We caught up with the brilliant and insightful PJ McCormick a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
PJ, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
“The Shared Experience Studio’s mission is to guide improvisers, comedy writers and comedic actors as they refine their craft in an ongoing quest to make their work meet their standards. We cultivate a style that is nuanced, grounded, and joyfully collaborative, with an intellectual eye on the shared experience between audience and performer. Our teaching methodology centers the comedian and their goals and is thoughtful, inclusive, practical, and honest. We believe this gives comedians the confidence to take creative risks and agency over the development of their instrument.”
That’s our mission statement. I interpret that as a desire to understand the human condition in an ever-evolving culture, and use that as a foundation for our comedy. Anyone who’s been to a friend’s improv show can relate to the palpable cringe that encompasses the audience. We don’t want to be arbitrary in our choices as comedians, nor do we want to punch down on people based on their identity, orientation or culture. We want our jokes to be understood universally, because our existence and motivations as humans are absurd enough.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
At age 16 I began performing in the Texas pro wrestling scene where I performed under the pseudonym Johnny Ender as part of The Nerdy Boys tag team. I soon moved to New York for an internship at The Howard Stern Show where I worked my way up to associate producer and contributing writer. In Los Angeles I fell in love with improv comedy and began taking classes at Upright Citizens Brigade. I got on a Harold team in 2019, a popular weekly show that has propelled the careers of performers, and currently perform on Lohan. I host UCB ONE BIG JAM, a weekly show where anyone can hop on stage and play. And I’m a member of Filipino AF, an all Filipinx improv team. I’ve since partnered with my mentor James Mastraieni and co-founded The Shared Experience Studio, an improv and comedy school. Along with Dayna LoBosco and Karen Baughn, our studio produces a weekly comedy show called The Shared Experience Show where we present the best performers in LA. It is every Wednesday at 7:30pm and 9pm at The Lyric Hyperion Theater.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
Honestly, not really. I’ve always just followed whatever interests me. I’ve had a pretty varied career, but my main desire has always been performing. I try to take an artist’s approach to everything I do. If I’m gonna try it, I will commit 100% so that even if I fail, I can’t fault myself for a lack of effort. I understand that a lot of success relies on luck. But you also gotta be available at the right time, with the right skills for the project. So you gotta always be prepared. But yeah, I try not to concern myself with the pressures of hitting a goal or things out of my control. I just stay ready.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
We are still in the process of building our business. We hope to have our own brick and mortar establishment where we can run classes and shows. Right now, I’m teaching affordable drop in improv classes. I put a little money into the business so we can afford a down payment on a spot. My partners are teaching workshops and we’re producing content for a Patreon. We want our philosophy to be accessible to people who don’t live in LA. And we’d love to travel to other countries to teach. We’re like a comedy virus. x 
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thesharedexperiencestudio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesharedexperiencestudio
- Twitter: @thesharedexperiencestudio
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSharedExperienceStudio
- Personal: @peejmccormick on
- IG: peejmccormick.com
Image Credits
Sonya Isenberg JL Ducker Greg Wallace Tyler Austrie