What is Balderdash Academy?

Balderdash Academy is a fictional school and the setting of our online competitive comedy game show of the same name and Balderdash Academy’s Teacher’s Lounge, a narrative improv sketch podcast. It was created by Bob LeBlanc and Steve Corning as a themed variety show and adult prom product. Think of it like a Hogwarts for comedy. It changed into our current iteration of the unholy love child of @midnight, Whose Line is it Anyway?, and Gravity Falls due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020.

If it’s fictional, then where is that building photo from?

Our headmaster, Bob, is a graphic designer. He took a photo of Newburyport High School in Massachusetts and performed some Photoshop magic on it.

Where is Balderdash Academy?

Officially the school is located deep in Balderdash County in some unnamed New England state. Unofficially, we consider ourselves to be a New England-based show. All of our faculty are from Maine and most still live there. Bob is a Mainer in exile and the odd man out as he lives in Newburyport, Mass.

Have you thought about opening a real school?

Yes, and we’re offering classes. All of the faculty of Balderdash Academy are professional improvisers, actors, playwrights, comedy writers, and funny people. Classes in improv, playwriting, comedy writing, and performing are occasionally offered.

What about Balderdash Academy and diversity?

This is a frequently asked question that no one has actually asked yet, but we feel it is important and so here you go, in two parts.

The first part is about the faculty of Balderdash Academy. The original five faculty members of Bob, Steve, Molly, Nate, and Marie, are a group of friends who performed together in a number of improv and acting troupes in Maine and whose chemistry and training was already in place. The considerations in the formation of the faculty were this shared experience and that they were all available and committed to creating this weird little comedy show while quarantining at home during the pandemic of 2020. It’s why the core five are who they are. They knew each other well, had worked with each other extensively, and shared the same comedy and performing ideals as an ensemble. The fact that they all appear to be of European ancestry is merely an accident of region. Fun Fact: one of our faculty is Native American/First Nation.

We believe that people deserve representation. Comedy and improv are universal art forms and the performers should reflect that. As we build our faculty and add new products we are committed to growing in terms of talent and representation. The thing is, we can’t do this alone. Please reach out to us if you have a suggestion on how we can improve or know of a performer that might be interested in becoming a member of the faculty when we’re ready to grow. If you or someone you know are funny, have improv and theater training, believe in kind comedy, and believe in a supporting ensemble who share the credit and lift each other up then you will fit well here. Please audition if you see a casting notice.

The second part of Balderdash Academy involves our Visiting Professors. We send offers to a number of people from all walks of life, all industries, and all, ethnicities, racial, and gender identities. We look for people who want to sit and laugh with us for two or three hours and share their stories. We look for people who are passionate about what they do.

The one common defining thread among all our visiting professors is that they have all agreed to appear on our show. They accepted the invitation. If you would like to be a Visiting Professor, our guest, or know someone who would like to join us in an episode, please reach out. We tape in batches and would love to talk about potentially scheduling an episode.

How do you reach us? Funny you should ask.

Can I be a guest on your show?

We’d love to talk to you about that. Contact us at faculty@balderdashacademy.com and let’s set it in motion.

How do you monetize the show and where do the funds go if I support the show?

We monetize the show in a few ways. We have advertisements on the show and podcasts, we accept donations, we have Amazon Affiliate links, and we run a school store.

Paid Advertisements run through Anchor, YouTube, or directly through an advertiser. All advertised video episodes are clearly marked. All podcast episodes are advertised. If a video is not clearly marked as featuring paid content we will still drop in free end card ads for friends.

We take donations through Anchor. If you’d like to support Balderdash Academy, you can do so here. And thank you.

We offer Amazon Affiliate Links. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. All Amazon links are clearly marked in the blog post.

We offer a variety of merchandise through our school store. These designs are all unique and original. 100% of profits from the school store go to support the operating costs of Balderdash Academy.

We also perform live shows.

Who does your theme music?

