I first entertained the idea of taking improv classes after hearing Jason Feruggia rave about it in his Renegade Radio – podcast. After for what felt like a lifetime of mental pulling and pushing and brain acrobatics, I signed up for classes at Improv Theatre Sydney in April 2017.
And I am forever grateful I decided to do it.
Not only have I had so much fun goofing around, I’ve also learned valuable improv skills that easily bridge into the life outside of improv, that of being a human. I guess to know improv you have to know life, or the other way, whatever. I guess life is about improvising your way through different situations.
Here are some important “rules” of improv that carry over to real life too. Some might be obvious, some won’t. And as is the case with most rules (except running a red light), sometimes rules are meant to be broken. Both in improv and in life.
This is a combination of stuff I learned from the great teachers at ITS as well as from the books such as The Triangle of the Scene and How to Be the Greatest Improviser on Earth.
Slow down and be present
Improv: This is one of the cornerstones of doing improv. If you are not present, you are not aware what the scene is about, or what has already happened. If you plot and worry about the future you are not focusing on what’s happening in the scene right now. And when you plot and try to guide the scene, it rarely works out since the other players have no idea where you’re going.
Life: If you only worry about the future you’ll miss all the cool stuff that happens in life right at this moment, and you are likely to deal with a lot of stress. If you only worry about the past, re-living the glory days of being the talk of the town, you are likely to be miserable.
Life and improv are not about where you’re going, but how fucking great the ride is. This is something I need a constant reminding of.
Keep your character consistent
Improv: When you play the same character, but change how the character is and how they react you are only confusing the audience and your fellow players.
Life: Having integrity means that you are the same person despite who you are talking to. By all means, have the emotional intelligence to adjust yourself to the emotional status of the individual and the current situation (don’t make lame dick jokes when someone is distressed. (Although…) But don’t change who you are as a person. As in, don’t act like a Saint Joseph with others and like a gang-banging Boondocks Saint with others.
Commit
Improv: When you get in the scene don’t hold back. The lack of commitment shows and sucks the energy out of the scene. And the audience will throw rocks at you. Or at least make “this guy is lame” faces. You don’t need that in your life. Being committed doesn’t mean that you need to be perfect, but give 100 percent and do your best.
Life: If you promise something you better fucking deliver.
Judging people means that you judge yourself
Improv: Well, this is self-explanatory.
Life: Insecure people are the ones who bitch and talk shit about other people behind their back. They continuously criticise others, either in their head or out loud. That’s what jerks do.
Help them play their game
Improv: Game is the odd or funny thing each player, or the scene has. Once you get the other player’s game add to that with your actions and words. You’ll support his or her game (perhaps using your own game). This is one if the cornerstones of a funny scene.
Life: Be interested in people. Who are they, what’s their story? Help them be themselves around you. However, unlike improv, maybe avoid excessively heightening the real-life scene to the level of absurdity.
Have empathy to see where the other person is coming from
Improv: Sort of continuing on the above, understanding where the other player is coming from will help you to add to their game and to bounce off your own game based on what they are coming in with. This will build a richer scene compared to just shutting them down and doing your own thing where you talk about meatloaf.
Life: Emotional intelligence at play here. Listening and actually hearing the individual in front of you will help you to build a stronger connection with them. Be interesting by being interested as someone famous I can’t remember has said at some point in the course of the oral human history.
Give others space
Improv: If someone has the stage, play low status. And unless you are 100% sure that your presence would make the scene better, stay out or stay low. Tag in because the scene needs you, not just to be there.
Life: You don’t always have to be the loudest voice in the room. If you are, you’ll never learn anything from others. But also, people who never shut up about themselves and their opinions are super heavy to be around. It’s like having a conversation with a radio, arguing over the final ingredient in meatloaf.
It’s breadcrumbs.
Be eager to respond. Not to talk
Improv: Listen (and hear!) to what the other players say, then add to the scene by responding to what has already being said. Again, this deepens the scene.
By the way, my default mode when I am lost and confused in a scene (me, as a person, not as the character) is to do the opposite and just say the most absurd thing without really contributing to anything. As in, “George, good to see you. You’ve lost weight!” Me, confused at what to do in the scene: “ummm…. yes….. ummmm……. well...Oh my god! I have a blister on my nut!”
Don’t judge. I am still learning, people.
Life: Again, this comes back to listening. You know how sometimes you have a conversation where you’ve just explored and shared your opinion about the nature of cosmos. And as you pause for a second, there’s that one person in the room, who, without taking a beat, starts talking about the liver bake they made last night, and whether it actually needed more seasoning.
No, it fucking did not!
You can add to the scene by playing it very low, reacting to what they are doing
Improv: I think I am just beating a dead horse here now. You can be the most important player in the scene by fuelling the other players with tiny, barely noticeable things you say and do.
Life: Definitely a dead horse at play here. Often you learn the most by being the quietest person in the room and asking good questions. The quality of life isn’t measured in how much shit you can talk (otherwise, at times, I’d be absolutely killing it).
