Avenue Magazine Edmonton

Who: Ron Pederson

Age: 32

Experience: After eight years of cutting his teeth at the Varscona Theatre as part of its improv soap opera group, Die-Nasty, Edmonton-born actor Ron Pederson became a cast member for three seasons of MADtv, for which he received a Canadian Comedy Award nomination, and wrote and performed sketches on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. In 2008, Pederson founded The National Theatre of the World, an improv theatre company in Toronto. He also teaches writing at the Toronto chapter of The Second City, the world's largest sketch comedy theatre and school.

• "I had always been an imaginative kid and loved to play and act out. I had two friends who lived down the street from me. They had Super Channel, so I was always over there watching movies with them. We'd watch a movie and then go in the backyard and act it out. I loved pretending and decided to become an actor, so my parents put me into the Citadel Theatre School when I was eight."

• "The goal and the rule of improvisation is to say ‘yes' to everything. Once you become an improviser, this becomes a rule for your life, as well. It's probably the most useful thing I've ever learned. But it's hard to sustain and face in the real world if you go to your dry cleaner's and he's a real jerk and you have to say yes to him."

•  "Improvisation can't really go wrong - the worst thing that can happen is that you bore people."

•  "You have to play to your highest intelligence and hope the audience will follow you, rather than play to what you hope they want."

•  "Control is an unspoken thing you have with fellow improvisers. It's an invisible negotiation, so it takes a lot of trust. It's about collective thinking, and I always think of it like jazz."

•  "One important improvisation rule is to accept all challenges and failures as gifts. There's a great Woody Allen quote: ‘If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative.'"

•  "You know right away if something doesn't work. The charm of improvisation is watching the thing flop for a second, and then watching improvisers save the day. You take your time and find a way out and that's part of the thrill of it."

•  "Some improvisers like to talk and discuss beforehand. I get out there and see what happens. The more you plan, the less you are open to magic."

•  "The improv philosophy that comes into my life is, ‘Just be in the moment - to be here now and to pay attention.' I've never had a 10-year plan. I guess I'd still like to be working in theatre, producing plays with my company and acting and, I don't know, maybe make some money?"

•  "It was hard to muster the funny sometimes at MADtv. Panels of executives decided what was funny and what would mostly appeal to the biggest audience. My sensibility was to do the funniest thing possible. I became more cynical about it because it was so contrived. But I still get recognized for my Clay Aiken sketch all the time."

•  "Edmonton is a funny city. People argue about whether or not comedy is regional and whether things translate, whether audiences get the joke here better than others. I've always found Edmonton has the best, smartest audiences and the bravest artists, who push those audiences to be great."