No Suggestion: An Improv Comedy Talk Show

My guest this week at Radio Free Brooklyn Studios was the sunny and bright comedian, actor, school teacher, director, and prolific producer Kate O'Neil Martino (@indiequeen14)! It was pure delight having Kate on, and she was so sweet, generous, and transparent during our hang. Kate told us all about teaching English and Theater to unruly eighth graders and her unique approach to doing so, we talked about the struggle we share of loving to teach versus longing to perform, Kate tells us all how she's grown to become such a prolific self-producer of improv comedy shows, she details her history as a troubled youth and the guidance counselor who saved her life, how her tough childhood informs her teaching and her parenting, Kate tells us about her experience being the weird girl, her love of spooky things, and much more! It's such a revealing and sincere conversation, I'm really honored to share it with you. And don't you for a second think this episode skimps at all on incredibly stupid, dumb, hilarious improv scenes, because Kate and I get into a lot of em, including a scene about fledgling lawyer who's sick of not being taken seriously in court by the presiding judge. This episode was so fun to record, so if you didn't hear broadcasted live (every Thursday night on Radio Free Brooklyn, 11pm ET) hit play and give it a listen here! And if you love it, please rate, subscribe, leave a review, and tell a friend!

Was an honor to have my old buddy, actor, comedian, and prolific comedy show producer, Phillip Casale (@phil_casale) up to Radio Free Brooklyn studios this week to do the show. I've known him for more than a decade and this was a lovely chance to catch up. Phillip and I chatted about all kinds of topics ranging from what a man is supposed to like, to aspiring to pay your rent as a comedian, to how complicated the notion of "growing up" can be as a comedian and improviser, to how we were both influenced by the movie Hook and the book How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way, to Phillip's complicated love of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, to human-ness, to Phillip's recent foray back into scripted on screen acting. Along the way we get in quite a few screwy and hilarious improv scenes, including a scene about two maniacal, but unfulfilled super villains discovering friendship. If you enjoyed this podcast feel free to check out our live show on radio Free Brooklyn internet radio every Thursday night at 11pm ET. Please like, rate, and subscribe to this podcast, leave a review, and tell a friend! I need your support to keep bringing you comedy every week.

This week No Suggestion welcomes a new co-host, past guest, actor and comedian, Aaron Max Weininger (@aaronweininger)! Aaron and I had a blast this week at Radio Free Brooklyn studios hanging with our guest, comedian Jess Moukios (@jessmoukios)! We had a good time getting to know Jess and she let us know about her political science background and what she learned about America in the 2016 election, we talked about the lies of history, she tries to explain to us what HR actually is, we talk about the current NYC improv scene, we learn what her parents think about her comedy career, we appreciate Titanic and Mamma Mia, and we give some love to Kaitlin Olson. The conversation was so fun, but even more fun and funny was the improv scenes we got into! We get into a bunch of fun improv comedy scenes, including a scene where Christopher Columbus tries to clean up his reputation. If this episode makes you laugh and enjoy yourself, please rate us 5 stars, rate and subscribe.

Was blessed by the presence of the sage and centered improv comedian Micheal Bird (@thecosmicbird) in the Radio Free Brooklyn Studios. Michael is beginning a long-term run of his signature show Bird and Friends: Cosmic Unity, every Tuesday night at Otto's Shrunken Head (@ottosnyc). Michael have a lovely chat about his relationship to creativity, enjoying being single, dating and being ghosted, how Michael's latch-key kid background came in handy during COVID, his spirituality, seeing New York for what it is, and his day-job of being an auditor. I loved talking to Michael, and I had so much fun in our improv scenes, which included a scene of a break-up between two existential birds. Please check this episode out, and if you enjoy it, please rate us five stars and subscribe to No Suggestion podcast.

Our beloved co-host Xavier Pearson is going on to do other things, but we were lucky enough to have him on as a guest for the last time for a while as a guest. He just came back from a momentous trip back to his homeland, Guyana. He tells us all about it, about traveling with his dad, and much more. It's a great story of adventure and revelation. We also get into some funny and silly improv scenes, including a scene about a couple having a hard time relaxing on vacation. I'm so sorry to see Xavier go, but he's been such a blessing of fun and silliness to this podcast as co-host, and I wish him the best on whatever creative adventure he's off to next. Check out this episode!

