grab a notebook and jot down some of Will's brilliance - or don't - I'm not here to tell you what to do. We also break down a FAN'S Sketch with Will Hines. Thanks to MATT NEWCOMB for sharing his sketch!!! If you want to submit a sketch for one of our guests to go over submit it too: foowpod@gmail.com Check out Will's podcast, "Don't Get Me Started": https://headgum.com/dont-get-me-started Buy Will's Book "How To Be the Greatest Improviser On Earth": http://willhines.net/ Follow Will On Twitter: @WillHines Follow US On twitter: @FOOWpod See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Andy Harris is a freelance Comedy Writer for Radio Shows all over this glorious country. He has over a decade of experience and has worked with many, many clients. His job consists of writing and producing up to 20 bits a day, so naturally we talked to him about his idea generation process. Andy guides us through how he comes up with so many, nearly 100, topical sketches a week. His process is very different than what we usually do on this show and he even presents us with a finished product of what we come up with. Its pretty exciting, guys! So hold onto your butts! Listen to Andy on The Comedy Couple: https://www.facebook.com/comedycouple/ Follow Andy on Twitter: @THEAndyHarris Follow The Comedy Couple on Twitter: @thecomedycouple ‏ Follow Fish Out Of Water on Twitter: @FOOWpod See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Mark Rennie is the director of UCB Maude team "Karate Karate" and he is also one of the creators of the popular web series "Gay of Thrones" on Funny or Die. Mark was kind enough to come in and meet with us and talk about finding our personal voices. It was a good discussion about how we should be writing what makes us laugh and writing what we want to see on a stage. He has many great ideas about comedy and my personal favorite was "who cares what assholes think?" Who cares, indeed Mark. Who cares indeed. Get more info about Karate Karate: https://www.ucbtheatre.com/performance/37874 Watch Gay of Thrones: http://www.funnyordie.com/gayofthrones Here's that blog Ryan references: http://ucbcomedy.tumblr.com/post/114049824078/sketchy-advice-mark-rennie-on-finding-your Follow him on Twitter: @MarkRennie Follow us on Twitter: @FOOWpod See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Making Canale, the Managing Director, as well as one of the main voices in putting together sketch teams at iO West talked to Ryan about what goes into deciding who has got the goods during the audition process. We talk about what you should put into a writing packet and how to approach both a scene and solo character audition. We also talk about enjoying what you do. Mike brings up how important having fun is to the process. This was a great episode, even if Jeremiah was in Portland. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bill Kessler wrote for Hollywood Squares in its hay day! He tells us how he got that job and also the things he could have done differently once he was in it. We also got to pick his brain for the almost 20 years of sketch writing experience he has. Bill also wrote and starred in a successful web series called "Gary CK needs work". We talk to him a little bit about the process and how to generate ideas for web series of our own. Watch "Gary CK Needs Work" : https://www.facebook.com/pg/garyckneedswork/videos/ You can catch Bill with his sketch team Redford: http://ioimprov.com/west/shows/redford/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Kate Huffman, ladies and gentlemen! She is a Writer/Performer for the team Drug Money at iO West and also a Writer/Performer for the team Sidekick who you can see at The Second City. Kate also recently premiered a one woman show called "I'm Too Fat For This Show" which will be having a run at the Los Angeles Fringe Festival June 2nd, 10th, 18th, 19th, and 25th (link below for more info). Kate was kind enough to talk to us about the process of writing a one women show and all the challenges that come with creating it. She opens up about the emotions that both go into the topics of the show and also feelings that arise that make it difficult to move forward when writing a full piece by yourself. Then we pitch dick jokes. A thoughtful, heartwarming story of triumph AND dIck Jokes? What more could you ask for. Check out "I'm Too Fat For This Show": http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/4586?tab=tickets Check out Drug Money: http://ioimprov.com/west/shows/drug-money/ Check Out Sidekick: http://www.secondcity.com/shows/hollywood/sidekick/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Joey Clift is a Los Angeles based comedian who mailed his beard to a presidential candidate, who outsmarted the Garfield twitter team, who has a team of comedians that throws hamburgers at audience members. Joey also hosts a podcast called "25 Minutes of Silence" and co hosts "You Should Love Wrestling". Where does he get all the ideas? Boredom. Joey sits down with hosts Jeremiah and Ryan and talks about the idea of the bit being as important as the bit and how actually following through with comedic ideas is far more important than just talking about them. His point of view is one of thoughtfulness and also pushing past the obvious. It was a joy to talk to him and we hope you find his insight as valuable as we do. Listen to "You Should Love Wrestling": http://boardwalkaudio.com/youshouldlovewrestling/ Listen to "25 Minutes Of Silence": http://boardwalkaudio.com/25minutesofsilence/ Watch "Local Business Comedy": https://www.youtube.com/user/LocalBusinessComedy You can Follow him on twitter: @joeytainment You can Follow us on twitter too: @FOOWpod Subscribe or generally love all of our stuff here: http://boardwalkaudio.com/fishoutofwater/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

