Teaching Pittsburgh Comedy for over 10 years!
About our Workshops
Arcade Comedy Theater offers workshops for beginner and advanced improvisers on a variety of subjects, inspiring performers to continue their education and approach the art of improv from different directions. Workshops have been taught by nationally-known improvisers and instructors, including Kevin McDonald, Laura Hall, Rick Hall, Jimmy Carrane, Paul Grondy, Maribeth Monroe, Jaime Moyer, Rob Belushi, Tim Stoltenberg, Susan Messing, Rachel Mason and more.
Coming in October
Arcade Comedy Theater welcomes comedy writing legend Rich Talarico back for an immersive two-day master class in sketch comedy. Spend the weekend learning from this Peabody Award-winning comedy writer, perform in a show, and see his lecture on the art of joke writing.
RICH TALARICO
Sketch Comedy Master Class
Peabody Award Winner Rich Talarico returns to Arcade for a 2-day intensive sketch workshop to take experienced sketch writers to the next level in their artform. Day one, Rich will bring his extensive experience to share comedy writing insights on scenes brought by students into the writers room. Rich will run the class like a writers’ room so students will have the benefit of feedback from other writers. Rich will share insights on punching up and editing scenes as well as thoughts on formatting and story structure.
Day two, students will work with a cast of actors to prepare for a live readthrough of their material for a live readthrough that evening at Arcade. Rich will guide students on how to adjust sketches to make the most of their actors’ styles and abilities and create the best and most entertaining performance of their sketches.
Students must bring one complete sketch draft to the workshop (3 to 5 pages) to be workshopped and perfected in the first day of the workshop and brought to life in the second day!
Master Class participants will also get a free ticket to Rich’s “How to Write a Joke” lecture at 11AM on October 14 ($25 value).
Full agenda:
- Saturday 10/14, 3-6PM: Workshop part one with Writer’s Room and overall sketch comedy guidance from Rich
- Sunday 10/15, 2-6PM: Workshop part two with actors and further edits to sketches to prepare for performance
- Sunday 10/15, 7:30-9PM: Readthrough performance of sketches at Arcade Comedy Theater.
Workshop October 14-15
Registration is $150
Includes the two-day workshop,
plus a show and a lecture.
Ages 18+
Lecture, Oct 14 11am-1pm
Registration is $25
A two-hour lecture on “How to Write a Joke”
Ages 18+ | You don’t need to purchase this ticket if you’re attending the workshop, it’s included.
About the Instructors
Rich Talarico
Rich Talarico is a Peabody® Award winner who boasts four Emmy® nominations, as well as four Writers Guild Award noms. Rich is a distinguished writer/producer known for his significant contributions to Key & Peele. Rich wrote K&P favorites Substitute Teacher, Racist Zombies, Karim and Jahar, Hatz, Teaching Center, Obama Greets, Black Ice and many more. Rich wrote and produced on some of the biggest comedy shows in late-night; MADtv, The Tonight Show w. Jay Leno, Saturday Night Live, and the critically acclaimed, Review. Rich is an alum of Chicago’s Second City and has appeared in featured roles on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, MADtv, the feature film High Fidelity and A&W Root Beer’s classic TV ad, “Mr. Dumass.” Talarico’s extensive experience in the comedy industry has made him a sought-after teacher, writer and consultant. — more at richtalarico.com
“Rich Talarico is one of the all time great Caucasian Improvisers.” — Tina Fey
“As a teacher, Rich Talarico brings Lakers legendary coach Phil Jackson to mind. A cerebral educator who brings out the best in people.” — Keith “Lucky” Lehrer original drummer of “Circle Jerks”
“I seriously don’t think I’ve had the chance to absorb that much good content in a small amount of time ever… even in college!” — Jessica Christopher, Student
“I learned more about sketch writing in this class than any other class I’ve taken in the past.” — Mirejah Cruz, Student
“Rich knows how to write sketches — that much is obvious. But it was clear that he loves helping people get better too. Don’t wait to find a better sketch class. It might not come along.” — Tim Marks, Co-Founder, Fountain City Sketch Company