When the Laugh Has the Say

Ted is joined by Alyssa Neece, his real-life coworker who shares his passion for making funny stuff outside of the office. For Alyssa, though, it’s not about writing books but coming up with and performing comedy for audiences.Alyssa’s comedy journey started in college but didn’t really take off until some years later when they received a simple piece of advice: Focus less on what they should do and more on how they wanted to feel—and Alyssa realized they wanted to laugh more.That led them to start taking classes at The Second City in Chicago, where they progressed from a series of improv offerings open to anyone to auditioning for and being accepted into the 13-month conservatory program, which they finished earlier this year.Alyssa and Ted talk about the full-length Grad Revue Showcase sketch comedy show Alyssa and their classmates produced as the culmination of the program, the similarities and differences between improv and sketch as well as how that compares to Ted’s experience crafting jokes for books, the dynamics of working as a team versus writing on your own, and how Alyssa is now applying their Second City experience on a comedy podcast. Then, in honor of Ted’s newly released romantic comedy, Date Week, Alyssa shares some thoughts on their favorite rom-coms.More From Alyssa:Second City Grad Revue Showcase: Customer Service SketchPodcast: The Weekly Quarterly Report