The Nerdist School. Comedy for Creators.

When adding another school to the ever expanding Improv landscape - The Nerdist School aimed to be the school that would be the perfect fit for Los Angeles. Born of this city, we have paired the passion Nerdist devotees have for their fandom with the aspirations of actors and writers wanting to succeed in Hollywood. Improv as an art form has evolved and exists outside of the theaters that bore them - it has infiltrated content on every platform.

Our goal is to develop improv for Web, Television and Film. We are the only school that has a direct outlet to one of the highest trafficked websites on the internet, and maintains vertical integration with Nerdist Online, Legendary Digital, and ultimately, Legendary Pictures.

With the 2017 launch of the Alpha network, Nerdist’s own online channel — we have opportunities no other program can boast.

All of our faculty currently work in the industry - No other faculty is as active in acting, producing, writing and directing. Our conduits to the industry has offered direct casting to many of our students.

We stand by our curriculum — that it is tailored to the Los Angeles creator and will provide the skills needed to excel on set or in a writers room.

Above all this - we urge our community to let go of their ego, you can be a good human AND be successful.

Interested but don’t know where to start? Check out our class offerings, show calendar, or shoot us an email. Current house team members log in here.

We look forward to seeing you around!

We can’t get enough Sylvester/Ptolemy on Westworld! Nerdist School Director Ptolemy Slocum joins his fellow Body Shop Tech on Nerdist’s Westworld S1 Wrap-up Show!

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Nerdist School Director Ptolemy Slocum talks with The Hollywood Reporter about the big reveals from episode eight of the HBO drama Westworld.

‘Westworld’ Stars Talk Thandie Newton’s “Bone-Chilling” Maeve Reveal

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Lots of Westworld news! Our school director and founder Ptolemy Slocum did a Reddit AMA! Check it out:

IAmA adorable Body Shop Tech on Westworld called Sylvester, Ptolemy Slocum, and I’m sure you have a lot of questions. AMA! * /r/IAmA

 

 

Slocum, a character actor who’s appeared in a number of films and in HBO series including The Wire, Veep and The Sopranos, is the lead teacher at the Nerdist School, a year-old improv instruction center named for actor Chris Hardwick’s megapopular geek-culture podcast and website. (Not to be confused with the NerdMelt Showroom, the popular stand-up stage in the back of the comics shop.)

For 15 years, since back in his New York theater days, Slocum has been developing a curriculum that embraces a more experimental, less rule-bound approach to improv.

“It’s about raw performance, doing exactly what’s coming out of you,” he says. “You get to the point where all the rules are gone. To a point of pure expression.”

While the Nerdist School has the backing of Hardwick’s brand, it’s distinctly its own thing. Hardwick doesn’t sit in the back row and give notes — he simply bought into Slocum’s vision. “There is a lot of crossover in the philosophies,” Slocum says. “We’re looking for people with personal passion that drives them, but who aren’t the type that, you know, does whatever it takes to fuck over the competition. Chris had one rule: Make sure no one is an asshole.”

Read the full article on the LA WEEKLY site here