Today we’d like to introduce you to Nameless Numberhead.
Hi Nameless Numberhead, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Our story starts in Chicago, IL where we met doing comedy and theatre. We both chased the ole comedy goose all the way to Chicago because that’s often credited with the best training for what we wanted to do which was improvisation.
We got involved in a ton of creative projects and just immersed ourselves in a crazy world of the most talented and funniest people on the planet. Improv, Sketch, Experimental Theatre, and just some really outside the box stuff. We worked with a theatre company that used improvisation to develop scripted plays which led us to winning some awards and putting us on the map in Chicago. In 2011, Henry was a part of a show that won a Jeff Award (the Chicago Tony’s) for Original Music Composition. Then in 2012, a play that Maari co-created called ‘5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche’ caught fire and was called up to an Off-Broadway run in New York.
Our time in Chicago was filled with a million highlights. Many of our friends and colleagues went on to become household names and many did not – but all of them were geniuses! In the mid 2010’s – we couldn’t go more than 2 commercials on television without seeing someone who was in the Chicago improv scene. And that time and education has had a lasting impact on our work and producing philosophy.
In 2014 we moved to Charleston SC, which is… NOT where you go to build a comedy arts career but Henry was from the area so we used connections to start building an independent comedy brand which initially toured the country for a number of years including some high profile festivals and colleges. We’ve spent years trying to figure out a working business model and some might argue we are still trying to figure it out today, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha…
….hahahahahahahahaha.
Our company Nameless Numberhead has evolved into a live comedy production apparatus as well as a client-driven content resource that still draws on the the teachings and philosophy of Chicago style improvisation.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Ooops, maybe we spoke on that in the last question a bit – but definitely not a smooth road. Something we learned in Chicago is that failure is part of the learning process. We have used challenges and missteps along the way to guide us into the next leg of the journey.
The challenge is trying to find success in one of the most subjective careers out there, the arts. The options are endless and yet…somehow still limited. The 2 person sketch comedy show we built was always too theatrical for comedy clubs and too much of a comedy act for traditional theatre.
Also the thing we built out of convenience (a 2 person show) became incredibly inconvenient over time. We started doing comedy together because it was hard to schedule time to write, and rehearse with big groups. So we started writing and performing together because it was easy. We were always hanging out together.
Now we have 2 kids, and finding the time to write or get anything done is struggle enough. But we’ve also always just figured it out, and it’s always been enough. And the goal has also shifted and evolved over time. We’ve pitched TV shows and talked with managers and agents who all made suggestions that just never felt like what we wanted to do, So we’ve always pretty much remained independent, finding ways to produce our own work.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We specialize in original comedy writing for the stage and screen. We started out as theatre majors who jumped ship to chase improv comedy. Then that lead to sketch, which kind of lead back to theatre which lead to producing our own shows which lead to film & television production world – so it all kind of snowballs into sketch comedy/ improv/ film/ worlds.
We are known locally for our sketch comedy show Nameless Numberhead as well as our monthly variety showcase Rip City CHS.
We are most proud of the independent comedy community we’ve helped strengthen in Charleston, SC. We just want to make enough noise that people around the country want to add us to their tour list.
I guess it would be easy to say that we’re proud of our credits or body of work, but truly we’re pretty proud of our work/life balance. We’ve been able to yes to a ton of projects while also being full time parents of 2 young kids AND making time for friends and our community. It’s really hard to find that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.namelessnumberhead.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nameless_numberhead
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/namelessnumberhead
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@nameless_numberhead
