The ComedySportz Podcast

Steph DeWaegeneer has spent the majority of her professional life entertaining audiences by embracing humor and the creative imagination of the human spirit. She is a graduate of Chicago’s Second City Conservatory Program and the iO Training Center, and has been fortunate to perform on numerous stages throughout the US & UK including: The Manchester Comedy Festival, The Traverse City Winter Comedy Festival, and numerous ComedySportz World Championships. She is also the reigning Ms. Plus America Lifetime VII, and former 2009 Ms. Plus America. Each weekend, she can be seen performing with CSz Houston.

Tim Harrison has been a player and referee with CSz Indianapolis for twenty-five years. Tune in as we discuss Tim’s role as a workshop instructor and Rec League Coach, examine how improv helps in his highly analytical day job, dissect his deep love for puns, and—perhaps most exciting—explore Tim’s brilliant show format in which he combines short-form improv with the world’s most popular board games.

Beginning as a founding member of CSz Spokane, Rick Steadman would go on to perform on the CSz Los Angeles roster for nearly two decades—including serving as their Education Director and Rec League Coach—and become the Artistic Director of CSz Seattle. In today’s episode we have the distinct honor of not only examining Rick’s extensive improv and acting career, but we get to hear both his experience taking an improv class with Alan Arkin, as well as Rick’s authentic vs. ComedySportz German-accent.

A co-owner of CSz Portland, Ruth Jenkins has been improvising for over thirty-five years and has been a speech language pathologist for nearly thirty. She soon learned to combine the two, frequently using improv activities with people who have speech and language disorders connected to Parkinson’s disease or the after effects of strokes and head injuries. Not only do we chronicle the trajectory of Ruth's improv career, but she shares numerous case studies describing how the uniqueness of her practice has changed hundreds of lives for the better.

Performing ComedySportz since 1986, Glenn Packman is a co-owner and co-manager at CSz New York City. Join us as we chart Glenn’s voyage from the East Coast to the West Coast and back again, in which he performed on the mainstage roster with 5 distinct CSz locations. We also get to hear his reflections on attending the first ever ComedySportz World Championship, as well as Glenn’s thoughts comparing and contrasting long-form improv with short-form.

An original ComedySportz player, John Leicht performed with CSz Milwaukee from 1984-1987.  Tune in as we explore what it took to bring the original troupe together, how John became Playwright-in-Residence with the Milwaukee Repertory Theater for ten straight years, and why looking back he calls his time at ComedySportz “the University of Life.”

Join us in Season 3 as we celebrate 40 years of ComedySportz! Recorded live at the 2024 ComedySportz World Championships in Milwaukee, Christine interviews Dick Chudnow—the creator of ComedySportz—reminiscing on our collective four-decade long journey, followed by a Q&A with the audience.

Courtney Pong is the Owner and General Manager of CSz Boston, and the owner of The Rozzie Square Theater. Courtney has been performing and teaching improv and ComedySportz since 2001, starting with CSz San Jose and moving to Boston in 2016 to co-own CSz Boston with Betse Green, until Pong took over full ownership in 2019. A Northern California / Bay Area native, she loves crossword puzzles, running, and is dust-intolerant.

Mike Kauth was baptized into the world of improv in 1999 at CSz Milwaukee, where he currently works as a full-time improviser and coach. In addition to ComedySportz, he’s studied and performed at Improv Olympic in Chicago, and trained at Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles. In today’s episode we explore the importance of supporting our teammates, celebrating our failures, and living in the moment; and to boot, we learn what Mike regards as the #1 most important thing to do before a show.

Alan Guszkowski has performed with CSz Milwaukee for over 20 years, but has been weird for attention for much longer than that. He is a member of the Midnite Show, Voyager, and has been honored to guest with many other improv groups around Milwaukee. He has been an improv instructor at every level from ComedySportz Kidz Camp to the High School League and all adult workshops. He currently teaches improv for the UW-Milwaukee Theatre Program.