fbpx

UCB

Rebekka Johnson on That One Audition with Alyshia Ochse

081: Rebekka Johnson

081: Rebekka Johnson 1500 750 Alyshia Ochse

The Improv Dream: ‘Yes, And-ing’ Yourself.

This week’s guest caught the improv bug in college and hasn’t looked back since. Rebekka Johnson began her on-screen career putting her comedy skills to good use in an MTV prank show called Boiling Point. Since then she’s been a writer, producer, director, and actress—all in the name of making an audience laugh.

She shares with us how creating the work she loves with her best friends and collaborators has lead her to countless opportunities to shine. From an audition opposite Kristen Wiig, to finally booking her series regular role in GLOW, her story is an example of an artist who puts in the work and doesn’t give up, even when success feels impossible. From negotiating her own contract for a pilot, to how her years of grinding and preparation has empowered her to step into her strength and be fearless in her comedy.

Best known for her work in the musical comedy trio The Apple Sisters and on Netflix’s wrestling comedy GLOW, Rebekka Johnson has performed in various sketch and improv shows across the country for over 10 years, including The Neutrino Video Projects which was an official selection at the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. She is a co creator of the award winning Apple Sisters which performed in the 2008 Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. Rebekka voiced many characters in the upcoming Comedy Central animated series, Ugly Americans. She currently performs with Bandit, a Mainstage Harold Team at IO West and recently directed her comedy film, CONSENT.

 

Tune in

Listen On iTunes

 

Resources

LINKS:
QUOTES:

“Even if you’re a good improviser, don’t leave it up to improv. Look at your script, write your jokes before, and then if something else comes up, great! The whole thing with improve is, no matter how good you are, how often can you nail it?”

“The way you’re going to get better at writing is writing.”

076: Adam Shapiro

076: Adam Shapiro 1500 750 Alyshia Ochse

Today we chat with Adam Shapiro about what it is to be enough, being re-cast in the feature adaptation of a passion project, to the insightful advice Director Jason Winer gave just before testing for a pilot, to starting your own theatre company.

From his work on The Affair, Sense8, Grace & Frankie, The Mindy Project, and Snowfall, to his roles in Now You See Me, The House Bunny, and Steve Jobs, as well as on Broadway in Waitress—you’ve likely seen today’s guest before…

Adam is currently filming the upcoming season of Showtime’s The Affair, and recently filmed the lead role in a new TBS half-hour comedy pilot and roles in the upcoming indie films It Happened In LA (Sundance 2017), Feed, The Female Brain, and Social Animals. He’s been seen as Avie Tevanian in Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs, arcs the Netflix series from the Wachowskis: Sense8, ABC’s Cristela, Audience Network’s Kingdom, and the NBC comedy Trial & Error, as well as guest starring roles on Grace & Frankie (Netflix), Snowfall (FX) and The Mindy Project(FOX). Recent television credits include: Bones, CSI: Cyber, The Mysteries of Laura, Betrayal, 1600 Penn, Scandal, Mistresses, and Grey’s Anatomy. More Film Credits: Larry Gaye: Renegade Male Flight Attendant, The Answer, Sister, Nobody Walks in LA, Ctl Alt Delete, I Am Not A Hipster, Short Term 12, Now You See Me, A Single Man, The House Bunny, The Den.

Adam is also a co-founder of IAMA Theatre Company, and has recently starred on Broadway in the Tony nominated Waitress. Adam was most recently nominated for Ovation Awards for IAMA’s LA premiere of The Recommendation by Jon Caren (Winner Best Production 2014) and for Best Lead Actor in a Musical for Hey, Morgan! a world premiere comedy by Matthew Fogel and Isaac Laskin, Directed by Matt Shakman at the Black Dahlia Theatre. More stage credits include: Rent, You are Here, The Accidental Blonde, the world premieres of Leslye Headland’s Bachelorette and Assistance (IAMA Theatre Company), and “David” in Paul Grellong’s west coast premiere of Manuscript (The Elephant).

Tune in

Listen On iTunes

 

Resources

LINKS:
QUOTES:

“As an actor, if you don’t understand the business, everytime you don’t get a role, everytime you don’t get a job you think you’re going to get, you take it personally. If you don’t understand how actors get cast, why actors get cast, how casts are filled out, then you’re constantly going to take things personally and you can only take things so personally for so long before you say I’m done…”

“You’re constantly changing, and so is your art.”

Follow @AlyshiaOchse on Instagram
That One Audition with Alyshia Ochse (Footer Logo)

ALYSHIA OCHSE

Los Angeles-based actress, bestselling author, host of That One Audition podcast, entrepreneur, & mother.

SUBSCRIBE

©  Alyshia Ochse |  MADE WITH BY CHASE JENNINGS

    Subscribe to That One Audition with Alyshia Ochse

    Never Miss An Episode

    Alyshia Ochse