The Bastion is trying out a new interview format, born of brevity, a sense of economy with the language, and necessity itself. We hope you enjoy reading this inaugural edition of "1 Question With..."

Welcome to the first edition of "1 Question With...", I am your host Jon DeWalt, and tonight I am meeting with Pat O'Brien backstage at The Second City - he has taken the time to meet with me after a rehearsal, thanks for the time - I know you are busy. Let's get right to it:

JON: Pat can be seen at iO performing with The Reckoning, Armando, Deathstorm!, This Day in History, and Weasilicious. This past year Pat took his sketch show, "Misled," to the HBO/Aspen Comedy Festival, and in this legendary building POB (as he is known by friends and some family) is a Touring Company director and an understudy to BOTH Mainstage and ETC stages - so if you are lucky, you might catch him one night. Pat is also the writer of iO's level 4 curriculum, which teaches The Harold - and teaches not only level 4 but some level 5 classes. POB is a big influence on stage and a big help in-class to many of today's improv students and comedy hopefuls - other credits include "Misled 2" which was the sequel to the aforementioned Misled and for my money - was one of the hippest sketch shows ever to be created by comedians. Both Misled shows were directed by TJ Jagodowski (TJ & Dave, Second City, Sonic Commercials, JTS Brown, PLAY, Carl & The Passions, The Ice Harvest, Armando, etc.) and were written with and co-starring Pete Grosz (The Colbert Report, Second City ETC., Carl & The Passions, PLAY, Sonic Commercials, Stranger Than Fiction, etc) - and feature Jake Schneider (The Reckoning, Improvised Shakespeare Company, ThoseGuysFilms.com, Second City BoatCo., The Deltones, etc.). Pat's sister Meagen is also a successful improvisor/comedienne, which is interesting to note. Pat's viral video credits include videos with Misled and The Reckoning as well as "Pratkour" a video he guest-starred in with ThoseGuysFilms.com (that was written by Jake Schneider - so it is all connected in the end, like a harold - which POB wrote the curriculum for - oops I did it again!). Also, Pat has told me that all three of his Misled video shorts made it into the Austin Film Festival - so obviously I am very excited to have such an esteemed guest on my inagrual edition of "1 Question With...", so let's get to it without further introduction, Pat, what is it about improvisation - and Chicago Comedy in general - that keeps you excited for all these years?

PAT O'BRIEN: The talented people, Jon.

JON: Wow. Awesome. Profound, but still understandable to the masses. This has been "1 Question with... Pat O'Brien" here at the mysterious backstage of The Second City. For TheBastion.org and comedy everywhere, I'm Jon DeWalt saying "improv = listening."

"Pratkour," by ThoseGuysFilms.com, featuring Pat O'Brien: