#ChicaGoUK: The Funkhouse

Yes, there really are more of us going to Chicago this summer. Here's another one. Jonathan Monkhouse is the creator of London Improv and has been producing improv shows since it began. Over the years he's been part of 8bit, Music Box and a few improvathons. He goes to Chicago tomorrow morning. He is currently talking about himself in the third person.

Tell us a bit about yourself..

I studied to be an actor at university, but didn't enjoy learning scripts or being on stage and ended up mostly doing set-design and lighting. I saw Baby Wants Candy way back in 2001, but just thought they were superhuman, and didn't realise that anyone can train in improv.
I didn't set foot on stage after uni, until I got dragged to an improv workshop about 7 years later where, predictably, my obsessive personality caught the bug and have been improvising since. I also do a lot of impro-lighting, the most fun of which is for Showstoppers because they work in theatres with proper lighting rigs.

What's the best improv call-out you've ever heard?

My favourite one ever was a call for a location, which was "in a time-travelling caravan." Sadly that was a rehearsal though, so I don't know if it counts [even though I am the one conducting this interview, so I make the rules... oooh, Meta]. The best one for a show was probably Orient Express, because it led to the most satisfying show I've ever been in.

Which improv course are you doing, and what made you choose that one?

I'm doing the week intensive at The Annoyance Theatre. Earlier this year a bunch of people started saying they were going to iO for five weeks, and I couldn't do that. But then The Annoyance came up in conversation and that seemed to be a perfect fit. I like the idea that The Annoyance focusses closely on a performer's instinct.. slightly different to other schools of thought. I think if you want to become better at something you should be open to all the different ways of doing it, seek out all the best practitioners, and find out what works best for you. Like Bruce Wayne does.
I'll be learning Ju-jitsu from Mick Napier and bare-knuckle brawling from Susan Messing.

When/how did you start planning your trip?

About a week after the Annoyance conversation I booked the course. Then I set about trying to get my friend Chris [Mead] to come too. Once that was sorted, we looked for a place to stay. Originally we tried to keep it as cheap as possible, but then I found an amazing apartment to rent and our Chicago motto became "Go big, or go home." Our apartment is absolutely beautiful, but so expensive it makes me feel nauseous.

What are you most excited about?

I think living in an improv bubble for 10 days will be energising and helpful. Being in workshops and seeing shows for that whole time will be really useful for developing as an improviser.
There is talk of someone in Chicago producing a UK improviser show for us, so if that happens it'll be really fun. And seeing a new city is always cool.

Are there any shows you HAVE to see while you're over there?

There's more I want to see than I'll probably have time for. I really want to see TJ and Dave, Messing With A Friend, Felt [improvised puppet show] and Co-ed Prison Sluts. Seeing Baby Wants Candy in their natural habitat would be great. I've also heard that Improvised Shakespeare are pretty phenomenal.
Stupidly I've also set myself the challenge of finding the 'worst improv show' in Chicago, although this will be pretty hard to do tactfully. And it may not be that rewarding, apart from a good dose of schadenfreude.

What are you going to do in Chicago when you're not improvising?

Eat... and I've heard there is an excellent architecture tour, on a boat. Not something I'd think too much about, but a bunch of different people have told me about it individually. The new Batman film comes out while I'm there so I want to do the American movie theatre thing with a half tonne of Coca-cola and a 3 metre hotdog.

How do you think the trip will change you?

Pretty badly, financially. Afterwards, I'm flying straight from Chicago to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for a month. In total I won't see my house for just under 6 weeks. Or be earning much money. I'm trying not to think about it too much.
As for my improv, I'm just looking forward to getting back into it. I've been doing so much of the production/lighting side of shows that my stage work has really suffered. All this will change.

Do you think you'll go back another time?

There's an idea that Chris and I return next year to do the iO five-week intensive. But there's loads of other really exciting cities with interesting improv scenes to explore. I've been asked to play in the Hideout Theatre 44-hr Improv Marathon next June in Austin, TX, and I don't want to miss that. And I've had invites to Edmonton in Canada too.
I should start entering the lottery.

If you could name a new impro group anything, what would it be?

I've wanted to call an improv group "The Margate Archery Club" for years, but all my show format ideas are science-fiction based, and no-one else seems to like it. I heard someone suggest "The Racists" once, which I enjoyed but I can't see it taking off.
How about "The Smell of Regret"?


