Tane Danger, Minneapolis host and emcee

I believe in making important things fun. I’m an emcee, event producer, improviser, teacher, and speaker. 

I might be best known as the co-creator and host of the nationally renowned civics-inspired improv comedy show, The Theater of Public Policy. At each show, I interview newsmakers, policy-makers, and big thinkers on issues ranging from race in education to the farm bill. Then the show’s cast of improvisers takes everything that’s been said and turns it into entirely unscripted improv comedy theater. 

The result is what the Star Tribune described as “C-SPAN invaded by the cast of SNL.” 

Through the show, I’ve interviewed more than 500 people: members of congress, university and college presidents, academics, journalists, historians, authors, and many more. 

I currently serve as director of the Westminster Town Hall Forum – the Upper Midwest’s largest and most prestigious speaker series. For more than 40 years, the Town Hall Forum has brought voices of conscience to Minneapolis to speak to issues of the day, “from an ethical perspective.” I run every aspect of the organization, from speaker booking to fundraising to event production and communications.

 In 2014, I won a fellowship from the St. Paul-based Bush Foundation. Throughout the Bush Fellowship, I earned a Master’s of Public Policy from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. In a self-designed concentration, I studied and wrote about how improv theater could inform and improve politics and public policy. 

The University of Minnesota School of Design tapped me to teach a new course called, “Improvisation for Design.” The class explores how the tools improvisers use on stage can help anyone be more creative, communicative, and collaborative. Throughout the semester, I pair improv exercises with readings on design thinking and invites students to reflect on how the two compliment one another.  

In 2019 I began working with Metro Transit on a web series called, “Hey! Where Does This Bus Go?” In each episode, I ride a local bus route from start to finish, noting landmarks along the way and chatting with riders. The show videos hopefully demystify each bus route and start to change people’s perception of who rides the bus. 

In addition to performing and directing, I regularly give keynote talks and lead workshops. I use improv as a way to get leaders to think and practice communication, collaboration, and creativity. I have given keynote talks and led in-house workshops for organizations ranging from Clifton Larson Allen to TEDx. I am also a regular on Twin Cities Public Television’s weekly public affairs program, Almanac.

Let’s talk about your big idea