By WICF Contributor Pam Victor
[“Geeking Out With … ”
is a series of interviews with well-known, highly experienced improvisers. It’s
a chance to talk about stuff that might interest only hardcore, improv
dorkwads. You can find the complete “Geeking Out with…” series here and
on my blog My Nephew is a Poodle.]
If you’re an improviser, you probably know who Joe Bill is. After all,
Joe Bill is an improv legend. If you’re one of the lucky many, you’ve taken a
workshop with him. And if you’re among the luckiest of the lucky, you can call
Joe a friend. Joe Bill has been an improv comedian for over thirty years with a
resume that makes me wish I had been living in his front shirt pocket since the
mid-80s. I am going to wimp out on using this meager paragraph to sum up his
illustrious comedy career thus far (but more on that later); however, I will
tell you how you can see him now.
A founder of The Annoyance Theatre in Chicago, Joe now
performs at iO
Theater with The Deltones and The Armando Diaz Experience.
He and Mark Sutton generously travel the festival circuit performing BASSPROV,
a show that marks a cornerstone of the improv world. Look, I’m not going to
bullshit you and hide the fact that I’m a Joe Bill fan. It was a distinct
pleasure interviewing the man I think of as the foremost Philosopher of Improv
Comedy. I hope this first of three-part geek out session with Joe Bill is as
good for you as it was for me.
***
PAM: When I took a workshop with you at
ImprovBoston
in 2011, I remember sitting there with an incredible yearning for the
opportunity to geek out about improv with you for hours and hours. In fact, the
whole “Geeking Out with…” series grew out of that incredible desire. Now that
the opportunity is finally here, I’ve got first date jitters! I would be so
horrified if I got home to discover I had spinach stuck between my teeth the
whole time.
JOE: I like
spinach. And I'm not visual, so I wouldn't notice or I'd just tell you.
I like
first dates.
PAM: Ah, you're one of
those guys who won't notice if I did my hair differently. I see… Ok, to business then. Writing your bio. scares
the crap out of me. With 34 years of incredible experience and a brimming,
bulging sack full of accolades, the task of summing it up into one neat
paragraph makes me want to hide under my covers. When you look back on your
improv life, which experiences make you most proud?
JOE: Aw, fuck...now I know how YOU feel! I better do this as a list, kind of
one item at a time with the promise that I'll miss something...
 |
| Mr. Joe Bill |
PAM: Go for it. I'll be here hiding under the covers.
JOE: I don't
take a lot of back inventory of things that I'm proud of.
Pride is a
difficult thing for me. (Thanks, Dad!) OK, I'll
say I'm happy and thankful for these things, and leave pride out of it, unless
it comes up for me in the moment:
That I made the group in college that would have me work with
some of the most amazing and informative people in terms of my growth as an
artist/improviser.
That we were successful, week in and week out, in doing a
mostly, well, a two-thirds new
show each week.
That I moved to Chicago ahead of everyone else.
(Backing up.) That I gave up a State Championship ring in
basketball in high school to pursue theater, and that culminated in my making
the Indiana All Star Cast in high school and being named the top actor in the
state my senior year.
That I did stand-up in order to be a better writer and
improviser and to avoid therapy for a while...or to tee myself up for it.
That I'm among an amazing group of Annoyance Theater
founders.
That I gained Del Close's respect and confidence.
That I slugged my way through Second City.
For everything that happened at Annoyance: the shows, the
people, the wonderful and awful history and everything in between.
For persevering at iO when shit hit the fan.
For finding my voice as a teacher and being part of the
philosophy associated with Annoyance.
I mean,
fuck, there's so much, and I'm still in the '90's!
PAM: Ok, I'll just lie
here and keep listening to your very interesting list.
JOE: HAHAHAHAHAHAAA! So, fuck
the list...
PAM: One of my first questions usually
has to do with how you found improv and the path you’ve taken to get here, but
you’ve been in improv for something like 34 years, I think, right? Can you give
me the short story of your improv trajectory starting from when you improvised
for the first time?
JOE: Well, I first learned games in
high school in Indiana. That was 1977, so yep, 34 years ago. We were allowed to
create our own mimed pieces through improvisation in that group. That was my
junior year. And then I was in a short form group during the summer between
high school and Indiana University...and then in subsequent summers I played
with them until I got in Dubbletaque with
Mick [Napier], Mark [Sutton] and a couple of others in college that would be
the core of Annoyance founders.
PAM: So was it love at
first sight with you and improv?
JOE: I loved it as soon as I did the very first one...plus I
always had a burr under my saddle for scripted stuff.
PAM: What d'ya mean, cowboy?
JOE: Well, we
did the traditional high school playwrights... but I liked musicals more back
then than traditional theater. From the beginning I think I always preferred
creation to recreation and, initially, singing was more fun than acting. Though
I DID love doing Diary of Anne Frank.
And I reference it (in improv) probably once or twice a year STILL.
PAM: OMG! Anne Frank was my first real play! In 1978.
JOE: Ha! Love it.
PAM: I played
Margot. Lame part, but I got to eat chocolate cake on stage.
JOE: My high school girlfriend, the one I lost
my virginity with, played Anne. She had to bind her boobs with an ace bandage
to play her.
PAM: You lost your virginity to Anne Frank?! Already this
interview is breaking new ground.
JOE: Actually BEFORE she played Anne Frank
PAM: Oh,
okay. You’re forgiven.
So anyway you meet Mick Napier and Mark Sutton, two guys who will shape
your improv career, in college. How did you guys end up in Chicago?
JOE: Hmmm...ok,
I graduated first, moved up in '85. I think Mick came up in ‘86 or '87. Mark didn't come up 'til later, and he didn't join our
group until senior year.
PAM: Why Chicago? Just to be in the city or did
you go there specifically for improv?
JOE: For improv…and my girlfriend in the group, the amazing Faith Soloway
was from Chicago. I thought I'd study at Second City and iO until she came up,
then…then maybe... But that was not to be, though she was also part of the
original Annoyance group.
PAM: Greatness is born from a desire to get laid.
JOE: Yeah, getting laid with someone you truly love too, both as a girlfriend
and because I LOVED creating with her. To this day, she remains MAYBE the best
relationship I’ve ever had...and she's a lesbian now. But we definitely love
each other and stay in touch.
PAM: Yeah, I knew she is gay, but I was going to be well behaved and not
mention it.
JOE: I love lesbians.
PAM: That’s because you ARE a lesbian.
 |
| Joe Bill improviser, teacher, lesbian |
JOE: True. And I AM an improviser, at my core, and a teacher.
PAM: Amen.
***
Stay tuned next week for the second part of
“Geeking Out with…Joe Bill”
in which
Joe Bill discusses
The Annoyance Theatre, BASSPROV
and one very famous lesbian.
and one very famous lesbian.
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