Danny very graciously agreed to do this interview
with me. I didn't know I had an option. Yeah?
You're like, I detest every moment of this conversation
and I'm being forced to do this against my will.
Hi everybody and welcome back to Good News York.
I'm your host Danny Tripodi and today with me
we've got a wonderful magnificent person. Noah,
why don't you introduce yourself? Thank you for
those adjectives. I don't know if I deserve that.
That's very kind. My name is Noah Chrysler. I
just started here at Clickstream Studios and
Danny very graciously agreed to do this interview
with me to help me promote one of my other things,
my other project that I have going, which is...
I didn't know I had an option. Yeah. You're like,
I detest every moment of this conversation and
I'm being forced to do this against my will.
No, yeah. I don't know. Syracuse Improv is why
I'm here. Well, I think we're also here to talk
a little bit about me joining the business and
stuff. Yeah, absolutely. I'm super stoked to
be here. I want to know more about Noah Chrysler.
I know who you are now, but for the audience
at home, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Yeah. My name is Noah Chrysler. Let's start there.
How far back? I was born in 1996 at Syracuse
General. Is what it's the name of it? Kraus?
No, it wasn't Kraus at that time. My name is
Noah. I've been making YouTube videos since I
was like 14. Started at FM High School and I
love YouTube. I've made a lot of videos. You've
mentioned that you started making videos, like
your first one was made in 2005, which is insane.
Yeah, early YouTube. Yeah, so like, you know,
we kind of come from a similar background. We're
like, I've been doing YouTube for a very long
time and I always... I went to the Rochester
Institute of Technology, eventually found digital
marketing as my career. And I really kind of
focused on that aspect, right? Of like the strategy
of like, what are you gonna make and like, why
are you gonna make it, right? And so I basically
help YouTubers and basically business owners
create YouTube content and then create it strategically
so that they can grow their brands and like grow
their influence and stuff. And I... Yeah, and
so I found clickstream and I was like this place
seems really cool. You guys just bought a spaghetti
restaurant Let's see if I can work here and so
I bugged you and Matt and Amanda a lot and I
sent you guys a bunch of emails and then you
sent me to go meet the mayor which was super
cool and so that was really awesome and and Don't
know and I'm really excited to join the team
and I think that we're gonna make a fantastic
combo because like the stuff that you make is
incredible and it looks really really good and
Amanda's super cool and her photography is awesome
and Matt is the chillest dude ever and I really
like him and I think that it's a good team that
we're gonna make a lot of good stuff for clickstream
and One of the cool parts of the job is that
Matt allows me to have my little club here Which
is Syracuse improv and we meet we are an organization
That is trying to reignite the improv spark in
Syracuse, New York And we meet here in the former
spaghetti warehouse location current clickstream
headquarters We meet here every other Wednesday
to do a free Workshop open to the public at 6
p .m. From 6 p .m. To 8 p .m. If you go to Syracuse
improv comm you can find our website and you
can find our calendar if you subscribe to the
Google Calendar You will get notified of every
single upcoming workshop whenever we have one
pretty cool there. Yeah, it is really cool. Thanks,
buddy. So tell me a little bit more about Syracuse
Improv. So is this open to intermediate? I want
to say actor, but it's a little bit different
than acting. Could you talk a little bit about
that? Like do you have to have skills to it or
are you teaching them those skills? Yeah. So
the prerequisites are that you have to be alive.
So if you're dead, you can't come. And you have
to hopefully, honestly, that's pretty much it,
right? Like it's like be alive and come to our
workshops, right? It's a very low bar. Yeah,
exactly, right? No, yeah, it's for everybody.
It's for everybody and anybody. I will say there
are adult themes present. So like if you are
under 18, you know, I don't say don't come, right?
Like I started to do improv when I was like 14
and I was going to some of the Syracuse Improv
Collective stuff. And so, you know, I was introduced
to some, dull ideas, I suppose. But it's not
anything too raunchy, but it is a comedy environment,
so there are occasional blue humor, that sort
of thing. But no, yeah, it's for absolutely anybody.
