Marketplace Morning Report’s “What’s That Like?” series is exploring the odd, unusual and downright weird jobs that help prop up our economy.

Tane Danger has been a fan of improv since high school, but could a fun hobby really translate to a full-time job? The short answer is: yes. But the longer answer is perhaps more interesting — and includes a bit of yes, and-ing

After working for a variety of nonprofit organizations after college, Danger noticed that while there were plenty of people pursuing important causes, those same folks may not be the best at explaining their work to a wider audience.

Danger saw improv as more than a space for laughs and silliness. For Danger, improv could also be utilized as an educational tool.

Enter: The Theater of Public Policy, a show co-founded by Danger and his college improv-friend-turned-business-partner Brandon Boat. The show started as a way to present complex, thorny issues through improv comedy.

“We would talk to somebody who is very smart about a particular policy issue or debate, I would interview them on stage, and then we would have this team of very talented improvisers who would take all of that as their inspiration for doing entirely unscripted scenes,” Danger said.

As the success from the show grew, so did the appetite for more improv in varying formats.

“There wasn’t sort of a grand plan like ‘This! This will be our life’s work.'” But it became that, kind of,” Danger said.

Danger and Boat went on to create Danger Boat Productions (get it?) to encompass all the improv work they do — which now includes, conferences, trainings and custom events. To hear more about their unique take on improv, click the audio player above.

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