#50: Will Hines

Magnet Theater Podcast Wednesday July 1, 2015, 7:00am - by Magnet Theater

On this week's episode, we've got actor, writer, and 14x UCB All-Star, Will Hines. We caught up with Will while he was in town for the 17th Annual Del Close Marathon and what ensued was a beautifully nerdy conversation about improv theory, improv practice, teaching methods, and some of Will's early days at UCB.

The interview begins with Will and host Louis Kornfeld talking about how to navigate fighting in improv scenes. They insist that the characters must be able to have philosophical debates, not mere wizard battles. They sympathize with students learning improv though, since a bad fight and good fight feel very similar in the moment. Plus, arguments have a lot of good elements that improvisers should practice commitment, point-of-view, feeling but if they only serve to defend the character, they won't be very helpful. Will goes into detail about his philosophy that scene partners must "shake hands" at the top of a scene.

If you're wondering whether these two veteran company men discuss the philosophies of UCB and the Magnet, wonder no longer! Will and Louis get to the meaty stuff and talk about the differences between Harolds at Magnet and UCB. From there, they discuss a variety of improv "rules" and postulate that most rules are in need of a specific scope to make them useful. Will talks about the rigidity of his 10th grade english teacher and they debate the benefits and limitations of strict versus nurturing improv teachers. Though Will always loved Matt Besser's no-bullcrap approach to teaching, he says that Armando Diaz was his breakthrough teacher. He describes the two of them as the ying and yang of UCB teachers during his time coming up through classes.

We get to hear a bit of Will's improv origin story, he and Louis discuss improv's "huggy" vibe, plus, these two "kings of calm-edy" explore their thoughts on being funny while acting as the straight man and/or lower energy player. Louis shares with us that he'd just had his most embarrassing audition ever and Will admits that he has a lack of confidence when it comes to being funny. The two of them snap out of their temporary self-loathing to talk about Will's days playing with Monkeydick, which was Louis' favorite Harold Night team when he was a student there.

There's so much great stuff in this episode for Magnet and UCB fans alike, not to mention every improv nerd out there, we're not even sure where to start. Just trust us and give it a listen.

Packed with these extras:

The Brothers Hines have only one rule for their shows what is it?

Louis admits his biggest weakness as a teacher and performer.

What do these guys think of the Star Wars Prequel trilogy???

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