Our Current Teachers
Alex Nasse
Alex Nasse is a comedian working in the Amsterdam English comedy scene as a promoter and booker. He is best known as the co-founder of the comedy night That Comedy Thing which has shows at multiple venues. His years of experience organising and performing and his tendencies to coach and help newer performers take the right steps have led him down the path of teaching with Easylaughs. He's a great storyteller, loves analysing why bits do or don't work and has a natural scepticism that helps him pick up on things others often miss.
Alina Sharipova
Alina Sharipova is a Russian- Belgian comedian based in Amsterdam. Her comedic style is dark, vulnerable, and quick- witted. In 2022 she made the Funny Women Ones To Watch list, debuted her solo show "Fear is Good" and launched a unique, interactive comedy show called "Let’s Talk", which blurs the boundaries between comedy, improv and therapy. She's developed a big following in a short amount of time performing and has a keen mind for all different aspects of standup comedy.
Annelies van Dam
Annelies van Dam grew up in both Holland and Canada, is an improv coach, has worked as a scientific communicator and also a past cast member with easylaughs. She has acted in numerous productions and commercials, and is a creative, curious and enthusiastic individual who brings a wealth of experience and talents into her teaching style.
Emma Holmes
If you've ever spent any time in Wageningen and don't know who Emma Holmes is, I don't believe you. Since 2016, Emma has been the pioneer of the English language performance arts scene there with standup, improv, storytelling events and more. She hosts shows for the public and has collaborated with corporations and the university in the city also. She is unparalleled as an MC with an infectuous energy and a can-do attitude.
Fer Rodil
Fer is Argentinian. Yes, he's heard about Messi. Screenwriter, sketch comedy expert, and amateur English speaker. He writes for TV, and for the new TV: Amazon Prime. He loves it. He doesn't love Jeff Bezos, though. He also creates humorous and (he likes to think) philosophical cartoons on his Instagram @unperrovegano. But that's enough about him. You didn't even ask.
Janette Warburton
Janette has been teaching improv with easylaughs for longer than you could imagine, and there's a good reason she's a favourite with so many students. Her effervescent energy, passion and true belief in the values she teaches shows in every facet of her being. She's always got a smile on her face, and brings her yes-and attitude to everything that she does. She's the sort of person that lights up a room when she enters, and is a key part of what makes easylaughs what it is today.
Jenny Hasenack
Jenny Hasenack is an improv teacher, actor and science communicator. As a teacher, she specialises in getting players out of their heads and in contact with each other. By letting go of 'having to be funny' or 'having to tell a story', the fun and stories will arise by themselves. Jenny also runs the project Improv Your Dutch - in which expats improve their Dutch by doing improv. In her free time she is trying to raise maple tree on her balcony.
Lara Ricote
This is Lara. Lara performs stand up, improv, and storytelling in Amsterdam. Winner of Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022, she’s equal halves Mexican, American, and Venezuelan and equally as confused as you are about it. After studying political theory, Lara didn’t get a job but instead began to write butt jokes to deal with the inescapability of the teeny tiny teeny role she plays in history.In Amsterdam, Lara produces weekly comedy nights with La Risa Dam, the Mezrab, and the Comedy Undergradz. She co-writes the satirical Dutch news show “Que Onda NL País”, and she does improv at both easylaughs and Boom Chicago. Pre-pandemic, Lara spent half a year performing in South America.
Lolu Ajayi
Lolu Ajayi is easylaughs's current Artistic Director and a former cast member of Boom Chicago. He's a professional actor who has featured in numerous films and is an expert improv teacher who can adapt with ease to changing circumstances and needs. He's a hilarious performer, and an infectuous personality, whose caring attitude shines through in everything that he does.
Marco Meurs
Marco Meurs’ main passion is musical improv theatre. That’s a musical performed on stage without a script! He can’t stop talking about it and gets many people excited and addicted to it. Marco loves to teach any type of improv. He loves working with beginners and also gets experienced players to the next level. Marco knows how to make people feel comfortable and confident and builds strong teams. His teaching is full of energy and laughter. Little talk and lots of action. Marco likes the community around improv and contributes in building it. He’s one of the organisers, theatre technicians and teachers within easylaughs, regularly plays musical improv sets in Tag Out Theatre shows and sometimes does tech for improv shows at Boom Chicago. You’ll find him teaching improv all around Amsterdam and beyond.
Nicole Mischler
Nicole comes from Washington D.C. and studied improv in Chicago. She is a founding member of easylaughs and performed with Problem Solved and Blind Date in Amsterdam. She is enthusiastic, Capricorn and left-handed. She teaches and performs improvisation all over the Netherlands. She has directed and performed in Washington D.C., Chicago, Amsterdam and Edinburgh. She went to Las Vegas to learn how to teach yoga, showing a sense of humour even in downward facing dog.
Nora McLeese
At age eight, Nora played a dancing waiter on the Titanic in a school play. Unlike Rose, she never let go. A few years later, Nora found improv and has gone on to perform in over a dozen countries and countless festivals. She is half-American (sorry!) and half-Dutch (ook sorry!) and always in an existential crisis. Her deepest wish is to one day perform a perfect two-person La Ronde. Ask her about women’s football at your own risk.
Rachel Morton-Young
Rachel is a British comedian, based in Utrecht and has been performing comedy in English for 6 years. She was awarded Best Stand-Up by the Worldwide Comedy Awards in 2021. She is the owner of Mad Cow Comedy and organises the International Comedy Showcase at de Utrechter, in the heart of Utrecht city centre. She also frequently plays and hosts at comedy nights across the country, including Club Haug in Rotterdam, the Comedyhuis in Utrecht and the Comedy Café and Boom Chicago for the Comedy Embassy in Amsterdam.
Rachel has played at several comedy festivals, including the Nottingham Fringe (2021), Women in Comedy (Manchester, 2021) and, most recently, at the Edinburgh Fringe (2022) in a witty and relatable show about parenting, “Not Angry, Just Disappointed!”
Steven Morgan
Steven is a Welsh person who started improv & standup while living in Australia and now lives in Utrecht. He is the former organiser of the Bris Funny Fest, founder of Brisbane's Comedy Commentary Cinema, host of the standup comedy night LYFAO, one half of Tru2U and host of the webseries Real Power Talk. He has performed improv & standup internationally in countries such as the UK, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. He also plays guitar, sings and produces music and is a former band member of Neon Highwire and Antiba.
Trista Mrema
Hello, Trista here. I'm 1/2 Kenyan and 1/2 Tanzanian which saves me from being all American. My former past lives include an interactive TV producer for a cable company in Amsterdam, a coordinator in Washington D.C. post-production houses, a film and video grad in D.C., a missile systems engineer in Boston, an electrical engineer grad in LA. My current present lives include an improviser with 14 years onstage experience, an energetic emcee for stand-up shows, storytelling nights, Art Battles, a top improv and stand-up trainer, an on-camera actor and presenter, a role player for corporate trainings, a professional laugher.