We are trying to build a community. That is my
biggest thing. That is the biggest guiding value
for me. I think especially after COVID I know
COVID it's 2026 COVID was what six years ago
right so I understand that that might be a long
time ago but I do think that the effects of COVID
have truly affected this city in a major way
right I grew up here but I was away for about
six or so years, right? And so when I came back,
I saw how the city had changed. Improv has been
a huge part of my life. I did improv in Atlanta,
Georgia. Well, first I did improv at, I mean,
I started doing improv in high school, but then
when I went to college, right, that's how I met
all of my friends. I joined this organization
called RIT Improv, and eventually I was on their
board and stuff, and that was awesome. But then
even when I graduated, I started to perform and
coach a little bit at the Focus Theater in Rochester.
and that was super awesome because in college
I came in I didn't have many friends I didn't
have many connections and suddenly I was a part
of this group where we were doing these workshops
like a few times a week at that point and they
were all very much like you're playing these
silly games with these rules that are admittedly
ridiculous right but the act of doing that so
many times with the same people each week is
I really think that it's one of the strongest
ways that I've seen to build real community.
And so that's why I love improv so much. Like,
yes, comedy is awesome. Yes, comedy shows are
great. But at the same time, I think it's really
hard, especially nowadays, especially after COVID,
to meet people. And so that is ultimately one
of the biggest goals of Syracuse Improv is to
build community. So anyway, I went to Rochester,
found the improv scene there. made a bunch of
friends, went to Atlanta, found the improv scene
there, made a bunch of friends, went to Austin,
found the improv scene there, made a bunch of
friends, and then I came back to Syracuse and
there was no improv scene that, I mean there
was, but it was small, and I was like, we can
make it not small. The opposite, big is the opposite
of, it's one of the opposites of small. Gigantic
is another one. Anyway. Jumbo, yeah. Syracuse
Improv is the attempt to make the improv scene
in Syracuse jumbo. I love it. I love it. Absolutely.
So tell me what makes Syracuse Improv different
than what you described and different from like
just taking an improv class at like BOCES or
something. Yeah. Is there a difference? So the
first difference is that it's free. The second
one is that I don't think Boseys offers improv
classes. Really? Although that'd be cool, do
they? I don't know. I saw something for Boseys
and I don't know. That sounds dope. Yeah, maybe.
I always thought Boseys was like, maybe this
is really not nice to the people of Boseys. But
I thought it was like, oh, I really need to learn
how to repair air conditioners. I'm going to
sign up for a class of Boseys. It's hands on
learning. Right. Yeah. Isn't that what improv
is? Sure. Yeah. I mean, hands on fake air conditioners.
If you want to learn the art of faking air conditioner
repair in an improv scene, you should come to
us, I think. Well, the workshops that we do are
free as well, right? So like my vision for this,
I really think that like the larger vision for
the organization is like to create a reverse
funnel, right? Where anybody can come in at the
bottom and not know anything, right? And then
the more they're involved with the organization,
it develops them as a performer and it also develops
them as like a community leader, right? And then,
cause eventually in like a year or two, I'm probably
gonna be exhausted and older and sad and maybe...
like sleeping and so it's like I'm not gonna
want to lead everything myself right and the
idea is to like create a system where people
grow and they eventually take it over right and
so that is what I'm trying to do anybody can
join it's designed to be approachable and then
nurture the talent and develop the talent from
within so that like eventually those people go
on to either perform and become incredible performers
and and go on to have comedy careers or potentially
just like help run the organization perform in
shows Yeah, we're doing our first premiere show
on April 13th at the Song and Dance. It's called
Improvised Dungeons and Dragons. It's gonna be
a lot of fun. I think we're going to talk more
about that later. But yeah, that's basically
the vision. Anybody can show up. We will offer
levels as well. That is something that we're
going to do. So you can take a level one class,
level two class, probably level three class,
and then probably other additional classes and
things. We haven't announced those yet, but they're
in the works. And also somebody from the Syracuse
Improv Collective from back in the day reached
out to me and he sent me all of their curriculum,
which was like really, really good. It was super
cool. They had a master's student do her master's
thesis on creating improv curriculum and so this
is like master's level improv curriculum which
is sick as hell and so I don't know I'm stoked
so when we do build classes we were going to
have a really solid foundation which I'm stoked
about nice that's really exciting you know I
think it's great to offer these classes that
are Really, you can use them the rest of your
life, you know, public speaking and just feeling
comfortable in front of an audience. Like, I'm
sure that kind of scratches the itch that improv
does, you know. Yeah. There's probably a better
way to phrase that, but. No, yeah, exactly. So
tell me a little bit more about the show, the
Dungeons Improv, Improvise Dungeons and Dragons.