This week Xavier and I had on NYC comedian, PJ Nally (@pjswithbuttons)! PJ has been making the rounds in these musical improv streets for a minute, with his partner, previous No Suggestion guest Maria Schroeder, and it was great to hang and get to know him! We chatted about seeing the magic in life, moving to NYC to find that magic, the musicality of improv, an impromptu review of the animated movie Coco, lurking around dog parks, smell based skills, and a lot more! We also got some really wild and funny improv scenes in, including a scene where we finally see the true dissolution of the Beatles. Check out PJ at his musical improv jam at the PIT, or at his Hell Yeah musical improv shows, (@hellyeahmusicprov)! This is a really fun and lovely episode, we hope you enjoy it! If you do, please rate and subscribe to this podcast, and tell a friend!

Sorry we didn't get you an episode last week so you'll get two episodes this week! Enjoy this bonus episode with NYC actor, improv and stand up comedian, the irrepressible Sunny Outlaw (@sunnyoutlaw)! Check him out via the terrific improv comedy outfit, Sounds Funny Radio (@soundsfunnyradio), and check out his stand-up special, A Dream Come True!

On this special episode of No Suggestion the guest is actor, rapper-songwriter, professor, comedian, and founder of No Suggestion pod, me, Ralf Jean-Pierre! I'm interviewed by gentleman, scholar, and improv comedy veteran, interim co-host, Geoff Grimwood (@grimwoooo). We talk about me being a full-bodied Haitian, how I came into improv, realizing Apollo Creed was a Machiavell, my early ambitions to be comic book artist, starting to rap, my friction-y job history, pushing myself to my limits, doing things stark, dead sober, being a striver and what happens when you reach what you strove for, and Michael Jordan versus Tim Duncan. This is a revealing and at-times intense conversation, but Geoff and I sure get some stupid improv comedy in there as well, including a scene about a pro back-up football kicker who cannot believe he has a devoted fan. I'm grateful for this episode and to let the audience of this podcast know more about me, and I'm grateful to Geoff Grimwood for insisting that we do this. If you enjoy this podcast, please like, rate, and subscribe! We love ya!

This week at Radio Free Brooklyn interim co-host Geoff Grimwood (@grimwoooo) and I were visited by a groovy, Floridian comedy pixie named David Steele (@heydavidsteele)! David is one of the most unique comedy minds around, and we had so much fun talking with him about his catawampus perspective and his odd misadventures. We got to chat about David's elaborate plots to get out of awkward situations, tech vests, taco-based sleights-of-hand, a riddle about labyrinths, what good leadership is, having a weird voice and accent that no one can place, and much more! We also squeezed a few zany and off-kilter improv scenes in including a scene about God paying a visit to earth to break down the whole trinity business, and a leader emerging amongst a group stuck in a flooding elevator. We were really honored to hang with the brilliant and hilarious David Steele, so we know you'll dig this episode! Take a listen, and please rate, subscribe, and tell a friend!

Xavier is out of town for a few weeks, but I am joined for the next few episodes with interim co-host, the great teacher, improv comedian, and past No Suggestion guest, Geoff Grimwood (@grimwoooo). This week, Geoff and I welcome No Suggestion's first legacy guest, the younger brother of past guest, the great Rocky Powell, actor, comedian, model, the effervescent Howard Hendrix Powell (@howardhendrixpowell)! Howard brings his high energy and rapid fire wit to Radio Free Brooklyn studios this week as we chat about, how people decide to include or omit their middle name, sneaking into his sister's house parties as a young kid, his stage debut in Lil' Abner, commandeering his college improv team, his Bring It On style heist of UCB's pedagogy, and more of Howard's Ferris Bueller-esque misadventures! And of course we get into some super silly and fun improv scenes, including a TV production crew who doses themselves with mushrooms, and high school chess team with rather pointed social hierarchy. Howard is full of fascinating stories and enthusiasm, this was episode is a blast!

