Live Wire with Luke Burbank Holiday Special: Thomas Middleditch & Ben Schwartz, Atsuko Okatsuka, and Amthyst Kiah
Dec 23, 2020
Atsuko Okatsuka, sharp stand-up comic and creator of Let’s Go Atsuko, delivers a hilarious set about awkward encounters. Thomas Middleditch, improv actor from Silicon Valley, and Ben Schwartz, Parks and Recreation alum and improv partner, dig into creating long-form improv and filming it for Netflix. Amthyst Kiah, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, performs a soulful live rendition of "Firewater."
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Secret Leap Day Elopement
- Elena Passarello secretly married on leap day and eloped with an Elvis impersonator in Las Vegas.
- She told only parents and kept it private, then experienced a nine-month honeymoon during lockdown.
Training Enables Creative Rule-Bending
- Ben Schwartz and Thomas Middleditch credit formal improv training and philosophy for their long-form success.
- Years of practice let them bend rules and make deeper, riskier choices on stage.
Largo Changed Their Trajectory
- Moving to Largo gave Middleditch and Schwartz an hour-long slot that transformed their show.
- The longer format let them expand worlds, develop dialogues, and tour widely.
