John Michalski died May 24. In a hospital in Santa Monica. Of cancer. He was 72. There’s a pretty good chance you don’t know his name. Or if you do, it’s a name you haven’t heard in a while. It’s been a few years since this native son lived and worked here.
Yet every year all across the country thousands of people plunk down their money to take improv classes hoping to be the next Bill Murray, or Seth Meyers, or Tina Fey. They don’t care if this shit could change the world. They just want their fame.
But Michalski, a true follower of Spolin-style improv, was on another plane, more interested in the work—and his students—than in fame. He learned to improvise at Forsberg’s Players Workshop, alongside others who became better known (among them Tim Kazurinsky, George Wendt, and Bill Murray), but Michalski learned Spolin’s deeper lessons—how to teach, how to transform.
