<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="color:#000000">Hello, everyone! Michael here. After a long and needed hiatus, I am back. I was recently listening back to season one of Improv Tips, and I thought to myself, &ldquo;Oh, boy. You were so young and naive just a few years ago.&rdquo;</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="color:#000000">To give some context, I was in a weird place back then, and I felt very disconnected from the improv world. I think the first season was an outlet for me to feel connected, and was a little bit of improv therapy for me. Here&rsquo;s the disclaimer I always give that improv is NOT therapy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="color:#000000">Since the last season, my wife (I got one of those) and I have successfully opened The Bit Theater right behind the Fox Valley Mall in Aurora, Illinois. Opening a theater has been one of the most difficult challenges of my life, and I have gained more perspective on improv in the past couple of years than I had in the more than two decades before that.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="color:#000000">One of the things I try to impart on my students is that for nearly every bit of improv advice I give them, the opposite also works a lot of the time. So, I thought it would be fun to look back at my old episodes and then break them down a little more thoroughly with a couple more years&rsquo; improv experience to provide a bit of a counterpoint. In addition, I thought it might be interesting to look at these episodes from the perspective of a new theater owner.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="color:#000000">These episodes aren&rsquo;t going to fit into the one-minute timeframe I&rsquo;d set for myself in the first season, but I&rsquo;m going to try to keep them brief, as the world doesn&rsquo;t need another three-hour podcast featuring someone talking about improv theory. I hope you enjoy the new season, as I&rsquo;m looking forward to bringing it to you.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="color:#000000">If you&rsquo;re interested, please subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. Reviews and comments really help get the word out about the podcast and are greatly appreciated. Also, if you&rsquo;re feeling inspired from something you hear, please consider sharing it with someone else. That&rsquo;s all for now, and I&rsquo;ll see you in the new year!</span></span></span></p>