See.Hear.Speak 3: Austinist interviews Jill Bernard

What, in terms of improv, have you heard about Austin?

I’m from ComedySportz, and way back when there was a ComedySportz Austin. I remember those guys being great.

I met the Coldtowne guys in Toronto and I was very impressed by them and glad to meet them. And my dear friend Asaf Ronen just moved to Austin, so it seems like a hot-spot to me.

What about see.hear.speak had you heard before agreeing to do it?

Nothing. I just trust Chris Trew [of Coldtowne] implicitly and will do what he says.

See.hear.speak is three days, and you’re performing in two of those days—in speak and hear. Can you tell me about Drum Machine, which you’re performing in hear?

It’s a solo show that I’ve been doing for a number of years now. Basically, I use a drum machine to get a beat and then do a musical. I normally interview a member of the audience and ask them about their life, and then I also get a period of history. I blend those two things together to create a story. And the drum machine is there so I can sing songs and make it a full-fledged musical.

Can you tell me a bit about what you’re doing for speak?

It’s a show called Small Dog Fight Ring. It’s a series of ten monologues based on audience suggestions of adjectives and character types. From the perspective of a small dog.

Small Dog Fight Ring is a name that I invented—a friend and I were seated at a restaurant and saw a bunch of people walk by with small dogs, but they were all walking in the same direction. So we just assumed that, at the end of the street, there was a small dog fight ring.

Photo by Jill Bernard on Flickr. Credit Ben Schnieder.

Thanks.

One of the things I enjoyed most about it—and I think what separated it from all of the other one-person shows that I’ve seen—is that the beginning almost came off as a stand-up set. It was really engaging and it involved a lot of audience participation. It was really fun to feel like I was a part of your show—and I know that any one-person show is going to take a suggestion at the very least. But it was a new experience for me to feel like the first 10 minutes of the show was something that I helped to construct.

Thanks; I love that part, too. I kind of want to do a whole show of that.

What I’ve found is that—I always ask for an audience member that’s not an improviser because if they’re willing to stick their hands up in the air then I know that they’re at least willing to talk to me.

And they always think their lives are boring, but, to me, their lives are fascinating. There was this guy that I interviewed in Phoenix who was very much like, “No, I’m just boring.” It turns out that he spends all his time playing Texas Hold’em. How is that boring?

And there was another guy in Toronto who was like, “No, I don’t do anything. I’m just a psychologist.” And then a French woman who sold chocolates and was studying to teach English. I love that part of the show.

You were the teacher in an episode of Made where someone wanted to be made into an improviser. Can you tell me about that experience?

We filmed for two weeks, which is amazing because, in the episode, we’re only on for fifteen minutes. Probably less.

MTV contacted us and came to the theater and brought us Alissa, who turned out to be a very sweet girl. We just had a very intense workshop for two weeks and then sent her to Chicago.

What did she do in Chicago?

She auditioned for ComedySportz.

I haven’t seen the episode—did it go well? Did she make it?

No. But they offered her scholarships, and she actually did end up performing in a show down there as part of the audition.

What are you most looking forward to about your trip to Austin?

I’ve never been to Austin before, so the whole thing is going to be pretty exciting. I think the festival format is pretty unique in the country. I can’t wait to see what these things, all put together, are—what all these shows, rubbing up against each other, feels like. It’s going to be fascinating.