Hey guys, how’s it going? I hope all is well. Today we’re going to do a recap of the latest episode of our podcast Plagium Talks.
Our guest today is none other than Thiago Cardoso, actor, comedian, voice actor, and improv expert. He currently performs at the best comedy clubs in Rio de Janeiro and neighboring states, and also works as a production assistant at Rio Retrô Comedy Club, a comedy bar created by the famous comedian Paulinho Serra, located in Up Town in Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro.
The theme of our conversation today is “The art of improvisation.” We’ll discuss tips for keeping your mind ready for the unexpected challenges that life can bring. And with that in mind, our first question to our guest after his presentation was, what does improvisation mean to him, a guy who is directly involved in the subject, how would he define it for us. According to Thiago, improvisation is when you manage to “get out” of adverse situations, when you can handle an unexpected situation, even going as far as to say that he thinks Brazilians are the best improvisers in the world, because they are always reinventing themselves, creating something to survive. The art of improvisation is being able to transform what you have into what you want or need!
At this point, our host Alexsander even mentioned a Peugeot commercial, which was a media masterpiece, as it exactly portrays that, when you have something that is not what you want or even what you need, but then you go and create something new, create the possibility and bring it to existence. That’s improvisation for sure (Link to the mentioned commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpqSvrjZsrU)
We also talked a bit about the lives of artists and comedians who are already in the media, about how they position themselves and reinvent themselves to constantly seek new ways to enchant the audience. We even remembered a moment in Thiago Cardoso’s life when he was invited to a gaming event in Barra da Tijuca, a FIFA 2020 championship, and people were very excited about the games. In the middle of the championship, a stand-up comedy show was introduced. There were 4 performances, which were indeed very good, but they were not able to hold the audience’s attention because they really wanted to watch the championship games. That’s when this guy, Thiago Cardoso, enters the scene and starts interacting with the audience, improvising and making everyone laugh and engage with him, joking with those who were sleeping, with couples, and all sorts of people at the event.
Thiago also mentioned that he has been working in sales since he was 16 years old, which helped him develop a way to grab the attention of those around him. This allowed him to stand out in the jobs he has had since then, showing that he was born with a unique talent for dealing with the public, always with his irreverent and funny tone.
But the question that remains is, how does an artist improve their tools? What’s the learning process, the study process for someone in this field to improve, given that there isn’t an accessible curriculum like we see in other fields. Thiago says he’s always studied a lot, because artists need to be developing every day, especially in the comedy area, because being a comedian is different from being funny. According to Thiago, a comedian is someone who makes a living doing stand-up. There are courses all over Brazil on improvisation, comedy, and other types of courses that help new and veteran artists improve.
Even though these courses exist, they are not very financially accessible. As Thiago himself mentioned, the courses are still a bit elitist. He managed to find a very good course with a slightly more affordable price at the time he was studying. But there are also mini-courses that are cheaper and can be an alternative for those who want to enter the market but don’t have much financial means. The important thing is not to give up because of the barriers. Today, there are also various study materials on YouTube where a person with the desire can study and improve for free, you just need to be dedicated.
The great tip that Thiago gives to those who are starting out and don’t have the financial means to take a course or a mini-course is to watch YouTube videos teaching techniques followed by presentation videos, and you keep looping between learning and visualizing until you start to understand the techniques being applied in the presentations, even before trying to apply any technique to write your own text. Once you can start identifying the dynamics applied, you can start writing your text. According to him, the best way to write a text is by recounting the events of your daily life.
Regarding the trend of people going viral and becoming famous for making funny videos on content sharing platforms like Instagram’s Reels and TikTok, we asked how this has affected the lives of comedians. Thiago says it’s been terrible for comedians, because it devalues all the work and study they seek to bring quality content. However, people who are funny or creative can achieve this fame, some temporarily, others permanently, without having gone through this trajectory, it’s like cheating. We also discussed theater business, which is another way of working that Thiago applies, a way to apply some comedy, improvisation, and theater techniques in the professional area, helping employees of the companies that hire his work and his team. It’s a very cool and innovative way to liven up the internal lives of their employees, we found it very interesting.
In our host Alexsander’s school days, there was a subject called performing arts, which taught concepts of art, theater, communication, and expression. According to him, this subject was very important for developing his current skills in public speaking, open conversation, quick thinking, confidence, and as I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, these skills were very important for him. So based on this, we asked Thiago about the importance of art in people’s lives, and he highlighted some skills that greatly improved people’s lives, as with theater, a person can express themselves better, memorize better, develop posture, persuasion, and other learned skills.
We asked him for some tips on how to better develop a public presentation, how to behave, and how to prepare for this type of situation. The tips Thiago gave were: fully master the subject you will talk about, the more you know about the subject, the less fear you will have of speaking about it, always position yourself as an authority on the subject, organize your topics into blocks, into bullet points, as it will be easier to remember when it’s time for the presentation, if you use a slide, you can put the title of the topic and just by seeing the titles, you will probably remember what was studied, to memorize the texts, he suggested writing the entire text by hand so that your mind remembers better what you are going to say, it’s always good to do vocal warm-ups for a better tone of your voice and not get tired while speaking, breathing exercises for speech, among other tips that you will see when you watch our complete podcast.
To wrap up our summary, we have another challenge for this Plagium Talks, the challenge is: you will send us a story, and we will select the 3 best stories sent, then Thiago Cardoso will reconstruct one of these stories turning it into a comedy story, and the best story will win a credit bonus from Plagium, cool right? To participate is easy, go to YouTube and send your story in the comments and hope that your story is chosen. That’s it, folks, we are saying goodbye to another episode and we are already getting ready for our next trip, we count on your support, and thank you very much for your presence!
Useful links:
Plagium Talks #2 – https://youtu.be/1YBmHkvuA1E
GUEST:
Thiago Cardoso:
https://linktr.ee/eusouthiagocardoso
HOST:
Alexsander Santos:
https://linktr.ee/ahsantos
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