Ric Walker

Ric Walker has an extensive background in a variety of performance areas. While he was obtaining his undergraduate degree in Acting from Wright State University, he took his talents to the stand up stage. He was naturally gifted and won his first open mic night. He soon began making extra money from comedy. Soon he was invited to join a fledgling comedy troupe, MCTD (Midwest Comedy Tool & Die). After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree he split his time between doing Shakespeare productions, contemporary dramas and musicals with the pursuits of his comedy career. In time, he decided to focus on MCTD and help forge the group into one of the 90's top ten nationally touring troupes according to Tim Ferran of the Columbus Dispatch and others. In a desire to do more theater Ric moved to Chicago where he appeared in many theatrical productions. Soon he was swept up into the world of Corporate Spokesman-ship, where he gave speeches and made appearances for Fortune 500 companies, including Computer Associates, Oracle and Eli Lilly. But being based in Chicago, the center of the improv world, Ric was soon drawn back into the improv comedy world. Beginning in 2006, he started performing with, arguably, one of the nation's best improv troupes, The Improvised Shakespeare Company. He has also done half a dozen revues for The Second City where he also teaches. His love of teaching led him to the University of Pittsburgh in pursuit of his MFA in Performance Pedagogy where he also served as a professor. He has worked with inner city youth in many enrichment programs and has facilitated workshops for Operation Push/Excel, Coca Cola, After School Matters and the Cook County Youth Correctional Facility. He has also designed improvisation, team building and communications workshops for numerous corporate clients including Pepsi and Starbucks.