W.I.M.P.Y. (WE Improv Makes Podcast for You)

Sorry for the delay. I was looking for a guest, but couldn’t find anyone to talk about The Predator. So this one is just me. I enjoyed doing it once I got over how self-indulgent it felt. I talk the merits of the movie including it’s weird world swings as it relates to improv. Please consider buying my book. Thanks for listening! Get full access to Physical Medium Talent at jakejabbour.substack.com/subscribe

My friend, improviser, and teammate, Wayland McQueen (Puddy, Bitchin’) talk The Nice Guys on a victory lap. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to talk The Nice Guys again. This time with more improv comparisons. Plus The BOOK is OUT! You can get it at jakejabbour.com. If you sign up for Tertulia you can get it for 50% off. Tertulia is like Goodreads but not owned by Amazon. Thanks for listening! Get full access to Physical Medium Talent at jakejabbour.substack.com/subscribe

One of two episodes on The Nice Guys. This one has improviser, comedian, and librarian Lui Vega (Say When) to chat Shane Black’s sleeper hit from 2016. We have a grand ol’ time talking about what it means for two people to try and be good in 1970s Los Angeles. My book is out now! Get it wherever you get books! Here or here are just some options. Thanks for listening! Get full access to Physical Medium Talent at jakejabbour.substack.com/subscribe

This episode we talk the psychology of Iron Man 3 with Los Angeles comedian, writer and friend Will Evans (William.ig, Moxy, /ws_evans). We go deep on what it means to be a hero and if Iron Man 3 is the best Marvel movie. My book is available now on my site or you can buy it anywhere you get books in January. Thanks for listening! Get full access to Physical Medium Talent at jakejabbour.substack.com/subscribe

Join me for some male friendship with Dan Lippert (Big Grande, ManDogPod, CBB) as we talk Kiss Kiss Bang Bang! Lots to cover from Shane Black’s library to the question if you say something cool and no one is around, does it still make you cool? If you liked this episode, consider letting a pal know or buy my book! Thanks for listening! Get full access to Physical Medium Talent at jakejabbour.substack.com/subscribe

Originally I was just going to record one episode per movie, but then this was so much fun, I thought who cares? I’m telling you, make stuff for yourself the way you like it. It’s a revelation. If comedian and friend Mike Leffingwell (Future Life Partner) says he wants to talk action movies, take him up on it. I had a blast! Thanks for listening! Buy my book! Get full access to Physical Medium Talent at jakejabbour.substack.com/subscribe

Talking The Long Kiss Goodnight with Los Angeles Comedian and Writer, Chris Bosley (Dangeroom)! We go deep on the plotting, the improv overlaps and the believable switch Geena Davis portrays from Sam Caine to Charly Baltimore! It’s a good one! Look out for another Long Kiss Goodnight this week! If you enjoyed, consider pre-ordering the book here. Thanks for listening. Maybe tell a friend! Get full access to Physical Medium Talent at jakejabbour.substack.com/subscribe

LA comedian and friend Zach Jobe (Parliament, The Fortune Teller Show) makes my day by coming on to talk Last Action Hero, a silly meta-commentary action movie about action movies and movies and existentialism and nihilism. We talk Arnold’s appeal, Leo the Fart, and a Zach shares a great Shane Black anecdote. The book is finished! We’re waiting on a cover design and then it’s off the press. I hope you’ll check it out here. Thanks for listening! Get full access to Physical Medium Talent at jakejabbour.substack.com/subscribe

Lehr Beidelschies (Everything is Terrible, STEM Kidz) came on to talk The Last Boy Scout. He also helped produce some of the fixins for the podcast. Great guy, crazy movie. Love ‘em both! Head on over to https://weimprov.org/store-1-2/p/shaneblackbook to pre-order the book! Thanks for listening!! Get full access to Physical Medium Talent at jakejabbour.substack.com/subscribe

