improv

He took a drama course and joined an improv troupe called Shock of the Funny in the lower East Village.

Once in L.A., he joined the Groundlings, a famed improv and sketch comedy school, while working odd jobs to stay afloat.

Nuñez remembers when he auditioned for “The Office” as “a good actor’s day,” and believes that his time at the Groundlings doing improv gave him a leg up that day.

Before going onstage in front of a crowd of a suburban crowd at the Brea Improv, the comedian’s Zen-like confidence felt like yet another thing she’s built from the ground up, along with her comedy career ... and probably a patio deck or two.

“If you don’t have anxiety,” stand-up comedian Aparna Nancherla riffs onstage, “the way I would describe it is there’s, like, an edgy improv group in your brain and it just needs a one-word suggestion to spin, like, countless scenarios that no one’s comfortable with.”