Shiny Things Improv Podcast

Aram Balakjian

5.0 (1)
IMPROV

A place to chat all things improv with some of the best lonform improvisers from around the world. Hosted by London based improviser Aram Balakjian

12/27/2025

Episode 10 - Joe Bill (Founder Annoyance Theatre) - Get out of your head

Send us a text Joe Bill is a legendary improviser who has been performing for almost half a century. He trained with Del Close, was a founding member of the Annoyance theatre in Chicago, and was director of corporate training at iO for 15 years. He now travels the world, performing and teaching improv alongside some of the biggest names around. I caught up with him at the GBG Improv Festival in Gothenberg, where I had just seen him and Patti Styles perform an incredible improvised play. We chatted about his experiences working with Del Close, his love of applying neuroscience to improv, and how improv helped him deal with his cancer diagnosis.

1h 13m
09/27/2025

Episode 9 - Patti Stiles (Rapid Fire Theatre, Theatre Sports) - Be a Storyteller

Send us a text In this episode I chat to Patti Stiles — legendary improviser, actor, director, and author who began her improv journey training with Keith Johnson in the 1980s. She has since gone on to perform, teach, and direct countless improvisational theatre companies all over the world. I caught up with her at the GBG Improv Festival in Gothenberg, where I had just seen her and Joe Bill perform an incredible improvised play. We chatted about the her incredible four decades of experience, the way she approaches story, how she judges a bad show, and how London has a wealth of improv history to build on.

1h 6m
08/08/2025

Episode 8 - Sam Roulston (FA, Second City) - Play Weirder

Send us a text In this episode I chat to Sam Roulston — improviser, standup, and character comedian. Having trained and then later taught at Second City Toronto, he returned to the UK a few years ago and has since starred in critically acclaimed shows like Winner and Sam and AJ. He recently joined the Artistic Committee at the Free Association in London. I’ve always been inspired by the way Sam performs, effortlessly committing to characters and finding fun in unlikely places, so it was a pleasure to dig into his approach to improv, and comedy in general.

54 min
07/04/2025

Episode 7 - Graham Dickson (FA Founder, Austentatious) - Make More Mischief

Send us a text In this episode I chat to Graham Dickson — founder of The Free Association in London and original cast member of west-end hit improv show, Austentatious. Graham has been improvising for nearly 20 years and has far too many accolades to list here. Most recently he’s been performing with Cool Story Bro, Kiell Smith-Bynoe’s hit improv show that just did a sell-out run at Soho Theatre’s new 1000 seat venue. In this episode we cover Graham’s long-standing love affair with improv, the ups and downs of running the FA, why mischief is so important to comedy, and why British improv should never rest on its laurels.

1h 12m
06/13/2025

Episode 6 - David Elms (FA, Leap Day) - Slow, Stupid, and Obvious

Send us a text In this episode I chat to David Elms — long standing teacher at The Free Association in London and member of El Classico team The Cartel. David has been improvising for 15 years and has recently started running his own workshops under his brand Leap Day. He’s also just come off the back of a 5 night sell-out run of his solo improv show, David Elms Describes a Room. In this episode we cover David’s approach to justification, finding the fun in a scene, get a scoop on his new venue for Leap Day, and find out why he can’t always remember what he likes to do in his spare time.

56 min
05/30/2025

Episode 5 - Alex Holland (FA, Groundhog) - How to play game without thinking

Send us a text This episode I chat to Alex Holland — head teacher at The Free Association in London. Alex has been improvising for over a decade and was one of their first teachers. As head teacher, he is now in charge of the FA’s curriculum, as well as casting their Harold teams, and performing in countless headline shows, such as Groundhog, 666 Hell Lane, and The Cartel. In this episode we cover the best way to approach learning improv, what is “game”, what makes a good teacher, and how many furrows Alex would plough if he had a farm.

1h 9m
05/16/2025

Episode 4 - Laura Riseborough (FA, RADA, RSC) - Acting in Improv

Send us a text This episode I chat to Laura Riseborough — actor, comedian, and improviser. Laura built a career as an actor including high-profile productions with with the Royal Shakespeare Company, before establishing herself as an improviser. Show now has many hit shows under her belt, including Austintatious, Sliding Lives, and 666 Hell Lane, as well as teaching at The Free Association in London, including a course she devised focussed on Acting for Improvisers. In this episode we cover how to commit to a scene, the importance of warming up, how to deal with a bad show, and the fact Laura can't bare to see animals suffering, even if they are imaginary.

1h 5m
05/02/2025

Episode 3 - Naomi Petersen (FA, Three) - How to be be More Playful

Send us a text This episode I chat to Naomi Peterson, former Artistic Director at The Free Association in London, and star of many critically acclaimed improv shows such as Three and St. Doctors Hospital. We cover how to be a more playful voice of reason, her workshop on bringing shows Back from The Brink, the state of improv in the UK, and what it's like having a husband from a rival improv school.

1 hr
04/18/2025

Episode 2 - Alex Berg (UCB, Convoy) - Make a Goddamn Choice

Send us a text This episode I chat to Alex Berg, member of the legendary Convoy, and a long-time teacher at UCB. We cover the secret to Convoy' 20 year history, Alex's recent workshop Make a Goddamn Choice, as well as his thoughts on how to help a sticky scene, his feelings on the Harold, and the fact the he can't play first-person video games.

46 min
04/07/2025

Episode 1 - Matt Cutler (UCB, The Old Yorkers)

Send us a text In the first ever Shiny Things Podcast, I chat to Matt Cuter, the UCB legend who performed with long-running weekend team Bucky, on ASSSSCAT, and now with The Old Yorkers. We cover what to do when you get in your head, how to use your everyday life experiences to enrich your scenes, how to respond to when you don't know specific references, Matt's time working at dating app Hinge, and much more!

59 min

10 Episodes

A place to chat all things improv with some of the best lonform improvisers from around the world. Hosted by London based improviser Aram Balakjian

Creator

Aram Balakjian
Years Active

2K
Episodes

10
Rating

Explicit
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© 2025 Shiny Things Improv Podcast
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