The many faces of Jill Bernard
Each of them hilarious
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Jill Bernard believes in being relentlessly enthusiastic, and that's probably how the Minneapolis improviser finds the energy each year to make it to almost every major improv festival in the U.S. Locally, she's one of the co-organizers of the Twin Cities Improv Festival, and will be on stage no less than four times: on Friday with ComedySportz, After The Party and HUGE Theater, and on Saturday with her one-woman musical Drum Machine. Decider spoke with her about the many roles her unbridled enthusiasm enables her to perform.
Role 1: Creator, Drum Machine
Jill Bernard: It's an improvised epic, sweeping, historical musical with one person. I woke up one morning and I thought to myself, "There should be a show called Drum Machine." So I walked down the street—there happened to be a music store at the end of my block at the time—and I said, "I would like to buy a drum machine." And the guy said, "What kind?" And I said, "I have no idea. What's a drum machine?"
Decider: You just woke up with the words "drum machine" in your head?
JB: Yeah, I wonder what I was dreaming. I knew there was a thing called a "drum machine," and I just thought the words sounded cool.
D: Is there an era of history that works particularly well with the show's format?
JB: It's worked out fine with every era so far. There are eras that people yell over and over again because they're just interested in them: the French Revolution, the fall of Rome. So far it's worked for everything from the invention of the wheel to landing on the moon.
Role 2: Ambassador of improv
D: You received the Avery Schreiber Ambassador Of Improv award at the 2005 Chicago Improv Festival. What are your duties as a comedy dignitary?
JB: I go to a lot of cities, and I talk to a lot of people, and I try to connect them. I feel really great if somebody's like, "Hey, what kind of improv is there in Juneau, Alaska?" and I can say, "Oh, I know a guy!"
D: So you're a Rolodex of improv as well?
JB: I try. And if I don't know, I'll do the legwork for you because I'm curious about it.
D: Any other duties?
JB: Well, the main thing is I have diplomatic immunity. So I can commit any improv crime that I want. If I want to mime killing someone, there will be no repercussions, legally.
Role 3: Co-founder, HUGE Theater
D: What goes into starting up a theater like that?
JB: Well, we don't have a building yet—we're working on that—but we've produced a lot of shows. We're lucky that Minneapolis has a powerful scripted theater community, so we rent theaters all over the place. There's a couple of really good ones for rent.
Role 4: Author, Jill Bernard's Small Cute Book Of Improv
JB: It is small and cute, but it's grown. It's now 6 inches by 6 inches and 24 pages long.
D: How small was it when it began?
JB: It was one 8 1/2-by-11 sheet of paper folded up a bunch of times. So, very small.
D: How does the book approach explaining improv?
JB: It covers some of my philosophies. There's an essay in there about different improv ideas I have, like "The 'N Sync Principle": If you see one guy waving his hand in a circle, it looks dumb, but if you see five guys doing it, it's the choreography to "Bye, Bye, Bye," and it's great. The improv principle is if one person makes a choice, you can make it stronger by doing it with them.
Role 5: Guest star, MTV's MADE
JB: I wasn't the girl's main coach, but she didn't know what she wanted to do with her life, so they had her try out a bunch of different things, including improv. The retakes were amazing. "We have to do a retake of reality? Okay." There's a part where they wanted me to yell at her for being late, and I was like, "Guys, you have to be kidding. Improvisers are never on time for anything." But they needed, for the drama of the show, for me to say [in gruff voice], "You're late, sit down."
D: Is that girl still improvising?
JB: She dropped it entirely. Last time I talked to her, she was a receptionist at a flight school, and she's a born-again Christian. So she went the completely opposite direction. I think what that show taught her was that she needed to move far away from her hometown, and she did.
