Neurodiversity and Improv

About Neurodiversity and Improv

Your Improv Brain is a show that helps you understand your brain (and body!) to be a happier, better performer. I'll also explore the intersection of improv comedy, neurodivergence, and the science of performance. Episodes cover how different brain types, including neurodivergent and neurotypical minds, experience comedy and performance. The show discusses creating supportive environments and understanding cognitive differences in improv practice. Your Improv Brain also explores how neurodivergence, including ADHD and autism, impacts how we learn, coach, and perform. Host Jen deHaan - who is certifying in multiple programs based on nervous system regulation - gets into the science of why we freeze up on stage, how to find flow state, and using nervous system regulation tools to become a more resilient improviser and actor. Why this show is for you Whether you are neurodivergent or neurotypical, this show provides a neuroinclusive lens on the creative process. We move beyond "yes and" to discuss: How different brain wiring affects ensemble teamwork. Overcoming stage fright and the "body" side of performance. Tools for autistic and ADHD improvisers to thrive in rehearsals and shows. Improving coaching techniques for comedy teachers and directors. About the host Hosted by Jen deHaan. Jen is an autistic and ADHD comedy performer, writer, and improv enthusiast. These episodes offer a deep dive into the intersection of cognition and creativity to help you work more efficiently, learn more effectively, and ultimately, be funnier. More about Jen at https://jendehaan.com/about. Note: This show was formerly titled "Neurodiversity and Improv." Produced by: https://StereoForest.com This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

Publisher

Jen deHaan

Category

arts · comedy · education

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

31 Oct 2023

Latest episode

27 Jul 2026

Latest episodes

70 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   27 Jul 2026

   Answer The "More Energy" Improv Note Your OWN Way

   You get the "more energy" note in improv and nobody tells you what to actually change. I take that note apart and look at what your teacher was probably reacting to. The energy note does a lot of work in one word, so it can mean several different things at once, and most of us never ask for the clarification. In this episode I go through what a coach might be seeing when a scene reads as underpowered, and the mechanical choices available to you at your completely normal speaking volume. I also get into why the thing most of us do when we feel underpowered tends to make it worse, and why the option nobody suggests might be the one that holds a room. Before improv I taught dance fitness, and the presence I learned there had less to do with being loud than you might think. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: What your teacher is probably reacting to when they say "more energy" The four things you can adjust without raising your volume at all Why adding motion when you feel underpowered often reads as something else entirely The choice that can command a stage without you doing anything How to finish the energy note yourself instead of paying an improv tax CHAPTERS: 0:00 What dance fitness taught me about presence 2:35 Taking apart the "more energy" note 3:05 Show ident 3:50 Why the note is hard to use 6:00 Focus, and where your attention goes 7:19 Stance and where your weight sits 8:27 Tempo and cadence in a scene 9:13 How you take up the space 10:59 Reading "more" as more intentional 12:30 The option beyond movement 13:48 Why we add motion when we feel underpowered 15:16 Performance you might already be doing all day 17:04 Choosing big when you want it 18:47 Finishing the note yourself RESOURCES: Previous episode on pauses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vWZM6qoEM8 Off Script workshops: https://YourImprovBrain.com/offscript Downloadable content Download the Free Post-Show Reflection Guide: Sent to your inbox when you subscribe to either newsletter (https://yourimprovbrain.com/newsletter) (and added to the footer to each message if you're already subscribed). NEW! Comprehensive guides all about getting notes as a student, or giving them as a teacher. Two guides, big discount if you get both! https://yourimprovbrain.com/notes (https://yourimprovbrain.com/notes) Get a booklet with six exercises (https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop) to help you get reps in challenging scenes called "Exercises to Ruin You" Get more downloadable booklets here: https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop (https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop) Review the show Please consider leaving a review wherever you review podcasts. Don't know where? Here are some options. Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/your-improv-brain/id1714368621) | Podchaser (https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/your-improv-brain-5518538) It helps out! Thanks! Support the show Like this episode or show and want more? Support us with a one-time tip: https://learn.improvupdate.com/products/support (https://learn.improvupdate.com/products/support) We love our podcast host Capitvate.fm! Contact to ask me anything, anytime. You can support the shows by signing up with Captivate here: https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yzjiytz (https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yzjiytz) We have our newsletters on Kit.com. We also have our tip form with them, and sell products on their platform. Easy, and they don't take a cut! Check Kit out and support the show using this: https://partners.kit.com/ijdkivtf8ndd (https://partners.kit.com/ijdkivtf8ndd) Transcriptions by MacWhisper. I use and love the Pro version (subscription free!) - you can get it too using this link: https://gumroad.com/a/20303251/ivpqk (https://gumroad.com/a/20303251/ivpqk) Schedule posts? We use Metricool (reasonable for multiple accounts/brands/shows). Support us using our link: https://f.mtr.cool/VZBOZR (https://f.mtr.cool/VZBOZR) Support the show and get creative templates and assets: https://share.uppbeat.io/p4od8inwhc2j (https://share.uppbeat.io/p4od8inwhc2j) About This podcast was created, written, and is hosted by Jen deHaan. Jen has certifications related to healthy communities (Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy), nervous system regulation and soon teacher training certification on community resilience. She has a BFA in teaching creative arts to adults. You can find her full bio here (https://jendehaan.com/about). This podcast was written, recorded and edited in British Columbia, Canada by Jen. Mentioned in this episode: Visit Your Improv Brain Workshops, this show, newsletter & Jams, downloads and more. https://YourImprovBrain.com This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

2. 

