Workshop limited to 16 students.

For festival tickets, please click here!

Combine multiple philosophies to become a better improviser! Giving yourself a well-rounded improv education by taking classes at different institutions is critical in growing your talent, education, and joy. But sometimes it is difficult to figure out how to combine these philosophies together into a successful scene. That is what this class is all about! 

Learn to bring the superpowers of different schools into one powerful set. We will focus on pairing the BCC’s f*ck it / love it philosophy and playing from a deal with a game-based approach to finding and playing with the unusual thing. We will cover core BCC concepts like managing surprise + believability & byways and highways with game-based methodology of “the voice of reason” and mapping beats out over a long-form show. The class will culminate in a simplified longform Harold. Learn to play fearlessly from a deal while honing the game of the scene - and keeping it all loose and fun.

Prerequisite: Completion of both UCB 201 and BCC Level 2 improv (no exceptions)

Workshop: Saturday, July 11th, 2:15 PM - 4:45 PM

Where: BCC DogHouse, Studio 1 (137 Montrose Ave)

Teacher: Philip Markle and Akmal Tajihan

Philip’s Bio:

Philip Markle is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Brooklyn Comedy Collective. Philip trained in improv in Chicago at The Annoyance, iO, and Second City before moving to NYC in 2013 to launch The Annoyance Theater NY, where he acted as its Director for four years before founding the BCC. He was named “Top 5 Queer Business Leaders” by Time Out NY in 2023 and a “Power Player in Arts in Culture” by AMNY in 2024. The New York Times wrote, “Philip Markle, who founded [the BCC] in 2018, has done creative work building an audience around a dizzying array of shows.” He has taught thousands of students of all ages internationally, from Bali to Berlin, for over 15 years. Performance highlights include musically improvising with Baby Wants Candy in Chicago and BLANK: The Musical Off-Broadway. As a storyteller, he has performed at The Moth and The Paper Machete - and is a writer on Medium.com with 400k+ reads. He executive produced, wrote, and acted in the digital shorts series "The Annoyance Presents" on IFC's Comedy Crib. Philip first performed his show SPARKLE HOUR to rave reviews in the 2013 NY International Fringe Festival and has regularly produced it since, including multiple runs at Joe's Pub and as part of the 2021-2023 NY Comedy Festivals. You can listen to his queer comedy songs on your favorite streaming music platform under the name “Philip Sparkle.”

Akmal’s Bio:

Akmal Tajihan is an NYC Comedian and Improv teacher. He has served as a faculty member at Upright Citizens Brigade Theater teaching for the past 2 years and has been doing improv/ comedy for over 10. You can see him perform weekly with his group Duchovny on TGIF 7pm at UCB! He also co-hosts the show WHAT THE HELL monthly at UCB. He’s probably the most midsized guy you’ll ever see. 

If this class is sold out, sign-up for the wait list here.