This month we are very excited to be able to sit down with David Escobedo of The Improv Boost to talk everything about the comedy art form! Over the next few weeks we will talk about everything from performance to writing impro books! This week we end our interview with David in a good traditional form of a quick fire round.

If you could have any three people (dead or alive) over for dinner – who would they be?

Jim Henson, my grandma E (dad’s mom) and my uncle Tommy

What’s the best piece advice you’ve received?

Ha!  This is the first thing that always pops into my head when I’m asked this.  I was younger and my dad told me once that the best advice he had for me was in the army.  “When you’ve been drinking and you piss clear, it’s time to stop drinking.”

He told me that peeing clearly means your body is full of alcohol, so as a defence mechanism it is purging all the alcohol from your body.  It’s all alcohol. Your body is trying to defend itself.  It makes me think of, when something is not right you will get signs. You may get physical signs like anxiety or fear.  You may get a more intuitive sign like “a feeling.”  But we shouldn’t ignore the signs.  Sometimes we try so hard to fit into an improv company or an improv team … that just doesn’t want us.  It just isn’t a fit.  You need to see the signs. And stop.

But it is still legit advice whether you take if philosophically or literally. 

Do you have any pets?

Yes. 2 cats.  And a bunch of Legos. I say Legos (plural) even though I know the correct plural of Lego is LEGO. But it’s just something I grew up with.

If you could be from any other decade (or era), which would it be??

  I like the time I was born in: internet, Obama, improv.  Also, I got to meet my wife in this time. I’m pretty happy with right now.

If you had to have a tattoo to represent improv what would you have and why?

I have a logo I randomly created that is the word “IMPROV” where every letter is in a different font. I think it speaks to improv in general but the different font I think conveys that people from different backgrounds create improv without having to assimilate with one another. In fact, it becomes more artistic because of it.

What’s on your music playlists right now?

You mean like Spotify? I don’t have that. I think if I were to reach for my music on my smart phone “Feeling Good as Hell” by Lizzo would play. It always reminds me of Jen Kenny. 

Who would play you in the movie of your life?

Susan Calman. I think it would be fantastic to have someone who didn’t look like me play me. Because I think we all feel similar emotions and go through similar scenarios.  I think it would create a greater relatability to completely blind cast the whole move about me for every single person. Regardless of ethnicity, background. Gender identity, age … I think that would be an incredible move.  And just make it about everyday things.  Going to Cups to get a cup of coffee.  Cracking jokes with Liam in messenger…. Maybe have Donald Glover play Liam Webber.  Imagine that scene! Susan Calman and Donald Glover cracking jokes!  That would be awesome.

If you had one superpower, what would it be?

To take away people’s anxiety.  Fear?  Fear is cool.

Fear tells us there is a danger.  Fear is a teacher. Fear is basically a subjective judgement on a physical sensation – adrenaline, heighten senses, being alert.

Anxiety sucks big balls, man. 

I think we lose sleep, and lose some people who could create beautiful art, or people starting new businesses, or people taking a chance on one another … because of anxiety. I wish I could take away the anxiety of my family and friends.

My special power would be to sort of put my hands out and absorb anxiety and it would come out as a song, unique to the person.  That one song would be like a minute of anxiety that would create art that nobody would ever hear again. And poof! Their anxiety would be gone.

Especially when it comes to death. I don’t mind that people die. It’s part of life. It helps us respect that we only have a limited amount of focus in the world. So where should we put that focus?  Who should we spend our time with? I don’t mind death. It really bugs me that people feel anxious before they die, or anxious about dying. If right before they die I could turn that anxiety into one last song, that is only for that person … so that they could then transition into the next world peacefully …

… that’s would be my superpower.