The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast · Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey

PEL Presents PvI#109: Choose Your Own Failure w/ Rich Baker

·49 min·3 clips

Rich defines failure in improv as sacrificing scene integrity or scene-partner safety for the joke.

1. Philosophy vs. Improv centers on Rich Baker, Mark Linsenmeier, and Mary Hines talking about failure across philosophy and improvisation. 2. Rich Baker matters here as the guest, because he runs Dare to Fail Improv and has taught and coached improv for over 20 years. 3. The episode asks what failure is for, and whether improv and philosophy both depend on trying, missing, and revising. 4. Rich compares improv to juggling and flight simulation, where repeated drops and crashes are part of learning. 5. Mark brings in Freud and describes people retracting their goals from risky love toward safer, self-judged forms of success. 6. The hosts treat stakes as central, contrasting improv’s low stakes with surgery and fighter pilots’ high-stakes work. 7. A long restaurant scene about “the stakes as you deserve them house” turns the word stakes into a running improvised pun. 8. The conversation also moves into public consequences, including how an improv clip on the internet could affect someone applying for a job. 9. Rich tells a story about a band partner who feared a year of touring would create a résumé gap for future engineering jobs. 10. He also says a college student with an accent should not feel forced to get an A, only to keep learning. 11. Rich says his father was a “failed musician,” which he uses to show how careers in music often require day jobs. 12. The episode returns to Carson and “Robo Carson,” using a fake late-night robot host to joke about success, aging, and performance. 13. Rich says improvisers should not “yes, and” horrible topics like rape or cancer without guardrails. 14. He explains that “yes” means accepting what is already onstage, not necessarily continuing the harmful material. 15. Rich cites a teacher’s critique of a show and uses that to define a good scene as one where everyone on stage feels supported and the audience stays engaged. 16. Mark presses the question of whether there is any true objective failure, and Rich answers that people set their own metrics. 17. The tone stays loose and playful, with repeated interruptions, callbacks, and improvised character bits. 18. The format mixes discussion and improv scenes, then circles back to explain how the two parts support each other. 19. Listeners who like improv craft, philosophy, and self-made standards will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners who want a tightly structured argument without digressions may skip it.

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