Carolyn Taylor - What Do You Keep And What Do You Throw Away?

What this episode covers

In this special episode, Risa talks with comedy legend Carolyn Taylor about how improvisation works and how we can use its practices to conjure brand-new things into the world. Carolyn talks about working with her friend Mae Martin, as well as skating icons Kurt Browning, Sandra Bezic, David Pelletier, and Ekaterina Gordeeva. She reminds us that we can start with messy and ugly, and if "you just keep staying in that space with the intention of finding connection... if you can sit in that discomfort and know that you're going to find each other, then it's... it's so worth it." "Carolyn Taylor is the creator of I HAVE NOTHING docu-series which follows Taylor on a comical quest to choreograph the perfect, full-length pairs figure skating routine to Whitney Houston’s 1992 iconic hit song, “I Have Nothing.” Joining Carolyn on her mission are legends from the world of figure skating including Sandra Bezic, David Pelletier, Ekaterina Gordeeva, Kurt Browning, Paul Martini, Barbara Underhill, as well as award-winning comedian, actor, and writer, Mae Martin. Carolyn is an award-winning comedian, actor, writer, director and showrunner. She is one of the creators, executive producers and stars of CBC/IFC’s hit comedy Baroness von Sketch Show. To date, the series has received national and international critical acclaim in The New York Times, IndieWire, and Vogue, won 20 Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Sketch Show/Series, Best Writing in a Sketch Show/Series (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021), an ACTRA Award for Best Ensemble (2018), two international Rockies for Best Comedy (2019, 2020), The Rogers Prize for Excellence in Canadian Content (2019, 2020), and an international Rose D’or. Carolyn honed her skills in improvisation and social satire at The Second City in Toronto, starring in five original mainstage revues and garnering four Canadian Comedy Awards. She’s written and performed political commentary for This Hour Has 22 Minutes, The Hour and CBC Radio’s Because News and This Is That. Recent credits include playing the off-kilter owner of a haunted AirBnB on Workin’ Moms (CBC/Netflix, 2022), an off-kilter Camp Director on Detention Adventure (HBO Max, 2022) and as a (somewhat less) off-kilter lesbian organic farmer opposite SNL’s Punky Johnson on the hit CBS comedy Ghosts (2023)."

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