   20 Jul 2026

   Confidence vs Hesitation in Improv Scenes

   WORKSHOPS! Check out what's coming up for the Off Script Workshops. We're working on stuff brought up in this ep. https://yourimprovbrain.com/offscript (https://yourimprovbrain.com/offscript) If you start building your next line while your scene partner is still talking, you might be solving the wrong problem. This episode is about the improv pause, the beat between an offer and your response. Every improv scene has gaps in it, and most of the time nobody notices them because they stay short and disappear into the rhythm of the dialogue. When a pause runs longer, people start reading it, and the reading is usually some version of hesitation. That gets you the standard notes about committing faster or trusting your first instinct, which assume something fairly specific about what was going on inside your head during that silence. I talk about what a pause can actually be, why two completely different internal situations can produce almost identical silences on the outside, and what you can put into a beat so it reads the way you want it to. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: Why speeding up your response can cost you the offer you needed most The difference between a pause that reads as blanking and one that reads as a choice Why the note to just be quicker asks you to fix the one thing that might not be available What to put into a beat so your scene partner stops filling it in for you A couple of options when an offer arrives with more information in it than you can hold CHAPTERS: 0:00 Building your line while your partner is still talking 1:55 What this episode is about 2:17 Improv as a receiving activity first 3:05 Beats and gaps, and when people start noticing them 4:47 The note you get when a pause reads as a confidence problem 6:56 Two very different things that look identical from outside 9:10 The third kind of pause 10:00 The fix almost everyone arrives at on their own 12:20 Processing delays and working memory inside a scene 13:43 What a confident performer is actually doing in a beat 16:20 Reacting before you respond 18:17 Options when the offer has too much in it 20:35 Where the phrase "juicy pauses" came from RESOURCES: Suzi Barrett, improv podcaster, who coined the "juicy pauses" note: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgWKnIrmQ973mnHJtRRNAdA Earlier episodes on blanking and freezing on stage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeilTyCoEKE (and check the description for many more!) Earlier episode on silence and pauses as a chosen dramatic tool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkIxMS8R30E Downloadable content Download the Free Post-Show Reflection Guide: Sent to your inbox when you subscribe to either newsletter (https://yourimprovbrain.com/newsletter) (and added to the footer to each message if you're already subscribed). NEW! Comprehensive guides all about getting notes as a student, or giving them as a teacher. Two guides, big discount if you get both! https://yourimprovbrain.com/notes (https://yourimprovbrain.com/notes) Get a booklet with six exercises (https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop) to help you get reps in challenging scenes called "Exercises to Ruin You" Get more downloadable booklets here: https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop (https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop) Review the show Please consider leaving a review wherever you review podcasts. Don't know where? Here are some options. Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/your-improv-brain/id1714368621) | Podchaser (https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/your-improv-brain-5518538) It helps out! Thanks! Support the show Like this episode or show and want more? Support us with a one-time tip: https://learn.improvupdate.com/products/support (https://learn.improvupdate.com/products/support) We love our podcast host Capitvate.fm! Contact to ask me anything, anytime. You can support the shows by signing up with Captivate here: https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yzjiytz (https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yzjiytz) We have our newsletters on Kit.com. We also have our tip form with them, and sell products on their platform. Easy, and they don't take a cut! Check Kit out and support the show using this: https://partners.kit.com/ijdkivtf8ndd (https://partners.kit.com/ijdkivtf8ndd) Transcriptions by MacWhisper. I use and love the Pro version (subscription free!) - you can get it too using this link: https://gumroad.com/a/20303251/ivpqk (https://gumroad.com/a/20303251/ivpqk) Schedule posts? We use Metricool (reasonable for multiple accounts/brands/shows). Support us using our link: https://f.mtr.cool/VZBOZR (https://f.mtr.cool/VZBOZR) Support the show and get creative templates and assets: https://share.uppbeat.io/p4od8inwhc2j (https://share.uppbeat.io/p4od8inwhc2j) About This podcast was created, written, and is hosted by Jen deHaan. Jen has certifications related to healthy communities (Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy), nervous system regulation and soon teacher training certification on community resilience. She has a BFA in teaching creative arts to adults. You can find her full bio here (https://jendehaan.com/about). This podcast was written, recorded and edited in British Columbia, Canada by Jen. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

3. 

