🎙️ SHUT UP GAIL – Ep. 9: "From Cult to Carnival" with Paul Omar Lervåg
This is the ninth installment of Bit Behind the Scenes (a.k.a. Shut Up Gail).

Listen, follow, rate, and share... PLEASE and THANK YOU!

This month, Gail heads to Oslo for a deeply human (and surprisingly funny) conversation with Paul — a Norwegian comedian, scholar, and improv performer whose journey from cult survivor to carnival-level creative proves that humor and healing can share the same stage.

From growing up in a strict congregation to discovering freedom in the unpredictable world of improv, Paul turns personal history into powerful storytelling — with warmth, self-awareness, and the occasional spreadsheet.

🧠 In This Episode:
✨ How growing up in a "cult" shaped Paul's understanding of language, leadership, and laughter
🎭 Why improv became his portal to autonomy and self-expression
🧩 Navigating neurodivergence and sensory challenges in the performance world
🎤 What it's like to host a festival, research your teams, and still find time for brisket jokes
🥨 The link between critical thinking, character work, and sauerkraut

💬 Quotable Moments:

"I already freed myself before improv — but improv freed me even more."
"Critical thinking is important … but once I'm on stage, I just see whatever the universe gives me."
"Oh shut up Gail, you're amazing."

🇳🇴 Bonus Bits:
🕯️ How Paul channels past trauma into empathetic comedy
🧠 The science of decoding neurotypicals — one scene at a time
🍖 Brisket, sauerkraut, and other cross-cultural improv food groups

Be sure to come back on the 8th of each month for a new "snack-sized" episode of SHUT UP GAIL.

Next month, Gail ends her first season with a kickass interview with the one and only, JAY SUKOW!!!!

If you want to yell at Gail, please email us at TheBITComedyNetwork@gmail.com

"The BIT Spotlight" is part of The BIT Comedy Network.
Visit www.BITComedyNetwork.com to listen to our other podcasts or apply to join the ensemble.

CAST
Gail: Hill Kane
Himself: Paul from Oslo

"The BIT Spotlight" and "Shut Up Gail" are part of The BIT Comedy Network.

Host, Producer, Director, Editor, Art, Co-Creator: Hill Kane
Show Runner, Co-Creator: Billy Merritt
Co-Creator: Paul Vato

Production Assistance, Audio Production, & Graphic Art by Raising Kane Media + Marketing.

Hosting Platform: Libsyn.com

"The BIT," "The BIT Comedy Network," and "Shut Up Gail" are Trademarks owned by Billy Merritt.

©2025 Billy Merritt - All Rights Reserved
Send inquiries + notices + requests: TheBitComedyNetwork@gmail.com

Have a question for the fine theatre folks at the Regency Theatre?
E-mail us at backstageattheregency@gmail.com

Follow us on Instagram at @backstageregency
Follow BIT Comedy Network on Instagram at @bitcomedynetwork and Facebook @BITComedyNetwork.

"The BIT Spotlight" is part of The BIT Comedy Network.

Created, produced, and edited by Luke Bovard
Graphics/Art by Raising Kane Media + Marketing

Special Thanks: Billy Merritt

MUSIC:
* Showtime - Cabaret - Revue by Julius H.
* It's Showtime by VictorvanTast
Music provided by PixaBay (a Royalty Free Platform)

Hosting Platform: Libsyn.com

"The BIT," "The BIT Comedy Network," "The BIT Spotlight," and "Backstage at The Regency" are Trademarks owned by Billy Merritt.

© 2025 Billy Merritt - All Rights Reserved

Inquiries + Notices + Requests: TheBitComedyNetwork@gmail.com

This is the fourth installment of the Women of BIT.

Listen, follow, rate, and share... PLEASE and THANK YOU!

This month on Bit Behind the Scenes (a.k.a. SHUT UP GAIL), Gail gets philosophical, improv-sical, and mildly feline-ical with Norwegian multi-hyphenate Thea Marie Thorkildsen—a political scientist turned stand-up comic, improv rebel, and self-declared curator of "Cat of the Day" (even though it's weekly).

• 🏛️ How nine years of political science, psychology, and history shape Thea's comedic instincts

• 🎭 Why breaking the "Yes, and" rule might make you a better improviser

• 🐱 What neighborhood cats really think of Thea's stand-up (spoiler: it's "meow")

• 👏 The story behind her improv group The Clap (yes, that's what it's called, and no, not for that reason)

• 🎤 Performing solo at Oslo Improv Festival and 121 times at Edinburgh Fringe (!)

• Regression analysis on improv + stand-up combos

• UCB vs. Second City for first dates

• National Cat Day vs. Talk Like a Pirate Day (cat supremacy confirmed)

• Spanish-language improv show titles and fringe audience chaos

"Improv taught me you can break the rules—if you know the rules."
"My cat critics would just say… 'meow.'"
"Gail, you are weird and cool, so shut up, please?"

• Thea's guide to navigating Norway with just a "plastic card"

• Gail's journey into Duolingo Norwegian

• A teaser for the gang's upcoming Norway Improv Festival takeover

Be sure to come back on the 8th of each month for a new "snack-sized" episode of SHUT UP GAIL.

If YOU want to yell at Gail, please email us at TheBITComedyNetwork@gmail.com

"The BIT Spotlight" is part of The BIT Comedy Network.

"The BIT Spotlight" and "Shut Up Gail" are part of The BIT Comedy Network.

Host, Producer, Director, Editor, Art, Co-Creator: Hill Kane
Show Runner, Co-Creator: Billy Merritt
Co-Creator: Paul Vato

Production Assistance, Audio Production, & Graphic Art by Raising Kane Media + Marketing.

Hosting Platform: Libsyn.com

"The BIT," "The BIT Comedy Network," and "Shut Up Gail" are Trademarks owned by Billy Merritt.

©2025 Billy Merritt - All Rights Reserved
Send inquiries + notices + requests: TheBitComedyNetwork@gmail.com