What's that all about? Yes, Improvise Dungeons
and Dragons. Here's what's going to happen from
a high level, OK? I'm hoping, I'm hoping, by
the way, you can really help with this vision,
OK? I'm hoping that the nerds of Syracuse and
or normal normie individuals, the muggles of
Syracuse, as well as the nerds. I really want
some nerds. Please, if you're a nerd, please
come. I want them to flock to the song and dance.
It's the venue name. You should go there. It's
a good time. It's in the basement. It's kind
of hard to get to. You have to go through this
weird creepy elevator or go down the stairs.
I'll make signs. Don't worry. You'll find it.
I think it's 115 Jefferson Street, right? I think
it's next to, it's down there. I want them to
come. I want them to dress up in costumes. Wizards.
Be a satyr. Be a druid. Be something from Dungeons
and Dragons. Hoping. Hoping. You don't have to.
If you want to just be yourself. Totally cool
too, right? I want you to come. I want you to
get a bunch of drinks and I want you to get it
hammered and watch us improvise a Dungeons and
Dragons campaign on the fly. Is it real D &D?
The answer is no. It is a long -form improv show
where we're going to go on a completely made
-up adventure story. It's a one -shot campaign
and it's going to be heavily influenced by the
rules of D &D. But it's not going to be like,
I'm not gonna be like, your charisma score is
this, and do you, this plus this equals that,
we're not doing that, it's a lot more quick,
but we're using a lot of the ideas, principles,
and motifs from Dungeons & Dragons. It's gonna
be awesome. Did that answer your question? Yeah,
no, that's great. So, is it... preset? Like are
there going to be actors with specific classes?
How is that going to work? Yeah, so no. So basically
we're going to talk to the crowd and we're going
to build the show with the crowd. We had this
idea where we're going to interview somebody
and basically like enact their life, but I think
we're kind of gearing towards we've been rehearsing
all month and it's been a lot of fun with the
show. We saw the show. grow a lot, which I think
has been wonderful. And the direction that we're
kind of leaning towards is like, we want the
audience to be able to influence the show a lot,
right? So like, if you want to give us something
that's really tough to play, I think that that's
really fun, right? So at the beginning of the
show, we have three adventurers, okay? So that's
our main party. There's three adventurers. Then
that's Aidan Procopio, that is Mike Saltzman,
and that is Joy O 'Para. I don't know everybody's
last name, so maybe I shouldn't do, maybe I shouldn't
set the precedent of knowing everybody's last
name. last name. But I did know those three.
Then we have our main villain who is Becca Brown.
I knew her last name too. So there's three adventures.
There's a villain. And then we also have three
NPCs. We've got Crystal, Pistol. We've got Jonathan.
Don't know Jonathan's last name. Sorry, Jonathan.
He doesn't have a last name. It's just Jonathan.
And then we've got Jesse as well. And their job
is to basically populate this world with other
interesting Dungeons & Dragons characters, right?
So you might have a henchman, you might have
a barkeeper, we might have a... and just any
NPC that you would find in the world. And I'm
going to be dungeon mastering, so I'm going to
hopefully have a cloak on with some cool makeup
on my eyes, and maybe a crystal ball, and it's
going to be really fun. And I'm going to have
some dice, and I'm going to be sitting and kind
of narrating and dungeon mastering from the back.
