Improv is for everybody

Tyler White

Tyler White and Nevin Langhus are not your average teenagers. By day, they attend Rufus King High School, but by night (and early afternoon) they take over the stages of the Tenth Street Theatre and Comedy Sportz, doing stand-up and improv comedy with Scoot’s Schticks teen comedy show.

Nevin Langhus

“When I’m up there, I’m happy…it’s what I’m passionate about, and I’m lucky to have found something like that,”  Tyler says of performing.

Both developed a love for comedy at a young age and say that their experiences on the stage have translated into their personal lives. Whether that means rallying fellow students to the stage or using improvisation skills to land a sweet job at the local skate shop, their passion for performance is undeniable.

And at the ripe old age of 17, both are learning valuable lessons about hard work, success and failure through performance.

But if the performing arts were a class system, comedians would be the serfs of the stage. It’s rough out there, folks.

This week, Mark talks with these budding humorists about the hierarchical differences between theatre and improv and how they came to love the latter of the two. They’ll be back next week with fellow student/improvist Joel Boyd to talk about the perils of being a teenage comedian.

(Windows Media Player)

(Quicktime)

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*Cover photo courtesy Manuel Marin via Flickr.