James Mastraieni is one of the most funny and arguably highest comedians in Los Angeles. You may know him from his successful live show and podcast "I'm Too Effing High" as well as long running improv show "Outside Dog Gets One Star". He's written all over the city with his writing partner Drew Difonzo Marks and also for the comedy powerhouse, Comedy Central. He coaches and teaches and performs and he's also a super cool guy. So check him out whenever you have the chance. Subscribe to his podcast, "I'm Too Effing High": https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/im-too-effing-high/id1152656464?mt=2 Get tickets to live version of the podcast: https://franklin.ucbtheatre.com/show/5509 Get tickets to Outside Dog: http://sunset.ucbtheatre.com/performance/52463 Follow him on Twitter: @Jmazz1111 Follow us on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/fish-out-of-water-a-sketch-writing-podcast/id1171510236?mt=2 Follow us on Twitter: @FOOWpod See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we talk to the comedy black belt champion, Kerry O'Neill, from the UCB Maude Team Karate Karate. Kerry brings a sense of realness and honesty to this episode. She's from NYC and moved to Los Angeles twice, which in itself is a real feat. We talk about everything from working at a wing restaurant, to Harolds, to the importance of never underselling your pitches, which may be the best lesson one can take away from this podcast. We pitched off of 3 short but true monologues about ourselves and brought in one pagers from last week's episode with another great Maude writer, Kale Hills. Kerry was generous enough to help us extrapolate on our brief ideas and give us some great advice on how to move them forward into a full length sketch which you will hear next week. You can watch Kerry's sketches on Karate Karate during Maude night (next show March 22nd) Get tickets HERE: https://www.ucbtheatre.com/show/1684 Follow Kerry on Twitter: @iamkerryoneill Follow us on Twitter: @FOOWpod @imtweedy @jeremiahburton1 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Fish Out Of Water"To make the right bits you gotta have the right bait" Kale Hills is the best! He's not only the nicest guy in Hollywood but he's also one of the funniest, sharpest people that has entered the Fish Out Of Water studio. Kale is a member of the Upright Citizens Brigade harold team "Nomi Malone", new Maude team "The Audacity" and he also performs characters for UCB's first character showcase team "Characters Welcome". You can find Nomi Malone show dates here: https://franklin.ucbtheatre.com/performance/40559 You can find tickets to The Audacity here: http://sunset.ucbtheatre.com/performance/52045 You can find tickets to Characters Welcome here: http://sunset.ucbtheatre.com/performance/52318 Follow him on Twitter: @kaleethan See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Consider this episode a thought experiment if you will. Jeremiah Burton and Ryan Tweedy brought in the same sketch to 4 different guests (Eric Voss, Amos Vernon, Joe Cabello, Jason kaye) and had them each note the same draft of it. Ultimately, we wanted to see what was objective and what was subjective when it comes to giving notes. it ended up being very interesting and enlightening about what was conclusive between all the guests and what wasn't. If you like to nerd out about comedy then this is the episode for you. Enjoy! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jason Kaye joins Jeremiah and Tweedy this week and talks about creating characters and writing for himself based on his own skill sets. One of his strongest attributes, being a voice over actor, is his ability to impressions and voices. He talks about using his voice to create a character and then writing his sketches based on that. You can catch Jason performing monthly with "Duke" at iO West, at the "Tournament of Nerds" at the UCB and as the voice of "Gnat" on "Power Puff Girls". Get tickets to Duke: http://ioimprov.com/west/shows/duke/ Get tickets to Tournament of Nerds: https://franklin.ucbtheatre.com/show/1798 Give him a follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jasonkayetng See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Joe Cabello is comedy writer and improviser from San Jose, California. Like many of our guests, he started in a field other than comedy before deciding to delve into the more artful side of life. Joe has written several books including multiple Star Wars parodies, The Longest Haiku, many humorous essays and he is constantly blogging on his website. He has also been a contributing writer the CBS Diversty Showcase, break.com and The Hopefully Chris Pratt and Shane Hartline Show. You can catch him all over Los Angeles performing at any stage that will have him. Joe's Website: joecabello.com Scrote One: The Farts Awakens: www.amazon.com/dp/1541026772/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_6w9MybHE4ZE2T Better Part of Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCXlnkARgl8 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week's episode is a step away from the typical format. George isn't a sketch comedian, he's a New York Times best selling author. a satirist and internet personality, known