COMEDY • IMPROV • 25+ YEARS OF MAKING THINGS UP
Before I Started Finding Family Secrets, I Made People Laugh.
For more than twenty five years, Al Isaacs performed and taught stand-up and improvisational comedy throughout the Northeast—on comedy club stages, at colleges, theaters, corporate events and just about anywhere an audience was willing to shout out a suggestion.
Twice Named “Long Island's Best Comedian”
— Long Island Press
ON STAGE
No Script Was Usually the Point.
I stumbled into improv almost by accident. In 1989, I signed up for an improv class at East Side Comedy for one very practical reason: the class met on the same night as the club's stand-up open mic. I figured I could take the class and then stick around to work on my stand-up. Instead, I fell in love with improv. There was something addictive about walking onto a stage with absolutely no idea what was going to happen next—and discovering that listening, committing and trusting the people around you could somehow turn nothing into a scene.
Before long, I was performing with The East Side Players, the club's improv group. The cast at the time included another young Long Island comic named Kevin James, years before The King of Queens and movie stardom. Those nights taught me lessons that stayed with me for the rest of my career: don't plan the funny, listen harder than you talk, trust your instincts, and when something unexpected happens, don't fight it—use it. What started as a convenient way to kill time before an open mic became a form I would perform, teach and obsess over for the next several decades.
TEACHING IMPROVISATION
Say Yes. Then Figure Out What Happens Next.
For more than 20 years, Al taught improvisation to everyone from first-time performers to working comedians, children and teenagers, college students and corporate teams.
His classes focused less on “being funny” and more on the skills that make improv work: listening, trust, commitment, collaboration and being willing to fail spectacularly in front of other people.
Al taught for five years at Long Island's legendary Brokerage Comedy Club and three years through Hofstra University's Continuing Education program, along with private workshops, theater programs and corporate events.
WHAT PEOPLE SAID
"I've taken classes with Al in the beginning of my career. There is nothing better than winding up at a comedy club and knowing you're working with Al Isaacs for the weekend. The only thing that might be better? Going to a comedy club and seeing Al perform!”
Tom Kelly, Comedian / Writer / Producer
"Al in an incredible, focused and patient teacher. Every kid I know who has taken his classes has come away with a better understanding of improv and as a better all-around performer.”
Laura Malbera, Dream Maker’s Performing Arts
"Al Isaacs teaches a comedy improv class at Hofstra Continuing Education and it is one of our most popular classes. Al consistently gets excellent evaluations and always has great ideas for new programs. I've also seen Al perform numerous times and he never fails to have the audience hysterically laughing. I highly recommend both Al's class as well as his performances.”
Deb Honoroff, Hofstra University (Retired)
"Al is a master at improvisation!"
Andy Scarpati - Owner of Comedy Cabaret
TURNS OUT, NONE OF IT WAS WASTED
Comedy Taught Me How to Tell a Story.
Stand-up taught me timing. Improv taught me to listen. Teaching taught me how to find the part of a story that connects with someone else.
I didn't know it at the time, but all of that would eventually become part of Finding Mary Smith.
When my life suddenly turned into a story involving adoption, DNA, family secrets, a teenage folk singer and a fifty-year-old mystery, comedy didn't disappear from the picture.
It became one of the ways I learned to tell it.