But yeah, the audience gets a lot of opportunity
to influence what's going on on stage. We're
gonna ask the audience at the beginning to write
in suggestions of potentially like magical potions,
right? What should this magical potion do? What
should this spell do? That sort of thing. It
should be a lot of fun. Song and Dance, April
13th, 8 p .m. We're doing it one night only,
right? The show starts at 8 p .m. The door's
open at 7, so you can pregame, and everybody's
gonna be in costume, and I'm hoping, it'll be
fun. The pregame will be fun. I think I'm gonna
send the cast out to like go fuck around in the
crowd, so it'll be fun. That's really cool. Yeah.
And where can folks go if they want to get tickets?
You can go to SyracuseImprov .com. You can just
find it there. But I think also SyracuseImprov
.com slash D &D. You can also find us on Instagram,
at SYR Improv. You can go to the Facebook page,
Syracuse Improv. We have a great meetup group
too. And you can go Syracuse Improv meetup and
then that will show up as well. Very cool. Yeah.
Very cool. And is there any future plans for
if this is successful? Are you planning on doing
this more often? Or are there different shows
that you have planned? Yeah. So that's a great
question. The proceeds from this show are going
to go into helping turn Circus Improv into a
501C3 so that we are an official nonprofit. My
goal is to not get rich from this. I just love
improv and I want people to love it too. And
another goal is to like also increase the level
of improv knowledge in the city, right? I spent
a long time in high school learning improv and
then I spent a long time at RIT like learning
improv and then I spent a long time in Atlanta
learning improv. And then I also spent a long
time in Austin, Texas learning improv, right?
And so I'm excited to bring that knowledge to
classes and shows and things. So one of our values
also is education, right? And helping people
in the Syracuse area like learn more about the
rules of improv and just raise the level of of
knowledge in the area. But yeah, anyway, the
other stuff that we're gonna do, I would like
to do this show again, but in order to do this
show again, Danny, I need Syracuse's nerds and
normal people and muggles and anyone else in
normal clothes who just wants to come see you
and check it out. $12 online, $15 at the door.
Please come. If they show up and there's support
here, then I think we're probably going to do
this again. And the song and dances reach back
out and they're like, hey, what do you think?
So if this goes well, we'll probably do this
version again. If we want to do more of a showcase
thing in the future, we might pivot to that.
But I don't know. I've been talking a lot. Thank
you for listening so much. You're the best. Yeah.
Thank you for bringing this up. This is a super
cool thing. You know, it's something that I think
Syracuse was missing and it's cool. It really
is something that, I don't know, just adds value
to our city. And I think more people should learn
about it and know about it. Yeah, I'm trying.
I mean, I grew up in Syracuse, right? There's
so much potential in this city, right? But I
do think it is... it can be a little hard to
get involved, you know, and find community, right?
And so for a little while I was like butt -hurt
and sad. It's like, oh man, there's no real big
community in Syracuse. And it's like... Screw
that. Let's build it. Let's build community,
you know. Yeah, that's great. I did have one
other question now that we're talking about it.
So the people in the show, were these were these
people that were in your Syracuse improv? How
did you come across this? Were there tryouts?
Yeah. So, yeah. Future people that might be interested
in doing improv D &D. Yeah. So we did auditions,
right? I tried to do auditions in a very intentional
way and try to explain like repeatedly that it's
like, look, I understand. Like if you made it
into this show, it doesn't mean that like these
people are amazing and everybody else is the
worst like that like we are trying to create
a very welcoming community right and so when
I did auditions I wanted them to be in a very
also my co -founder Johnny Nolan is fantastic
and I love him so much and I I don't know he
he has a nine to five as well though and so like
you know he is not here for this interview but
he is a great person and if you can't tell Danny,
I'm a little bit sporadic sometimes. Really?
