Meet the Team

Hi! I’m Danny Yadegar, Owner of Nerd Improv. I have 10+ years of improv experience and performing, as do most of our coaches. What we as coaches share is an understanding that improv extends well beyond the stage and into our day to day activities. Improv is our passion. Laughter is our language. We have felt the benefits of improv in our lives, and want to share that with you in the workplace. Turns out things don’t always go as planned in our fast-paced, dynamic world. How will you strategize and communicate on the spot? Improv can help.

Chris Sams
Head Coach

After graduating from Duke University, Chris began his improv journey at the turn of the century. He's been facilitating improv sessions for more than 325 Bay Area companies for 15 years since. Yes, improv is his day job, and Chris is thrilled about it!  He loves applied improv: taking improv training skills for the stage and enabling people to apply them to their work and life. When he is not coaching or teaching improv, he is occasionally performing improv at BATS Improv, Un-Scripted Theater, RagTiag Improv, or Comedy Rap Live! Chris hosts live action game shows based on TV classics. Just as the world now embraces cinematically the super heroes of Marvel comics that he adored as a child, Chris has come around to embrace his own nerdiness. Chris is grateful for and greatly contributed to the Bay Area's acceptance of improv as a powerful and versatile tool for team-based learning, training, and fun!

Julie Katz, LCAT, P-RDT
Coach

Julie is a performer, writer, improviser and instructor with over 15 years of stage experience. Most recently, Julie received her Masters degree in Drama Therapy at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. She has sparked laughter across the country and internationally through hundreds of performances that include improv, musical improv, sketch comedy, soundpainting, plays and one woman shows. Her performances have been featured in theaters nationwide and Julie’s work has been selected for numerous festivals, including the New York International Fringe Festival where she performed a sold out run of her show, The Company Incorporated.

Abigail Gregory
Coach

Abbie's improv career started many moons ago when she lied about her age to get into a high school improv class as a middle schooler. Through training at Upright Citizen's Brigade of New York she steeped her passion for giggles, completing her trainings at Endgames Improv in SF and performing with her team "Toot Toot, Beep Beep". She's beyond jazzed to be a part of the Nerd Improv team and help others get out of their head and into the action. She believes the best thing for team building is being comfortable and confident and hopes everyone gets to experience the life changing pixie dust we call improv.

Claire Paquin
Coach

Claire found her passion for improv when she discovered at a young age that if you don’t speak loudly and quickly, no one will listen. As a child, she fell victim to the very real tragedy of having a younger sister who was much cuter than she was, and found she had to master the art of doing just about anything to get attention. She thinks that it’s important to walk into every room like you own it, or at the very least that you own something IN the room. With years of technical theatre training and absolutely no natural athletic abilities, Claire fell in love with the art of improv in college and went on to study at UCB, in New York City. She believes that improv is for everyone, and that the funniest people are the ones who didn’t mean to be funny.