   13 Jul 2026

   Improv Freeze Fix! Set Up In Advance as a Default Move

   You're in a scene, it's your turn, and your brain goes somewhere else. Going blank on stage, hitting that freeze, is near the top of most improvisers' fear lists, and I want to add something new to the pile of advice about it. I have new things to say about this thing, possibly even something that's a fix. Basically, you need to sort out your default move. Most advice about the improv freeze(tm) tells you to say or do the next thing, anything at all, and that does work a lot of the time. It can also be the exact thing that froze you in the first place, yuck, especially if you're a neurodivergent improviser with a long history of being told you read the moment wrong or missed the subtext or that unsaid thing that we were supposed to guess or assume. Yuck. In this episode I offer one more way to think about why the freeze happens, and one specific thing you can sort out ahead of time so you're not making a decision while you're already flooded. I also get into why the pause you're sitting in might be more useful than you think. Ooo foreshadowing and clickbait! What you'll learn: Why that blank feeling might be the opposite of blank The link between a fear of being wrong and a full-body shutdown-y stall-out on stage Why "just say anything" can backfire for some improvisers and isn't useful on its own without some more info, data, or nuance The three modes most improvisers default to, and how to find yours! With details! How to practise your emergency move in everyday life so it's ready when you need it! Planning for improv scenes! No, no, it's not like that. Chapters: 0:00 The moment your brain leaves the scene 1:03 The classic advice, and where it can fall apart 2:08 What I'm adding this time 2:27 The reframe to try on 3:57 The fear of being wrong, and my hypothesis about it 6:05 Embracing the pause 6:47 Visual, kinesthetic, and vocal moves 8:00 Why choosing under pressure is its own problem 9:27 Sorting your default out in advance 11:41 Practising it with random triggers 13:44 Off Script workshops 14:20 The short version, the tldr; at the very damn end of the episode muahaha Workshops: Off Script workshops, monthly, online, small group, neuroinclusive, cameras off welcome: https://YourImprovBrain.com/offscript (https://YourImprovBrain.com/offscript) <-- it will be fun, please come join. Related episodes: Mind Blank on Stage? A 3-Step Reboot for Your Brain https://youtu.be/uEdWr4QfRCA Mind goes Blank on Initiations: https://youtu.be/8HXZl0LS7AU A Source of Great Improv Ideas (bonus: Get Out of Your Head) https://youtu.be/32QbDf9C-wg Clear Mind = Get Out of Your Head in Improv https://youtu.be/QtTu7SvUm-A 3-Step System & Exercise to Manage Self-Criticism in Improv https://youtu.be/d7X1gFgtkn8 Downloadable content Download the Free Post-Show Reflection Guide: Sent to your inbox when you subscribe to either newsletter (https://yourimprovbrain.com/newsletter) (and added to the footer to each message if you're already subscribed). NEW! Comprehensive guides all about getting notes as a student, or giving them as a teacher. Two guides, big discount if you get both! https://yourimprovbrain.com/notes (https://yourimprovbrain.com/notes) Get a booklet with six exercises (https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop) to help you get reps in challenging scenes called "Exercises to Ruin You" Get more downloadable booklets here: https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop (https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop) Review the show Please consider leaving a review wherever you review podcasts. Don't know where? Here are some options. Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/your-improv-brain/id1714368621) | Podchaser (https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/your-improv-brain-5518538) It helps out! Thanks! Support the show Like this episode or show and want more? Support us with a one-time tip: https://learn.improvupdate.com/products/support (https://learn.improvupdate.com/products/support) We love our podcast host Capitvate.fm! Contact to ask me anything, anytime. You can support the shows by signing up with Captivate here: https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yzjiytz (https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yzjiytz) We have our newsletters on Kit.com. We also have our tip form with them, and sell products on their platform. Easy, and they don't take a cut! Check Kit out and support the show using this: https://partners.kit.com/ijdkivtf8ndd (https://partners.kit.com/ijdkivtf8ndd) Transcriptions by MacWhisper. I use and love the Pro version (subscription free!) - you can get it too using this link: https://gumroad.com/a/20303251/ivpqk (https://gumroad.com/a/20303251/ivpqk) Schedule posts? We use Metricool (reasonable for multiple accounts/brands/shows). Support us using our link: https://f.mtr.cool/VZBOZR (https://f.mtr.cool/VZBOZR) Support the show and get creative templates and assets: https://share.uppbeat.io/p4od8inwhc2j (https://share.uppbeat.io/p4od8inwhc2j) About This podcast was created, written, and is hosted by Jen deHaan. Jen has certifications related to healthy communities (Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy), nervous system regulation and soon teacher training certification on community resilience. She has a BFA in teaching creative arts to adults. You can find her full bio here (https://jendehaan.com/about). This podcast was written, recorded and edited in British Columbia, Canada by Jen. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

45,703

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Spotify

4.4 / 5

7 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 74 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

94

Social presence

0

YouTube

76

Engagement

60

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