With SNL’s Tim Meadows and improv veterans Brad Morris, Joe Canale and Stephnie Weir, every laugh begins in the moment
Jul 20, 2026
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Window Panes Home and Garden.
BAR HARBOR — Every Bluebird Improv show begins the same way: with a conversation. What happens after that has never happened before—and won’t ever happen again.
As the improv troupe returns to Bar Harbor as part of its annual New England tour, performer Brad Morris said that unpredictability is exactly what keeps the cast returning to the stage. Nothing is scripted, rehearsed or repeated, even when audiences leave convinced otherwise.
“We don’t know what the hell’s going to happen ever,” Morris said with a laugh.
In improv, there’s no script. There are no writers jotting down notes. There are no lines to remember. There is no stand-up routine memorized. There is absolutely no time to prepare.
It’s just four humans on the stage, thinking quickly, working together, and making people hysterical—in a good way.
Actor, improviser, writer, and dad, Morris will be one of those men tomorrow at Bar Harbor’s Criterion Theatre, and he knows that makes him lucky.
He won’t be the only lucky one at that show.
Anyone who wants to have moments of delight and humor can head to the Criterion and witness Morris in action with Joe Canale, Tim Meadows, and Stephnie Weir.
Meadows is a seasoned improviser and all around funnyman known for his 10-season tenure on Saturday Night Live (1991 – 2000), his memorable role as Principal Duvall in Mean Girls, as well as the CBS Sitcom DMV (Gregg), and Peacemaker (Langston Fleury) on HBO Max.
Canale has been performing around the world for the past 30 years, including stints at Boom Chicago, Amsterdam, and The Second City Chicago amongst many others.
Weir has performed at the Second City’s Main Stage, the Goodman Theater, and at the ImprovOlympic. Her show entitled Slowdeatha, TX was at the Comedy Central.
Morris is a veteran TV and film writer, producer, actor, director and improviser. He is an Alum of Chicago’s The Second City. Brad has starred as a series regular in several network and cable pilots, and has appeared on The Bear, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Veep, Modern Family, The Office, The League, Key & Peele, Great News, Playing House, and The Good Place. Brad can be heard in his second season of the improvisational podcast, Business Trips, along with co-host Mike O’Brien.
All are veterans of the improv comedy scene rooted in Chicago.
They are all coming to the Criterion which is bookmarked by two sold-out shows in other New England communities.
“Maine’s the greatest. It really is. There are so few places in the US where when you’re there your tension releases a bit, your blood pressure drops—not to an unsafe level,” he joked during an interview with the Bar Harbor Story in 2024.
He stressed that though the show is 100% improvised—not scripted, not rehearsed—and hysterically funny, people shouldn’t worry about being put on the spot.
“I think some people have worries that that when they go to see a show that’s improvised, that they’re going to be asked to be involved deeply in it,” Morris said. “And that’s not always the case. I would say it’s really not the case for ninety nine point nine percent of the people there.”
But that doesn’t mean that they don’t impact the performance.
“You feel the vibe of the place and the people that you’re at, both when you arrive and spend the day there leading up to a show or the day after the night after the show,” Morris said. “We draw inspiration from the conversations that we have with our audience at a couple points during the show.”
For the performers of Bluebird Improv, the magic of live theater comes not only from what happens onstage, but from the connection created in the moments between performers and audience members. That connection is one reason the troupe continues to return to New England each season, where communities such as Bar Harbor offer an especially welcoming setting for the shared experience of live performance.
The longer and harder the winters, he theorized, which happens in places like Chicago and New England, communities need places to connect, for the arts to flourish, for ideas to be shared.
“I think, a community becomes even more important in places like that,” Morris said.
Improvising rather than stand-up, or theater, or plays, or shows creates a different dynamic between performer and audience.
“It is such a more engaging version of the relationship with the audience. Some people have worries that they’ll be asked to be involved deeply. But you absolutely feel the vibe of the people and the place,” he said.
Then, they draw inspiration.
And from that they create humor and community and magic.
“We have this rotating cast, but it is, you know, no matter who’s there, the five or six of us that are on stage at any given time, you know, have just literally hundreds of thousands of hours between us of doing this,” Morris said.
He writes. He acts. He directs. He lives in Los Angeles though he comes from Chicago and has definite Maine summer camp ties. He’s performed at The Second City and at iO Theater. Morris is an alum of The Second City Chicago resident stage.
He’s starred in Playing House, was a recurring character in Cougar Town and in the last season of The Bear. He’s guest starred on Curb Your Enthusiasm, A.P Bio, Veronica Mars, and Great News, but he’s a fan of improv, of not having any insulation between him and the audience.
For some people that would be scary. For Morris it is joy and creating community one event at a time.
“And we are not on tour because it’s making us wealthy. We’re doing it because we love, we love performing with each other and we love doing this type of performance because it is so special,” he explained.
Bar Harbor has a long acquaintance with improv thanks to the work of Improv Acadia, which began in 2005. Owners Jennifer Shepard and Larrance Fingerhut brought improv and renowned improvisers to Cottage Street in Bar Harbor, season after season. Its last full season in Bar Harbor was 2021. Shepard accepted a position as Penobscot Theatre Company director. They still do improv there sometimes, but Bar Harbor has felt the loss of the late night laughter the company brought to its downtown. Both Ivy Manor and The Annex have recently hosted stand-up shows during the winter season.
That’s not quite improv though.
“The joy that we have is evident. We feel it from the audience and we give it back to them,” Morris said.
All photos courtesy Bluebird Improv
Laughing Stock Presents: Bluebird Improv
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Don’t Bring Tomatoes. Do Bring Cheer.
·
July 25, 2024
For tickets at the Criterion, July 21.
For Bluebird Improv’s Instagram
Other Maine dates:
Wednesday, July 22 — Vinegar Hill Music Theater, Arundel, Maine
7 pm sold out 9 pm on sale
Friday, July 24 — The Strand, Rockland, Maine
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