This week Xavier and I finally have a guest we've wanted on for a while, the former impresario of the Triple Crown basement, actor and improv comedian, the infamous Steve Ling (@slingprov)! We love Steve, he's such a unique and distinct character in the NYC improv scene and we had a lovely time having him up the Radio Free Brooklyn studios last Thursday night. We talk with Steve about a bunch of tings including about the short-lived indie team Steve and I used to have, we talk about repelling energy verses attracting energy, phases we went through as young men, basketball trick shots, improv making you dumber, and we do a deep meditation on "dramatic improv." Besides this chat we get a few silly improv scenes in, including a scene where we witness a CIA chief under extreme pressure who is slowly losing his mind. Hit play and enjoy! If you enjoyed this episode you check out Steve Ling at the Magnet Theater a couple times a month playing on a Megawatt team! And if you really enjoyed this episode please like, subscribe, and tell a friend!

This week Xavier and I had a grand time getting to know the jovial, and fascinating actor, teacher, trained chef, film production manager, casting director, youtuber, comedian, and flight attendant, that is Mike Brown (@soloimprov)! We chatted with Mike about the time he nearly died on a ledge in the woods as a teen, growing up Mormon, the wisdom of getting tattoos, being cool versus having passions, hacks for your ears popping on flights, his viral Beavis and Butthead shaming, and we name each other's spirit animals. Amidst this wonderful chat getting to know Mike we get several fun and funny improv scenes in including a teenage son who can't stop fishing for compliments and we pitch one of Stephen King's trippiest novels yet. Mike is such a breath of fresh air, so positive, and so multi-faceted! Hope you have as much fun getting to know him as we did! Hit play! Please rate and subscribe to No Suggestion podcast if you haven't! And tell a friend! And remember, before we post each episode as a podcast, it airs live on the Radio Free Brooklyn Thursday nights, 11pm EST!

Xavier and I are so thrilled and honored that our guest for the first episode of 2023 is the sensational, actor, improviser, comedian, my North Coast teammate, and newest ensemble member of Amsterdam's Boom Chicago, Raquel Palmas (@rockwell826)! We talk to Raquel her gift for relating and connecting with people and being a social butterfly, about what it's like to come from a family of creative people, black intuition, trying to be an athlete and a theater kid in high school, effort vs talent, Raquel and I recount guesting on a Love and Hip-Hop spinoff this past year together, and Xavier reveals a secret part of his origin! Through all this varied conversation, we also manage to get some big, funny improv scenes in, including a scene about a young person trying to find independence from their theater troupe dynasty of a family, and a visit some freakish fantasy creatures looking for love in an enchanted wood. Enjoy our chat with Raquel and follow her comedy as she goes off to join the legendary Boom Chicago (@boomchicago) ensemble in Amsterdam, Netherlands this year! Or catch her playing with North Coast (@northcoastnyc) a few times this year before she takes off for Europe in March! If you dig this episode, please rate, subscribe, and tell a friend!

Our first return guest! No Xavier this week, but for the first time on No Suggestion, we welcome back fan favorite, actor, comedy writer, and improv comedian, Rich Templeton (@richhunttemp)! This is actually an earnest, thoughtful, and vulnerable conversation that winds in an out of topics like the freeing power of performing, dealing with the parts of life that your don't understand gracefully, the temptation to want to make yourself small to accommodate others, the fear of knowing what you truly want, the difference between suppression and repression. This episode was recorded an few nights before Christmas, and it finds us in a pensive thoughtful mood. That doesn't, however, explain how insane the improv scenes we get into are! The scenes Rich and I come up with include the misadventures of an expectant mother at a Just Salad, and two hulking wrestlers who rely on each other for emotional support. This is a beautiful episode and we hope it adds to the loveliness, and laughter, of your holiday season. Please rate and subscribe!

Just in time for Christmas, one of my favorite comedians in NYC, Will Purpura (@willpurpura) is here! Xavier and I were so excited to have him on. We have such a fun little chat and we talk about about Will being a stand-up AND an improvisor, I describe the war I want to start between the two factions, Will and Xavier explain why they were both late for the podcast, we talk about Will's unsuccessful job interview, and more. But the real gem of this episode to me is the absurd improv scenes we get into, including an informercial selling heckling and a father/son empanada shipping team! We laughed so much on this episode. This is our holiday episode and I hope it puts you into the spirit. If so, please rate and subscribe! Merry Christmas!

