By Peggy Walkush
When I was fairly new to improv, I read an interview with an experienced improviser I admired in which she said the more improv she watches, the less she laughs. Not necessarily because it isn’t funny, but because she has seen much of it before. That really struck me because I regularly attended improv shows and laughed my butt off (I wish that was literally true). I hoped I would never get to a point where I didn’t laugh at improv.
About a year ago I attended a mind-blowing improv workshop in Chicago where we were taught by improv legends like Jimmy Carrane, TJ Jagadowski and Susan Messing. Susan described the difference between a laugh at something strange or unusual (likely said with the intention of being funny) and a laugh at a genuinely honest moment. She used the analogy of potato chips and steak. With potato chips – you can eat lots of them and not feel satisfied, but with a steak (sorry vegetarians), even a small portion can be rich and filling and satisfying.
So I have reached that point where I don’t laugh often while watching improv – I see too many improvisers dropping funny lines for a quick laugh that disrupts the integrity of the scene they were creating. I don’t crave potato chips. I hunger for steak. And when an improv team delivers a 16-ounce grass fed T bone (again apologies to the vegetarians), I laugh hard at times and at times I sit quietly in total awe mesmerized by the brave display of honesty before me. And at the end of the night, I remember – the set has a lasting impact that deeply satisfies.
In their brilliant book “Improvisation At The Speed of Life,” T.J. Jagadowski and David Pasquesi talk about honesty in improv. “Finding honesty is a deceptively simple endeavor that involves as much not doing (not panicking, not bluffing, not doubting) as doing (being present, listening, paying attention).” They believe fear holds most improvisers back from being honest on stage – fear of being vulnerable, fear it won’t get laughs. TJ and Dave challenge themselves to “dare to bore” which is their way of “remembering that we should never force the show to be funny or comedic, even at the cost of being mundane.”
If you’d like to explore beefing up your honesty in improv, come to my next drop-in on Thursday, July 9th from 5:30-7:30 at Finest City Improv!