Our stories are very similar, with the exception that I have 10 months under my belt since I first wondered in and took my very first Improv 101 class. Every Wd. & Thurs, at the Sacramento Comedy Spot they have these classes which are the barest basic “long form” essentials (establishing a scene, patterns, recognizing the game, etc.). No short form game stuff, strictly teaching the Harold format. After discovering that I really, really liked it I enrolled in the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd level Intensive courses in quick succession. Sometime around late December, a veteran performer asked me and 2 other guys if we wanted to get together and compete in the weekly “Cage Match” show. We clicked well and it was my first taste of stage time outside of classes. I got on a Harold team when they held auditions in March and have been doing weekly Wednesday shows since then. I’ve since joined another group that had a regular Thursday for 2 months but now only does 1st Saturday shows before the flagship Saturday show. I couldn’t imagine not having weekly stage time, its crazy to me when people can give it up.

Improv4Humans is a great show, fantastic performers, and while sloppy it often yields stuff that has me tearing up laughing so hard.
Itunes has a ton of Asssscat recordings
I’ve heard a bunch of people talk about Besser’s Master class show on itunes
A guys on the earwolf forums advertises his podcast of LA-based improvers but I have yet to listen
Marc Maron’s current wtf podcast has Andy Daly on and his story of auditioning for 2nd City is fucking great
Have you read Del Close & Charna Halpern’s book Truth in Comedy? Its very helpful and as a bonus, in the paperback copy I read there are pictures of Matt Besser, Ian Walsh, Neil Flynn (janitor from Scrubs) looking IMPOSSIBLY young on stage.

Whats the scene like in Pittsburgh? How much do you pay for intensive courses? Are you doing weekly shows?