I spent most of this year writing a book on the films of Shane Black. It’s finished and it’s being formatted. This is my third book in the Lapbook series. A Lapbook is a term I coined for small pocket-sized books inspired by mixtapes. They’re all self-published, self-edited, independent dives on topics I’m interested in. My first one is about my cat Lemon that I wrote after she passed, and the second is on improv. This one is a personal and cultural examination of the films of Shane Black. Writing it in 2025 was often the only thing that kept me from losing my damn mind. I’m very proud of it.I wanted to promote it, but I hate promoting. I find it truly unpleasant. And I wanted this project to be as pleasant as possible. Talking about movies is my second favorite thing to writing about them. So I thought I would see if any of my friends were fans of Shane Black and would want to talk with me about his movies for a limited series podcast. As of this writing I have someone for every movie but The Predator. The chats have been great and if all promotion could be this, I wouldn’t mind it at all. I hope you enjoy.This first episode is with my FRIEND, and teammate Colin McGurk (Bitchin’). He asked to talk about a different Shane Black movie, but it was already taken so he generously agreed to take a bullet for me and talk Lethal Weapon 1&2. I say that only because of the Mel Gibson stink on them. The movies rule. So does Colin. I say in the podcast I could have talked with him for hours. If you want to pick up the book, right now it’s available for pre-order on my website. It’ll be out December 20025, possibly January 2026 depending on how long it takes to finalize the formatting. After it’s released, it will be available on most book-buying platforms. I’m told it matters a lot to have it tracked on sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. But really I don’t care. If you like Shane Black, or action movies, or even just my writing, then I think you’ll like this book. And that is the second most important thing to me. The first is that I wrote it. I wish you well in the year ahead and I hope you make something important to you. Thanks! Get full access to Physical Medium Talent at jakejabbour.substack.com/subscribe

This episode features a lovely catch-up with Amy Ruffle (Thank God You’re Here, Something Good, Mako Mermaids) who began her improv journey in Los Angeles before going home to Australia and finding and building a community there. Then we have the improv team Tucci (Bogart Avila, Joe Corcoran, Anisha Jagannathan, Alan Johnson, Bri Rodebaugh, Casey Rosario, John-Michael Sedor, Brandon Waters, Jane Wilson) who bring us celebrity stories, magic camps, eavesdropping, and more! Thanks for listening! If you want to support WE, check out weimprov.org for classes, shows and merch. Or pick up Jake’s book - Elevator Farts for some improv exercises, offers and notes of encouragement. Or subscribe to the substack - jakejabbour.substack.com. For March and April, Jake will be writing a feature publically and in real time! You can join! Thanks to Lisa Gilroy for the music, and to our guests and teams for their time and loveliness!Physical Medium Talent is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Physical Medium Talent at jakejabbour.substack.com/subscribe

For episode two, we go all in on Iceland. In a small country, improv is huge. I talk to Björk Guõmundsdottir about improvising in two languages, importing styles, making teams, and growing a cozy community. Then we’re joined by the Icelandic improv team The Beautiful People (Björk Guõmundsdottir, Birnir Jon Sigurdsson, Inga Steinunn, Steiney Skúladóttir) from ImprovIceland for a chat about improv forms, names, and pizza toilets before a truly unhinged set about improv over magic and cults over improv. Then The Beautiful People do an Up the Stairs, Down the Stairs. Truly some of my favorite improv. Check out weimprov.org for classes and shows, and pick up my improv book Elevator Farts. Check out my Substack jakejabbour.substack.com for a casual feature class running in ten days. Shout out to Lisa Gilroy for the music and Music Radio Creative for the Audition Presets. Thanks for listening!Thanks for reading Physical Medium Talent! This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Physical Medium Talent at jakejabbour.substack.com/subscribe

So so sorry for the delay! I set this up so I could release at my convenience and it turns out the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025 were pretty inconvenient. I won’t bore you with the details…in the show notes. For that you can be bored here. Back to the matter at hand. For our season premiere we have Luke Bovard (BIT Comedy Network, Laughing Matter, Naked Flamingos, Comedy Cafe) from Germany to talk bringing more improv into your life wherever you are. We also have Cosmo (Miriam Katz, Prerika Chawla, Ben Cassil, Nick Costanza, and not present Andrew Young, Joseph Sette, James Salidvar) for scenes on Lego consumption, Mt. Rushmore faces, grade school-schooling and more! Thanks for listening. Subscribe to jakejabbour.substack.com for all things improv, movies, music, books, and musings. Check out weimprov.org for classes, shows, and books. And shoutout to Lisa Gilroy for the music! Get full access to Physical Medium Talent at jakejabbour.substack.com/subscribe