as Maddox. He is also the host of an extremely popular podcast, "The Best Debate In The Universe" with his co-host Rucka Rucka Ali. George also has a very popular website, "The Best Page In The Universe". George talks to us about his humble beginnings as a Math major at the University of Utah, through the creation of his website, selling his first book, being on Penn and Teller 's show, "Bullshit!", starting a very successful youtube channel and podcasting network, Madcast Media Network. Hopefully, everyone can follow his bread crumbs and become a comedy writing thoroughbred of their own! Enjoy! Here 's his website: http://maddox.xmission.com/ I'm Better Than your Kids: http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=irule Maddox's Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/maddoxaom/featured Madcast Media Network: http://madcastmedia.com/ 5 second films: http://5secondfilms.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Patrick McDonald joined Ryan (Jeremiah is still on hiatus in Paris) in the studio this week to talk about everything sketch comedy. Patrick is a writer on the Maude team "The Bus" and is also a writer and an actor for the local traveling theatre ensemble known as "Story Pirates". Aside from being one of Los Angeles' nicest citizens, Patrick is also one of the great improvisers. You may have seen performing around town with the the UCB Harold team "Knucklepuck" and popular indie teams like "The Dukes". This episode may as well have been a masters class for sketch writing and comedy philosophy. That's kind of what you might expect from a guy that starting writing sketch at Emerson College and has written somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand sketches. That's not a typo. So get some coffee and a comfy blanket and snuggle up to this friendly episode of "Fish Out Of Water" and get ready to learn something. Buy Tickets to see "The Bus" here: https://sunset.ucbtheatre.com/show/1684 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Joe Canale is a writer and actor from New York who has both studied and work in Chicago and Los Angeles. Some of his many accomplishments have been performing for the Second City Touring Company, BOOM Chicago, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live and playing Mindy's boyfriend in the Mindy Project. Joe has also writes for various shows both live and televised, as well as hosts countless podcasts, The Sports Widow and The Big Red Cobcast to name a few. You can see him weekly at iO west and on Facebook live and hear his sweet, sultry voice all over iTunes. Tweet him at - @Weaselicious Check out The Sports Widow: https://www.facebook.com/joecanale?pnref=story Check out The Big Red Cobcast: http://bit.ly/1pAy3YY Get tickets to iO West's Armando show: http://ioimprov.com/west/show/the-armando-show-7/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Oh man was this a lot of fun! Amos Vernon is a very hilarious writer and performer for Boat Comedy from New York and now in Los Angeles, He is also a teacher at Upright Citizens Brigade and has a weekly show called Boat Goes Electric! There aren't enough great things to say about Amos. Aside from being incredibly humble, he is also very specific with his notes and takes the time to mine every single funny idea from the sketches. His ability t slide between comedic ideas is inspirational. He takes the time to explore the different types of comedy in this episode. We discuss genre, meta, absurd, grounded and even touch on the idea of viral not necessarily equaling funny. We had a great chat and this a gold mine of useful information. You can watch him Live here: http://sunset.ucbtheatre.com/ Here he is on the internet: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcNMM8-MBjv7XbI_K-hVIvQ Boats Website: http://boatcomedy.com/videos/ Boat's Twitter: https://twitter.com/boatcomedy Amos' Twitter: https://twitter.com/amosvernon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Here it is! The sketch Instructor that shall not be named! He has been both a director and friend to Jeremiah and Ryan. He is a very talented writer, performer and improvisor that performs all over Los Angeles as well as festivals and theatres across the country. Eric Voss is a part of the sketch team "It Doesn't Have To Be This Way" as well as the Harold Team "Wheelhouse" and the director of Dad Jeans at iO West. He is also a writer and host for the YouTube Channel, "New Rock Stars". You can watch Erik do sketch live here: http://ioimprov.com/west/shows/it-doesnt-have-to-be-this-way/ Or Improv Here: http://ioimprov.com/west/shows/wheelhouse/ And on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7yRILFFJ2QZCykymr8LPwA See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This should have probably been our first episode but alas... We explain some of the things we talk about in better detail including the different theatres in Los Angeles such as UCB, iO West, Groundlings, The Pack, The nerdist, The Clubhouse and Second City. People have been listening from all over the country as well as some foreign countries and we figured that we should cover some of the things that are specific to the Los Angeles comedy scene. We'll be back soon with new interviews! HAPPY NEW YEAR! