All this month we are talking to acts that are performing at the Liverpool Improv Festival which takes place between May 7th – 10th. We will be speaking to acts every Wednesday and Thursday at 6:30pm on the run up to the festival. Today we speak to T.J. Mannix in LimboLand.
Tell Us about:
Your latest improv show you are bringing to Liverpool Improv Fest ?
T.J. Mannix in LimboLand
Your favourite suggestion you have been given?
“Sin”
Your favourite venue to perform at:
Radio City Music Hall – Pretty life changing at 21.
Improv hero:
The Godmother of Improv, Viola Spolin
Describe the feeling you get when you walk on stage to do a show:
It’s the most dangerous sport. There is nothing like walking on stage with a blank look in your eyes because you have no idea what you are going to do out there.
The hardest improv suggestion to perform and why:
I played a series of spring break shows on a cruise ship while touring with the Second City. Our very first audience suggestion was a drunken yell of … let’s just call it … “a previously utilized feminine hygiene item”. Sigh. We played it as smart as we could, but those drunk college kids wanted blood.
Essential items you always take with you to a show?
A tie. Gotta keep it classy. Even if you rip it off a few minutes in.
Describe your fans in three words:
Passionate. Honest. Fans of LimboLand usually love the raw, genuine, earned moments – the small moments that are just human.
What we can look forward to from you this year:
I have no clue. At the start of every LimboLand show, I get a suggestion and then turn it over to my music director. They improvise something brilliant, inspired by the suggestion, and I wait on the backline listening to the music until “someone” makes themselves known. Usually every character is inspired by someone in my past – at least for the first few minutes until the character breaks away from the original and charts their own course.
Welcome to The Phoenix Remix 
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