I'm going to let you know right now, don't listen to this episode on an empty stomach. There's a lot of sumptuous, mouthwatering talk about food. This week our guest was the great comedian, actor, and teacher Jay Rhoderick, who is a member of my favorite improv team of all-time, Centralia. As a matter of fact, this this show named no suggestion as an homage to Centralia who famously don't take suggestions from the audience to begin their improv shows. We were thrilled to have Jay on, and didn't know what to expect. We ended up having a blast just talking about everything from rooms and spaces that make you want to take a dump, and healthy versus unhealthy ambition, but we really just spent a lot of this episode gushing over our favorite foods! I was so hungry after this episode! We also got some intense and intensely funny improv scenes in, including an epic scene about an old prospector who has a fascinating relationship with a barrel. This episode is so loopy and fun, it was such a joy to have Jay on, can't wait for you to hear it! And look out for Centralia's (@centralia_improv) monthly show at the PIT Loft, Saturdays at 5:30pm.

This week Xavier and I welcome actor, model, marathon runner, and comedian Aaron Max Weininger (@aaronweininger)! I recently became friends with Aaron and was so taken by his vulnerability, candor, and quirky charm I had to have him on the show. We chatted on this episode about Cocaine Bear's potential for wholesomeness, how often people don't remember Aaron and how he's convinced people will forget he was even on this episode, how Aaron's ex got him into running, how to pee while running a marathon, leading men who are also background actors, and the revitalizing properties of beer. The scenes we get into are unexpectedly deranged and hilarious, including a scene about getting body high off of honey, and a scene about some overzealous security at a marathon. We laughed so much making this episode, we hope you'll enjoy it as much as we did! Please rate and subscribe to No Suggestion podcast and tell your friends!

This is easily our most inspiring episode, and that's saying a lot. Joining Xavier and I in the Radio Free Brooklyn Studio's is From Justin to Kelley, AKA Countdown Theater's Justin Peters and Kelley Buttermore (@jtkimprov). They are veteran NYC improvisors who perform mostly out of town. They've cultivated a deliberate, highly collaborative approach to improv they call "improv without ideas" that they perform all over the country, as well as running their own festivals. We talk to Justin and Kelley about how their partnership formed out of the ruins of a failed Magnet house team, how three high school students guided them to doing their first road show, playing to win versus the creation of trust, admitting that you care even though it's not cool, Xavier and I update them on the current NYC improv scene, and we meditate on choosing a life of vulnerability. We also get some super funny and committed improv scenes in, including a son avenging the death of mother who died enjoying a documentary, and two hipsters two cool to admit they are standing in the middle of a bodega on fire. Justin and Kelley have so so so much going on, they're teaching so many workshops and making so much comedy. Follow them! Thank you for listening! Please rate and subscribe and tell your other comedy-lover friends!

Was so grateful to have the poised and adventurous comedian, improviser, and podcast host Raquel Powell (@rockiixbalboa) on No Suggestion this week! Xavier and I got to chat with Rocky about her theory of cliques and channels and why Ralf is a ghost in the shadows, 3rd of July celebrations, growing up near in a Connecticut beach town, considering becoming a psychedelic therapist, and more! And we launch into some wild, unwieldy, super hilarious improv scenes, including one about a divorcee who's allergic to hot tubs, and a fastidious surgeon obsessed with lists. If you enjoyed getting to know Rocky here, check out her podcast Wild Night with Rocky Powell! She talks to all kinds of cool comedians and entertainers and artists and gets their wildest stories from them (@wildnightswithrocky)! Please enjoy, and please rate and subscribe!

It was such a gift to Xavier and I this week to get to hang with improv comedian, and triple Scorpio, Maria Schroeder (@schroedernotstirred) at the Radio Free Brooklyn Studios! Maria gives us the scoop on the happiest place on earth: Marie's Crisis, she teaches us about nuanced the contention between straight theater and musical theater, we talk about never feeling like you're good enough, and we learn what it's like to have statisticians as parents. In the midst of all this we get into some epic, detailed, deviously funny improv scenes about an encampment with dwindling morale drilling for oil, a parent taking a dispassionate survey of his kids probability to be sexually active in the near future and more. This episode really made my heart sing, Maria is such a sweet, bright spirit. Give this episode a listen now! And follow Maria to see when her musical improv team Hell Yeah is playing at the PIT, or when you can catch her Magnet Theater musical Megawatt team is playing!