Bio « Pop Scholars

Bio

Pop Scholars is a brand-new comedy troupe born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Already well versed in short-form improv, Pop Scholars plagiarized a page from the Chicago scene in May 2009 and began performing long-form improvisation, a lengthier set of scenes centered around a suggested theme. While improvised comedy comprises the majority of a Pop Scholars show, there are occasional forays into pre-written sketch comedy and even musical pieces.

If you want the magic of Pop Scholars at your event, there is good news! You can can hire us! We sell out!
Just drop us a line on our contact page or send an e-mail to booking@popscholars.com

Also, here's who we are. Individually:

Andy

Andy Allen was born in New Milford, CT. He felt like this was important because he's the only person he knows that was born in Connecticut. Although unrelated, Andy is also the shortest member of the team. He takes pride in this not because it's cool to be short, but because it's not cool to be Dutch. Andy is also very sorry and sometimes doesn't think before he writes. In the world of acting, Andy has done a smattering of theater productions and has performed Improv for the past four years. In the world or real life, he works at Calvin College and likes to cut his own hair. One day, he hopes to have a dog that catches frisbees and jumps into his lap. For the rest of his life, he plans on being married to his wife that he loves very much.

Dave

Dave Lyzenga has been improvising for four years with the likes of Calvin College's student improv team, local Calvin alumni improv group River City Improv, and local sketch and improv team Fishschtick. His two favorite words are "local" and "improv." A close third would be "anachronistic."

His only "straight theater" experience (pardon the heteronormative) was through Calvin College's production of The Government Inspector. The director reviewed his performance as "maybe should have had more speaking lines," which was Dave's first glowing review. By day, Dave gives himself many speaking lines as he pretends to be a knowledgeable software engineer (his best performance yet).

Matt

Dear Reader,
Matt Sterenberg is excited you are here. Please make this site your home page and put the Pop Scholars picture as your desktop background. Pop Scholars are desperate for cheap forms of advertising and would be much obliged if you make this link part of your facebook status, send the link to ten people, and attach it to all emails you send from now until the end of the week. If you do, many more people will know that Matt's previous comedic experiences include two years of improv comedy at Calvin College, teaching improv to middles schoolers, and performing with Joe Anderson (check out our links for more). Thank you for your support; Pop Scholars will soon be a viral success.

Mike

Mike Ryskamp welcomes you to his bio. He's been committed to performing Improv like it was 1999, since it actually was 1999. Mike can perform using a variety of accents and characters, though his personal favorite is to just be a loud-mouth jerk. Mike would also like to remind you that flash photography is forbidden during tonight's performance - not because it's distracting, but more because it's fun to give orders. He performed Improv in high school and all throughout his four years at Calvin College, located conveniently on the corner of Burton and the East Beltline. Mike has also been a proud member of River City Improv since 2005. Mike drives a Honda Accord, has an obscenely large dog, and is way too good at using Google.