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In episode number 7, Dan Banas joins us and talks about everything he thinks is important in comedy writing including staying grounded, hitting the first page correctly and setting up the premise properly. Dan has been a writing for nearly a decade and has studied at both iO West and UCB. He is a writer/performer on the team "It doesn't Have To Be This Way" and is the director of the sketch team "Ms. Smith". Dan also brings up people he admired in his career, such as Neil Campbell and also touches on the objectivity of comedy. Dan has opinions guys! This is great one! Here is the link to the video we talk about by Bonafide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftG19vLuFyY See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Stephen is our buddy and fellow improviser from our indie improv team, "Super Heaven". He also runs the website, "Hence L.A.", and the podcast network, "Boardwalk Audio". Stephen is also the co-host of a popular podcast called "You Should Love Wrestling". He has also written for the sketch teams: Local Business Comedy, Hutch and currently writes for the Pack Theatre house team, "100% Stuff". Here's the sketch Stephen brought in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdfMu77sYH4 Local business Comedy: https://www.youtube.com/user/LocalBusinessComedy You Should Love Wrestling: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/you-should-love-wrestling/id1099658251?mt=2 You can follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FooWpod You can like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fishoutofwaterpodcast/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Carl Tart (Mad TV, Party Over Here, UCB Maude Team: The Bus, UCB harold Team: Queen George) talks with us about his first writers room experience. Growing up loving In Living Color and Martin Lawrence as well as being scared to be funny as a child. that isn't a problem he has now. he performs on both UCB Maude night and UCB Harold night. Carl started at Second City and gets to work with some of his mentors. Here's the sketch Carl brought in, "Funky Finger productions": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1noBLSRZjY UCB page: http://ucbcomedy.com/user/30769 White Women: https://www.facebook.com/whitewomencomedy/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this week's episode Molly Erdman, co creator of the Break Womb, a comedic web series about motherhood is our guest. She also is the author of the book "Catalog Living" and is the creator of the blog of the same name. Molly has written sketch for all the usual suspects - iO West, The Second City, and Cheap Sox - The Tufts university sketch team. In this episode we talk about writing for video as opposed to writing for sketch. As well as improvising as a tool for writing. Here are some important links for this episode: This week's Sketch: http://bit.ly/BreakWombLawyers The Break Womb's you Tube channel: http://bit.ly/BreakWombyoutube Catalogue Living: http://catalogliving.net/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Fish Out Of Water, Brett Greenberg joins us to talk about writing for the new version of the television show "Mad TV". We discuss what it's like being in a writer's room for the first time and also some of the aspects of writing for television versus stage. Brett, Jeremiah and Tweedy go way back, they were all writers on the same sketch team at iO west for a brief moment but now Jeremiah and Brett still write for Dad Jeans. Tweedy no longer does. That's pretty sad but he manages to not let it destroy him emotionally. Here is the link to The sketch that Brett brought in to share: http://bit.ly/Greenberg420 Here is the link to "Dad Jeans" on the iO Website: http://bit.ly/DadJeans Twitter: @FOOWpod You can email us at: foowpod@gmail.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nick Luciano, from the Upright Citizens Brigade maude team, Judith, joins our hosts Ryan Tweedy and Jeremiah Burton to talk about everything from meditation to how different people's brains can be. He also critiques Jeremiah's sketch "Punk'd's lost episode. Nick discusses some of favorite bits like making strangers show him their ceiling fans and a sketch he wrote based on his experiences with Deepak Chopra. Here's the link to the Deepak Meditation sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22pnmdsrHmA&feature=youtu.be Here is the link to the Ceiling Fan bit we talked about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngK3FB2TKxE&list=PLBw_q9tLcTX26iT8sZoVc2LN7yeIsRWX2 Our Twitter handle is @FOOWpod You can email us at foowpod@gmail.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremiah and Tweedy invite Megan Grano into the studio to talk about sketch comedy and her career path through The Second City in Detroit and then in Chicago and finally joining up with iO Chicago and then iO west. We talk about some of her heroes including Stephanie Weir and Susan Messing. Megan also talks about working with Molly Erdman and Laurel Coppock on their youtube channel The BreakWomb which is a sketch comedy channel based on the trials and tribulations of motherhood. Megan directs the sketch team, Jet Jaguar, at iO west and works with many corporations such as Facebook and famous comedians such as Jim Belushi. Here is the link to Megan's youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/mgrano Here is the link to the BreakWomb: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuW44WN9psqL1ls8uMCxfvw Here is the direct link to the video we played in the episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xio4mOXu3Y&index=6&list=PLSBi4YDZwgnuMPzfWMaDTGE4fPhr7RLLa See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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