Guest Improvisers

-in alphabetical order-

Adam Cawley

Adam a Los Angeles based improviser originally from Toronto. He is an alumnus of The Second City Mainstage, The Just for Laughs Festival and is a three-time Canadian Comedy Award Winner, including: Best Male Improviser in Canada. He is an actor and writer on the Netflix Original Workin’ Moms as well as a regular on IFC’s Baroness Von Sketch Show. Adam co-hosts the improv tutorial podcast: The Backline with Rob and Adam - Winner of the 2018 National Podcast Award for best educational series. The Backline has allowed him to perform and teach all over
Canada, The United States, Australia, Mexico, Norway, The Netherlands, Denmark and more. He is an instructor at The Second City Hollywood and Westside Comedy Theatre in Santa Monica.

Adam graduated from the Humber College: Comedy Writing and Performance Program, The Second City Conservatory, The Upright Citizens Brigade, I.O. (Improv Olympic) and studied and performed at The Annoyance Theatre in Chicago.

James Gangl

James is a LA based actor and writer that still bounces back to Toronto whenever he can. James won the Ed Mirvish Award for Entrepreneurship and a Canadian Comedy Award for Best One Person Show for Sex, Religion & Other Hang-ups. James performs and teaches at the legendary Second City in Los Angeles and was nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award as Best Male Improviser.

On television, James plays dads… a lot. He played Anne’s Dad on the Amazon Prime Series Annedroids which was nominated for 9 Daytime Emmy Awards. When not playing a dad, James is writing television for your children. His recent writing credits include Dino Dana (TVO), Enchanting Leela (Nelvana) and Odd Squad (PBS), Winner of 12 Daytime Emmys.

James has collaborated with Alex Hatz, producing several films, most notably, Uncommon Enemies starring Melanie Scofano of hit TV Show Wynona Earp (SyFy).

Rob Norman

Rob Norman is the host of LIMITED CAPACITY, a collection of six short stories about the strange and twisted ways we interact with the internet, and with each other. He's also the host of PERSONAL BEST, a comedy podcast about self-improvement from CBC Original Podcasts. He's the author of Improvising Now, as well as an instructor and director at the Second City Toronto. In addition to producing The Backline weekly podcast, Rob is a Canadian Screen Award winner for his performance on CityTV’s Sunnyside . And yes, Rob is tall but he doesn’t make a big deal about it.

Laura Ramoso

Laura is a sketch and improv comedian based in Toronto. She is best known for her online videos and award-winning solo sketch show, diane (2019). Born in Legnago, Italy and brought up in Cameroon, Azerbaijan, China, and Vietnam, she moved to Canada in 2013 to obtain a BFA in Theatre from the University of Victoria. It wasn’t until, by chance, she found herself in the audience of a Second City show one January Chicago evening in 2017, that she realized she wanted to be a sketch comedian. Lightbulb.

Two years later, she wrote and performed her first special, diane, which went on to grant her the Best New Show of the year award at the Bad Dog Theatre, was featured at both the Chicago and San Francisco Sketch Comedy Festivals, and became the first solo-show ever to win the 2020 Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival’s Best of the Fest award in its 15-year history.

In 2021, Laura began making short-form sketch and character videos for Instagram and TikTok as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. She has now garnered over 400,000 followers with her relatable, satirical content, and original characters such as “German Mom”, “Italian Dad” and "Girl who just got back from…" series.

When she’s not touring FRANCES or recording her latest video, she also produces Laura & Friends, a raucous improv show around Toronto featuring some of Canada’s hottest comedians.

Kris Siddiqi

Kris Siddiqi is a comedian, actor and writer from the great city of Toronto! Recipient of the 2015 Canadian Comedy Award for Best Male Improviser and the 2014 “Best Of” Now Magazine Awards. Trained in sketch and improvisation since a young age, Kris studied with the world renowned Second City, joined the Mainstage cast in 2009 and wrote 3 revues with them. From there he went to voice work, becoming the Network Voice of Country Music Television, principal roles on cartoons like Let’s Go Luna, Totally Spies! and My Little Pony, and more, as well as becoming a series regular on the Comedy Panel Show on CBC Because News.

Kris’ stage experience is just as extensive and recently had the pleasure of co-hosting a gala for the 2021 Winnipeg Comedy Festival with his wife Aurora Browne. Kris also performs stand up, sketch and improv all across North America. His most recent creation was the multi-award winning miniseries BIT PLAYAS. Conceived and originated by Kris, the show would go on to win 2 Canadian Screen Awards for Best Writing and Best Series, Best Representation of Communities Of Color from the Minnesota WebFest 2020, Best Actor in the Toronto WebFest awards, as well as multiple other awards from festivals all over the world.