Yeah. Crazy, right? Crazy. So Johnny's a great
partner in this because he is like, great. OK,
cool. He'll do all the homework parts. And I'm
like, you know, it's just super helpful. The
Tasmanian devil. It's a yin and yang. I like
it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Nice. He's the best.
I think he's yin. I think I might. I don't know.
Maybe we could tag yourself. I'm yin. OK. What
was your question? We did auditions. We did audition.
I tried to do it very intentionally to make it
welcoming, right? And we're going to do auditions
in the future, right? So if you want to audition
for future stuff, we'd love to have you. The
best way, though, to get involved is to come
to our free workshops that, again, are open to
the community. Anybody is welcome. 6 to 8 p .m.
every other Wednesday, syracuseimprov .com. That
calendar, you can hit that little three dots,
be like, subscribe to this calendar. Get it in
your email. Get it. You can also join our mailing
list. That's also super helpful. And you can
do that that way. How are you, Danny? I've talked
too much. No, it's great. Thanks for asking.
Absolutely. Cool. Yeah. No, is there anything
else that I might have skipped over that you
wanted to add? I want to talk about clickstream.
Sure. Yeah, let's talk about it. Are you excited
to build an awesome content marketing company
together? Am I? Yeah. Hell yeah. Does a bear
shit in the woods? Hell yeah. Tag yourself. I'm
the bear. Bears unite. Yeah. Tell me about you.
Tell me about your, like, tell me about Clickstream.
Tell me about you and tell me about the vision
for the future. I thought I was the host. I know.
But now I'm turning the tables because I talk
too much. Yeah, sure. OK, I'm Danny Tripodi.
I'm 33 years old. I have always had a passion
for video editing and making fun videos with
my friends. And that kind of transitioned into,
hey, I could do this for a living, you know.
So. Just out of working with Windows Movie Maker
when I was like 10 and Editing a stupid video
and uploading it to YouTube and nobody's seen
it. I was like I want to do this forever so this
working at clickstream studios kind of helps
obtain that goal of doing this forever, you know
making fun content fun engaging content and making
something that will make a lasting impression
on the city, hopefully. If we help enough businesses,
I hope that people know Clickstream Studios is
where I want to go to get my content seen. Yeah.
Hell yeah. No, and I love that, dude. And yeah,
when I met you and you show me your work, your
work is incredible. And I think I will say that
not only fun content, I think making content
in general is super fun and I love it and I have
a huge passion for it. But I also think like
I don't know, and I've told this directly to
clients and I think it's important, right? It's
like I want them to write us a big check every
month and I want them to be so excited and so
happy to do it because they see the work that
we do and they completely understand the value
and they're like, this is my favorite check to
write every month, right? And I want this place
to be awesome and I want it to, again, like you
said. help not just fun content but effective
content right that helps people hit their real
goals right and does it in a very efficient way
where it's also easy for them where they love
the process right hey i showed up i did this
thing i actually had some fun doing it i got
the bugs out right like and i you know i was
a little nervous but i got through it and then
i had a blast and then Not Danny did it himself,
but like, you know, like like clickstream Handled
all the post -production didn't have to touch
a thing and it was just done for me and and I'm
seeing incredible results, right? that's like
the vision that I want to also bring together
and I think that I'm just really excited to do
it together. So I don't know Likewise, and I
also think that's if that you do with retro game
con I don't know if you've talked on good news
York about it get retro game con stuff Yes, I
don't know what you're talking about. Did you
design this mascot? I want to know more about
the mascot I can't take credit for Retro Boy,
but the modern redesign of Retro Boy I can take
credit for. He was originally designed by the
founder, Ed Forth, and then it was taken by Nathan
Grant, who kind of made him more of like a personality
added, like little sonic shoes and gave him these
shoulder buttons they're supposed to be. But
we also wanted it to be kind of like a silhouette,
you know, Mickey Mouse is recognizable. Yeah.
more recognizable than a little Game Boy. And
we called him Retro Boy. You know, he's he's
our mascot and he's he's been the face of retro
game con, which is great. So last year we got
these printed up and and shipped out. And it
was so cool to see people at the show walking
around with retro boys either holding it or like
in somebody's backpack. And I was like, wow,
I helped like make that a possibility. That was
super cool. Yeah, dude. I think you've had a
huge impact on this city. I don't know I've been
I've been posturing for for improvised D &D and
so I've been going door -to -door to the comic
shops and video game shops and kind of trick
-or -treating and being like hey guy please stick
this in your window and everywhere I go there
is a retro boy on a poster somewhere and everybody
and I go oh do you know Danny and everybody's
like oh yeah I know Danny's the best and I'm
like oh it's so cool like I don't know man I
think I think that your next event for this is
when It's in the spring, right? Yeah, we have
spring edition that's May 16th and 17th at the
On Center, and then our fall show will come later,
October 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Hell yeah. Also at
the On Center. Hell yeah. I know that this interview
was kind of... Yeah, you flipped it on me. I
said, do you want to do the sign off? No, I don't.
I want you to do it. But I don't know. What is
Retro Game Con for people who don't understand
what that is? It's New York State's largest video
game convention. It is amazing. It's so cool
to see the different worlds aligned because you'll
have these kids that are like 12, 13 years old
and have never held a controller that didn't
have motion controls. And they're experiencing
this for the first time in our free play area.
And it's just so awesome to see because they're
with their parents. Oh, I remember playing Goldeneye
as a kid. This was amazing. Like, Johnny, come
look at this. And then they just take over and
they're like, oh, it's slappers only. And they're
playing with some other friends. And it's what
is slappers only. I want to know what that. Oh,
it was a term from Goldeneye that you use. Cool.
It was no guns. Slappers. Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah.
I played that a few times. I was odd job. You
know, a hat. Yeah. He's got the the. Hitbox,
the messed up hitbox. Yes. Yes. I played that
a lot at Isaac on his N64. It was really fun.
That's awesome. Yeah. So you got how long you've
been doing that? Oh, geez. Since 2016. The convention's
been going since 2013, that was its inception,
but since then it's grown and become a three
-day event and it's something that I'm excited
to see people are excited for. We go to other
conventions and shows and set up and people are
like, oh, when's retro? I can't wait for retro.
It's so cool to see. Yeah. And you've got Sly
Cooper coming, I saw. Yes, Kevin Miller, the
voice of Sly Cooper is coming, as well as Alicia
Glidewell, who was, gosh, I forget her name,
but she was in the second, I want to say, Sly
Cooper, the female Sly Cooper. Yeah. So it's
cool. That's the first ever. con appearance of
both of them being at a show. So it's it's really
cool to to have that. Hell yeah. And of course
we got Kenny James Doug sorry Doug Bowser as
the voice of Bowser from the video games for
the past like 20 years. Wow. And like Mario Party.
Like which one's Oh yeah. Like I think from Super
Mario 64 up till I don't know if he's changed.
He's just he's not Bowser. He's not Jack Black
in sure Bowser in the movie, but we also have
Daisuke Daisuke Daisuke Suji. Oh Sorry, that's
a person. Yes Daisuke Suji is the voice of Scorpion
from Mortal Kombat 1 as well as the main protagonist
from Ghost of Tsushima Yeah, so really cool.
They're coming to Syracuse. Yeah, they're coming
May 18th May 16th, sorry You're terrible. I know.
Cool. Yeah. How do you people buy tickets? People
can buy tickets at RetroGameCon .com. Hell yeah,
dude. I don't know. Danny, it's been great meeting
you, because I just appreciate, you know, I don't
know. I think it's awesome. You have a wonderful
reputation around town. And I'm just so excited
to. I'm in awe of what you've already built.
And I am stoked to help in the ways that I can.
And I'm also stoked to just be here at Clickstream.
So I don't know. Cool. OK, sorry for driving
for a second. No, you're good. Love it. Love
you. Thanks for sitting down and talking with
me. And thank you for watching Good News York.
I've been your host, Danny Tripodi. We'll see
you next time.