If this is true, then what else is true?
Improv: When you find the game you can heighten the scene and make it richer by finding all the things related to that scene. As an example, we had a scene where one of the guys was playing an over-excited, German (I think) radio DJ. Next scene this character with same qualities was giving a prep talk to his young son before school. Funny. And after multiple side steps this character ended up in a scene giving an eulogy. Laugh out loud hilarious. But you had to be there.
Life: When someone is telling a story, embrace them and keep asking questions to discover more about them. Or, be interested and curious in people and shit in general.
Here’s a personal example of me being a jerk. I had known this guy for a while and thought he was boring because I never really had a proper conversation with him. So one day I asked more about him and his interests. And what I wrongly assumed was a boring person, ended up telling the most amazing shit for about an hour. You never know unless you ask.
Don’t try to “win”
Improv: The scenes are not about “gotcha” moments (although these can be fun to play and watch). If you continuously focus on winning the scene, you rob the scene as after a quick laugh it falls flat on its face. If scene would have a face, that is.
Life: The best conversations are about sharing ideas and rarely about who’s right and who’s wrong. That’s not to say that constructive debates are not important. But when both people want to win an argument, they are often 100% focused on sharing their side of the argument, at times forgetting to listen what the other person has to say.
Just listen to this conversation between Jordan Peterson and Sam Harris. It is frustrating to listen to, but for some weird reason I enjoyed it, nonetheless.
Don’t talk about people outside of the scene
Improv: When you talk about people outside of the scene you remove the deciding factor from the scene. And the scene becomes about other people, not about the relationship between the players in the scene.
Life: Ok, in real life good conversations happen if you discuss a famous (for a reason, AKA none of the Kardashians) person‘s opinion, or historical figures and what not. But, gossiping about other people is what Benjamin Kane and Harry Ellis do while coming up for air between the bouts of sucking each other’s thumbs.
And yes, I just talked shit about the Kardashians, a Wayne’s World character and a Die Hard character. So I guess I am immune to my own advice?
Be aware of your environment
Improv: Remember where you are, where the items in the scene are and what else could happen there. It’s not a convincing scene when one player has just jumped out of an imagined car and the other player being oblivious to the environment goes and makes waffles where the boot/trunk of the car is meant to be.
Life: Look in both directions and don’t wear headphones when you are about to cross a busy intersection. Because a bus.
Also, don’t be a typical Family Guy American at the airport. Sorry, that’s a cheap one but I couldn’t resist.
Go to the opposite direction that the audience anticipates
Improv: This is not to fuck with the audience, but to surprise them with something they didn’t see coming.
Life: Don’t live your life according to what everyone expects you to do. As Fleetwood Mac so nicely put, “Go Your Own Way”.
Things that are real conditions are hard to make fun of without being offensive
Improv: It’s tough to get a laugh talking shit about minorities, mental health issues, alcoholism and other conditions that are a real, and often common, struggle for some. It’s a cheap way of making a comedy, even if you don’t really mean it.
Life: See above, Joonas
Sometimes you are in a funk
Improv: Although I am still new to improv (or maybe because of it) I’ve already had times when I’ve gone a long stint of not being “with it”. It’s these times I wondered why I am still doing this. I felt like giving up, quitting, taking the lasagne out of the oven before it was even half cooked.
But I kept pushing through it, talking to others about my funk and eventually the funk passed. Improv became fun again. I got into scenes to kick out the funk one scene at a time.
I must also give the credit where it’s due by acknowledging the encouraging teachers and fellow players at Improv Theatre Sydney. These guys kept pushing me to do things I wasn’t comfortable with. Such an inspirational and helpful bunch of people. I’d almost hug them.
Life: Most of the most challenging and struggling times are worth pushing through. Nothing awesome comes by coasting. Something I am slowly discovering now that I am a dad.
Keep that lasagne in the oven until it’s cooked.
“When you relax and loosen up the good shit happens“ – Jeff Bridges
Improv: When I am stressed, anxious and too much in my head I get stuck in scenes (see above for “nut blister” – reference). If I worry about what other people think about me it’s the same thing. Chill and have fun are the key ingredients to good improv soup.
Life: Same thing. When I am relaxed and goofing around I am a better husband and dad. I write better, I am better at coaching and, as others could testify, I am just nicer to be around of. Compared to when I am overly stressed, over-thinking and over-analysing. Yay.
These classes and the shows I’ve done so far have taught me to let go and be more of my-goofy-socially awkward-self. And most importantly, I have met some of the coolest cats while doing it. These folks and the community have given me a sense of belonging. By all means am I not a good actor and only a mediocre improviser, with few good moments sprinkled through. But I guess I am more artsy that I even thought of because the ITS community is full of “my people”.
If you’re in Sydney, I highly recommend you check out the classes and show ITS puts on. For those of you in other cities, check out the offerings of your local improv theatres. You won’t regret it. The worst thing that could happen is that you end up crying and pooping your pants from too much laughing.
That’s the price you pay for a good comedy, my friends. And the entry fee.