Jonathan appears in Project Two, Silly String Theory and Ghostbusters: The Musical.
His Twitter name is @the_funkhouse
Follow all the improvisers at #ChicaGoUk

#ChicaGoUK: Jenny Rowe

He goes, she goes, we go, they go, I go, you go, go go, Frodo, mojo, dojo, Aygo. Jen is going to Chicago. She's in The Maydays. Her pictures are funny.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m Jen from the Maydays, in Brighton, but when I’m not Mayday-ing, I do other actor-ing. At the moment I’m playing a pregnant lady in ‘Future Development’ by impro theatre company Fluxx, then I start re-rehearsing for Twelfth Night and through all of this I’m doing street theatre with Dodgy Totty. In fact, two weeks ago I was an elderly dry-land synchronized swimmer being chased by a land-shark and this weekend I was puppeteering a mouse puppet acrobat in a World War II show at a sheep fair.

What's the best improv call-out you've ever heard?

Let’s put it this way, the reply from my colleague was "Sorry, we’ve already had ‘fisting’". This was directed at the teenage children (audience) of a mother who was in our student showcase.

Which improv course are you doing, and what made you choose that one?

I’m doing two because I’m greedy like that. Annoyance for one week (John Cremer and George from the Maydays did it before and said it was great, I’ve had Mick Napier’s book for ages and I haven’t read it properly so I thought the best way to find out what was in it was to ask him personally).
I’m also doing Second City’s Writing course and Improv workshop (I jammily got a scholarship for some of it). I talked Mark Brailsford of The Treason Show into running a sketch-writing course a couple of years ago for me and some of my students, but as I’ve barely written a thing since then, I realized I need another kick up the arse to get on with it, so this is it.

When/how did you start planning your trip?

About January I think – I had wanted to go for ages but didn’t think I could afford it. Then I realised you couldn’t let a little thing like money get in the way of something this big. People always say things like, ‘I could never afford kids’, but then they have kids and, yes, they drain your money away but you still end up with kids. Chicago’s like that, it will drain my money away but I’ll still have Chicago (only Chicago won’t hate me in 15yrs time or wish it had never been born).

What are you most excited about?

Everything, too much, I don’t know where to start - everything. Learning new stuff, doing wall to wall improv, seeing loads of shows – the shit and the good, seeing a new city, hanging out with improv chums.

Are there any shows you HAVE to see while you're over there?

Well, I’m going through NYC on the way there and back, so I desperately wanted to see Asssscat, but it seems I’m on the wrong bloody days! So in Chicago I want to see Whirled News, TJ and Dave, Too Much Water Makes the Baby Go Blind (not improv but highly recommended by friends), Timprovisation, Improvised Shakespeare, The Armando Diaz Experience. I also wanted to see The Reckoning but they’ve only gone and moved to LA.

What are you going to do in Chicago when you're not improvising?

I’m researching a female sci-fi writer who called herself James Tiptree Jr. (Alice B. Sheldon). I found out recently that she was born in Chicago so I may find myself in the City Library or visiting her previous homes or something. I only have 2 weeks so I’ll have to prioritise. The plan is I write a play about her – her parents were explorers, she became a CIA agent, fantastic painter, writer, married twice then shot herself and her husband in the head when he got past it.

Oh yeah, and the Thrift shops and second-hand bookstores.

And I have to buy ‘Butterfingers’, apparently.

How do you think the trip will change you?

I don’t think I’ll be a better improviser in a couple of weeks, but I think I’ll be a better teacher and I’ll have more sense of what I’m aiming for when I’m improvising. I think it’ll put some of the work we’ve done with visiting USA actors into context. I’ll also be poorer and fatter by the end, I should imagine.

Do you think you'll go back another time?

I certainly hope so. I’d also like to spend more time in NYC and maybe LA, but only for the improv, mind. I’ve put off going to the US because I’m terrified of flying (the nice calm bit where nothing happens is the worst – that’s when I imagine the horrors that may await me).

If you could name a new impro group anything you like, what would it be?

The Now People

Jen performs in The Maydays and Fluxx.
Follow all the UK improvisers going to Chicago at #ChicaGoUK.