Our theme music is A Beat at Bedtime (ft. Sapien Alien) off of the album Moments by ThinkFishTank. ThinkFishTank is doing commission work when time allows.

Do you have merch?

We do. The link is above, or click here.

Did Bob film in a theater?

Bob films in front of a green screen. His backdrop for Episodes 1 to 16 is of the old Pepperell Mill space of Maine Repertory Theater, the faculty’s home-away-from-home where they perform as members of the Chamber of Comedy. Maine Repertory Theater is the region’s only theater devoted to the creation, support, and development of comedy in theater. You can help support them here.

What do those symbols on your logo mean?

Our logo was designed by our Headmaster and professional graphic designer, Bob LeBlanc, and features a crest with four panels. The panels are, from top left to bottom right, the “Yes &” of improv, the masks of the theater, a smiling skull and crossbones with a quill, and a laughing juggler.

The “Yes &” and masks represent our background in improv and theater. The smiling skull and crossbones with a quill represent our co-founder and Headmaster, Bob. The laughing juggler represents our co-founder and Coach, Steve.

Bob is an actor, playwright, and owner of Sleuths Mystery Entertainment. The first play written for his company was a pirate mystery. The skull and crossbones represent his company and the quill represents his playwriting. Besides, Bob loves skulls.

Steve is a juggler, variety performer, and professional entertainer known as The Human Variety Show. The laughing juggler represents Steve’s show. Why a fish? Because he also loves Douglas Adams of the “so long and thanks for all the” variety.

How did everyone get their titles?

Once we decided that we were set at a fictional school we realized that we needed to have titles to be the faculty. Back when it was a variety show we also had character names and a backstory. Bob was Headmaster Robert Balderdash who inherited the school with his brother Steve Balderdash. When we transitioned from variety show to online comedy game show we dropped the characters but kept the titles.

The titles were chosen by each faculty member and fits them outside of the show. Bob was always going to be the host and so Headmaster made sense. Steve loves sports and so the title of Coach fit perfectly. Molly is a copywriter and chose Head of English Language Arts for her title, Marie owns Lisa-Marie’s Made in Maine and loves craft beer and so chose Head of Home Economics and Wellness. Nate works in HR and used to be the Head of Guidance but switched to STEAM because it offered better choices for the games.

Fun facts:

1. Bob and Steve were seriously considering making Molly the Headmaster but decided to stick with Bob due to the workload associated with hosting. In the original idea, she was going to be the head of English Language Arts and Assistant Headmaster. Think of her as Balderdash Academy’s McGonagall.

2. The original variety show concept had four characters:

   1. Bob as Dr. Robert Balderdash, Headmaster

   2. Steve as Coach Steven Balderdash, Coach of the Dashers

   3. Molly as Professor Molly McFlanagill, Head of English Language Arts and Assistant Headmaster

   4. Marie as Professor Marie Budd, Head of Botany

Who was your first guest?

Our official first guest was comedian Leonard Kimble. Prior to that, we had a first run rehearsal with a friend of the show, Krystel Baker.

How long is each segment? How long is the whole show?

The whole raw recording for Season One is about 2 hours, longer if we were really having fun. From that, each segment is between 15 to 30 minutes and there are five video segments with one 90ish minute podcast of the complete material.

Season Two features a more streamlined show with shorter taping and tighter segments. The average taping for Season Two is about 60 minutes.

Who writes for the shows?

Balderdash Academy is predominantly written by Bob. He conducts most of the research, and writes Four Questions, the lies of Lie Lie Again, and Technically Correct out of necessity to maintain the quiz show nature of the theme. In addition, each faculty member is responsible for writing their own segment. Balderdash Academy is an ensemble show built on the foundations of improv.

Balderdash Academy’s Teacher’s Lounge is fully improvised. No part of the show is scripted.

Head to Head: Competitive Trivia is researched and written by Steve with assistance from Randy.

Balderdash Academy’s Trivia Dash is written by a team of researchers and writers in the faculty.