We’ve come to the end of season one! What have I learned? Well that editing a podcast with entire teams on them is really challenging. This one had one mic that I just couldn’t get better audio out of for a lot of it. But I’m learning Audition so that’s cool. It’s been fun to be bad at something and play around and explore. Also this episode has Martin James (Big Telephone, Glasgow Improv Theater) whose goal to bring long-form improv to Glasgow is an inspiring one and he helped me let go of my own attachments to building and growing a community. Then of course there is the LA improv team STEM Kidz (Kati O’Hearn (katiohearn), Sean Quetulio (seanericson), Sean Smith (seansean213), Jeff Taylor (taylojn), Jack De Sanz (sackdejanz), Fiona Gronenthal (fionac_g), Katie Nathan (hiyakatielady), Lehr Beidelschies (lehrbeidelschies))! I was pretty amazed I got them all together and quiet enough to get introductions out. Their improv was side-splitting funny, but I already knew that. Thanks for checking these out. I’m sorry they are so long. I’ll probably get cut heavy the next time around. I hope you’ve gotten something out of listening to these. Whether it’s inspiration or laughs or a plan for a trip to a new city, or a little encouragement. I love improv more now than ever and I feel like I’m just beginning to see what it can do for people. This podcast helped me with that as well as the kindness and time people donated to the project. One more shoutout to Lisa Gilroy for the music. f you’re in the LA area and want to check out any of the teams from the podcast, come see a show at The WE Space. Visit out WEImprov.org for shows, classes, merch and my book Elevator Farts. Or follow us on IG at WEimprov. If you are an improviser outside Los Angeles and want to chat on the pod, email me at [email protected] subject line WIMPY CHAT. If you are an improv team and want to come on and play, email me at [email protected] subject line WIMPY TEAM. Get full access to Physical Medium Talent at jakejabbour.substack.com/subscribe

Thanks for checking out another episode of W.I.M.P.Y. This is episode 3. I talked with Cullen Gatten (Goodnight From Slime City) who I met through an email exchange over an improv form. We talked about the cross pollination of improv and he introduced me to the improv fantasy draft, which WE Improv is trying out this November. And then we had LA team PB& J (Isabella Escalante, James Werner, Chris Howard,May Darmon) come talk DJs, tissues and gargoyle squatting. I’ve learned a lot three episodes in. Mostly that I am getting less nervous about interviews and stuttering and umm and uh less. If you’re in the LA area and want to check out any of the teams from the podcast, come see a show at The WE Space. Visit out WEImprov.org for shows, classes, merch and my book Elevator Farts. Or follow us on IG at WEimprov. If you are an improviser outside Los Angeles and want to chat on the pod, email me at [email protected] subject line WIMPY CHAT. If you are an improv team and want to come on and play, email me at [email protected] subject line WIMPY TEAM. Shoutout to Lisa Gilroy for our music! Get full access to Physical Medium Talent at jakejabbour.substack.com/subscribe

We’re back with episode two. Have I found my groove? Not as of yet, but I am surrounded by incredible talent so that helps compensate for my ineptitude. The guest this episode is Sabrina Manansala (Third World Improv, Same Bananas, Housekeeping Improv and Buwan ng Wika) who breaks down her trip to LA and what fuels improv in the Philippines. This was my first interview and you can tell by how nervous I am. Apologies for the elementary school kid energy I bring. Then we have improv from the LA team Old Milk (Katherine Stiegemeyer, Mickey Woo, Caroline Cummings, Niko Thiel, Laney Serface, Rachel Baldwin) who watch dialogue heavy pornos and hide cash and guns in their houses! Thanks for listening and being a part of the process. Check out WEImprov.org for shows, classes, merch and my book Elevator Farts. And if you’re in LA come see a show at The WE Space. If you are an improviser outside Los Angeles and want to chat on the pod, email me at [email protected] subject line WIMPY CHAT. If you are an improv team and want to come on and play, email me at [email protected] subject line WIMPY TEAM. Shoutout to Lisa Gilroy for our music. Get full access to Physical Medium Talent at jakejabbour.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to the W.I.M.P.Y. Podcast! WE Improv Makes Podcast for You, hosted by me Jake Jabbour (WE Improv, Puddy, The Meat Improv). WIMPY is a an improv talk show where the guest interview is with an improviser from a different community and the musical guest is an improv team. This is episode one. I talk the who, what, where and why of the podcast before interviewing Austin improviser and teacher, Kristen Drenning (Hot Basement Rats - Fallout Theater, The Monster, Coldtowne Theater). Then the improv team Shelby (Tyler Pruyn, Riley Doyle, Siena Jeakle, Matt Cortezie, Anise Hines-Theus, Ryn Davis, Ellen Burns, Matt Bernstein) performs a living room montage and a Slacker. The audio is not great, but I’m working on it for future episodes. Thanks for being a part of the process! Check out WEImprov.org for shows, classes, merch and my book Elevator Farts. And if you’re in LA come see a show at The WE Space. If you are an improviser outside Los Angeles and want to chat on the pod, email me at [email protected] subject line WIMPY CHAT. If you are an improv team and want to come on and play, email me at [email protected] subject line WIMPY TEAM. Shoutout to Lisa Gilroy for our music. Get full access to Physical Medium Talent at jakejabbour.substack.com/subscribe