Philosophy vs. Improv

Greg teaches philosophy (and is Interim Provost) at Ashland, loves Xenophon, and runs a podcast. We reflect on the dangers of radon and other “natural” things. How might one of our government agencies become more natural, and would we want that? Are fart jokes the most naturally funny kind? Then, Greg the trucker visits Empty Street and embezzles dead mules. Listen to The Partially Examined Life’s Cratylus episode about “natural language.” Listen to Greg on his podcast talking about Xenophon and Xenophon’s Socrates. Bill was thrust from the final portion of the call, so Mark and Greg engage in some philosophy podcast shop talk. He returns for the Post-Game after Greg’s departure (actually, it was the next day) to reflect on the episode and specifically identify the naturalistic fallacy. You can choose to watch this on YouTube. The pants-dropping postman image was swiped from here. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast! Check out other Evergreen Podcast offerings.

Mark and Bill are joined by the actor/improviser who directs Camp Improv Utopia and is involved in managing improv spaces such as Denver’s Rise Comedy. We talk about the notion of community, with a scene about the neighborhood watch and a return to Empty Street to deal seriously in a public-service-announcement/after-school special sort of way with the issue of buying liquor underage. How does one foster a supportive improv community? Can we develop a community of returning Empty Street cast members? You can choose to watch this discussion on unedited video. In the post-game, Mark and Bill talk briefly about people who can’t sympathize beyond their immediate circle. The image was snatched from here. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast! Check out other Evergreen Podcast offerings.

Mark and Bill introduce a new potential setting and some characters for ongoing use in future improvisations. We talk about techniques for doing that and wrap up by getting an update from Bill on his substitute teaching and talking about what makes for a good teacher. You can choose to watch this on unedited video. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast! Check out other Evergreen Podcast offerings.

Mark and Bill are joined by two north-of-the-border podcasters, Shawn Vulliez and Aaron Moritz, who incorporate both improv and philosophy in their dirty leftist podcast. We simulate conversation as competing knowers-of-the-good-life and talk about using improv for political purposes. Note that this was recorded back in December when we were in the thick of Luigi Mangione fever and not yet consumed with daily Presidential antics. If you pay the srsly wrong some money, you can hear Mark’s appearance on that show. The image was swiped from here. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast! Check out other Evergreen Podcast offerings. You can choose to watch this on unedited video:

Randy is a literature guy who has written a couple of books about improv and here joins Mark and Bill to talk about WINGING IT: Improv’s Power and Peril in the Age of Trump, wherein he basically blames improv for giving us the orange man. Can one be an expert about philosophy, or improvisation for that matter? Is the essence of these activities in the historical products (e.g. Christopher Guest films, philosophy books) or in the doing of it by each individual? Randy connects this to philosophy of science: the improvisational activity of the individual is the disruptor of existing patterns and paradigms, of experiments designed to merely reinforce and develop the status quo. According to Randy, our admiration for these rebel innovators thinking outside the box has led to Americans being struck by this trickster political figure that flouts norms and promises substantial disruption. So while you might have thought that improv was just an activity for a special kind of marginalized geek, it’s actually central to our political theater. Randy also blames improv for toxic social media, but you’ll have to listen to see whether the argument makes sense at all. Our scenes are about Trumpers hustling a fast food joint and improv for dogs. Note that this was recorded 11/25, so the election was a bit fresher. Mark and Bill stick around for some post-game bringing in yet another metaphor: music and its stylistic development. The orange man drawing was lifted from here. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast! Check out other Evergreen Podcast offerings. Watch this as unedited video, if you so choose.

Simon is a professor at New York’s New School for Social Research and moderates the New York Times’ philosophy offering, The Stone. He joins Mark and Bill to discuss his new book, On Mysticism: The Experience of Ecstasy, and we used the occasion to explore how art and mysticism might be connected, including engaging in improv rituals. You can watch this on unedited video. We do some post-game discussion for the first time in a while, where we reflect on the episode, and Mark connects it to PEL’s current topic, Ludwig Feuerbach. The image of skull-toast was swiped from here. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast! Check out other Evergreen Podcast offerings.

It’s a TEAM PLAY episode just in time for the holiday season! Returning guests improviser and podcaster Sarah and recovering Philosophy Bro Tommy join Mark and Bill to talk AND EXPERIENCE friendship, with our longest single improv scene to date. What is friendship? Is it gendered? Do you know your friends enough to imitate them? Does one friendship or fast-casual restaurant have to die so that another may emerge? Can Bill even get to the end of the call? Watch this on unedited video: The image of four friends hanging out was swiped off Facebook. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast! Check out other Evergreen Podcast offerings.

Mike hosts the Hitchhikers and Appetizers podcast, and we recorded this episode a bit before Halloween, before the election and the consequent mass exodus, as a sort of memo to the future, i.e. you. We blister our way through many topics including discovery, hospital dramas, time travel sex, self-experimentation, ancient aliens, sharkNATO, Flintstone furniture, the first Wisconsin Thanksgiving, Subway nation-states, and more. Why did an Internet search of childhood drawings of protoplasm yield this result? You decide! Hear more PvI. Support the podcast! Check out other Evergreen Podcast offerings. Watch this episode unedited on video.

Lorraine teaches at Middlebury college and has recently written The Art of the Interesting: What We Miss in Our Pursuit of the Good Life and How to Cultivate It. How does “the interesting” fit into human flourishing? How do we know when some attractive stimulation is really in our interest and really good? Can we find something interesting even the most tedious, repetitive tasks? Is it interesting to start an improv scene by declaring that your scene-mates are dealing with alcoholism and divorce? Certainly it is rude. Also, Happiness 12 Step Programs. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast! Check out other Evergreen Podcast offerings. You can choose to watch this on unedited video.

Welcome to the beginning of a new round of shenanigans on Philosophy vs. Improv. Let the senior slump begin! Your hosts Mark Linsenmayer and Bill Arnett here talk a blazin’ stream of consciousness and then have a pretty long improv scene. Are we already always philosophizing? Hear more PvI. Support the podcast! Check out other Evergreen Podcast offerings. Watch the proceedings unedited on YouTube.