21 OCTOBER 2026

Greetings from Manitoba!

I’m currently at the Winnipeg Improv Festival and I’m having such a lovely time.

Festivals are as fun as they are chaotic, full on and energy-intensive.

So forgive me if I’m a little brief this week.

Rule of three

[Legend] Steve Martin
There are very few people I admire as much as Steve Martin. I think he’s grown older with such grace and creative integrity. He appears to be guided by an intuition attuned towards his own sense of joy. I’ve already talked about how much I enjoyed his autobiography Born Standing Up and the two-part documentary about his life, STEVE! (martin) but today I want to talk about his music. Because he’s recently released a bluegrass version of Old Town Road that is truly something to behold (behear?). And in listening to that track I came across an original piece by him called Dear Time that absolutely broke me. Someone this funny shouldn’t be allowed to be this profound.

[Improv] Ben Schwartz
I really rate Ben Schwartz as an ambassador for improv. He seems like a progressively-minded, non-problematic guy. And as his fame grows, he’s doubling down on the importance of live improv as an art form. Most people turn their back on longform as soon as they achieve any mainstream recognition - Schwartz is such an eloquent advocate and proponent. And this advocacy is on full display in a wide-ranging discussion with Anthony Mason in his podcast - Alchemy. Very interesting to hear a non-improviser’s earnest thoughts on what we do.

[TV] Deadloch Season 2
What genre is Deadloch? It’s an Australian black comedy crime mystery small town queer love story horror show with elements of absurdism and feminist commentary. The first season was great - I think the second season is even better. Ahhhh, it’s so gross and so heart-warming and I can’t get over how brilliant it is. A third-tier Hemsworth turns up at one point too.

Spotlight

Today, we’re launching our new year Improv Actor Training Intensive. Five days of Pretend improv techniques led by Liam, Ali and Stephen Lee with a showcase at Pretend Night on the sixth day.

We’ve done this every year since The Pretend Company was founded - it’s a great opportunity for those of you who live outside the UK to come and experience our core methodologies in a wonderful week of celebration and improv nerdery.

📆 18th - 23rd January 2027
🏢 Theatre Deli, Hackney
🎭 23rd January, 7pm, Omnibus Theatre, Clapham

Some testimonials from previous participants of the intensive:

“I came away feeling inspired, creatively refreshed, and with plenty of valuable insights to bring into my own performances and teaching. I'd wholeheartedly recommend the Pretend intensive to anyone looking to deepen their craft, challenge themselves, and rediscover the joy of improvisation.

The Pretend Company manage to take a complex and nuanced art form and break it down, making it accessible to all levels of experience. They created a truly safe environment to make mistakes and learn from them, and their wisdom has proven invaluable in my understanding of improvised performance.

If you’d like to apply, everything you need is here.

Longform thoughts

Is this improv scene working?

Here’s a tip - if you’re in your head enough to be considering that question during a show - bad news for you - the answer is almost certainly no!

This week, I got locked out of my Airbnb with Katy Schutte and learned something about improv.

Find out what happened in Getting locked out of a scene.

Radio Petal

The Fuzzins are together again.