Improvement Starts with Improv

I got lucky in 1991 when I went to work in Chicago.  Since I was a college student, I had wanted to live there, so when the NBC-owned station there offered me a great position, it was a dream come true.   I was a big city kid, having grown up in New York, and had lived in the south and midwest, but was just not prepared for what I found at what I feel is the funniest city in America.

But this isn't about work.  It's about how my life changed when I attended my first improv class.

Chicago is the Mecca of improvisational theater--with The Second City and ImprovOlympic as the real hot spots for this kind of comedy.  Who knew that they offered classes to schmucks like me?

I had been going to Second City since 1975, so when I got to Chicago, one of the first things I did was to head to 1616 North Wells for their latest review, which included Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert and Amy Sedaris.

Not too shabby, but those three will never amount to anything!

My training at the Players Workshop of The Second City took me and my 18 classmates from all possible levels of proficiency for one full year, and culminated with a "best of" show of our best classroom bits on a Sunday morning in front of a hundred or so of family and friends...on the Second City main stage.

If you've never been there, it's a small, non-descript black box holding 290 souls jammed together around bar tables barely large enough to hold an over-priced Old Style.

But the impact of performing on that stage, albeit only once, that once held Belushi, Carell, Colbert and dozens of other greats over the (now 50) years was too much to grasp.  That superficial delight was only the beginning of how learning improv changed my life.

(with the hilarious Karl Armbruster and Frank Payne above)

Being "in the moment" is great, but beware Tourette-like spontaneity in your job.  I was so full of confidence and amped-up at being interviewed for Electronic Media magazine, that I tried to be funny by describing a recent presentation by Warmer Bros. derisively as a "puppet show." 

I am so funny!!! (or so I thought)

Note to self:  when the whole company is behind the show, "Extra," and Warner Bros. is the main supplier of product to your parent company (the one paying your substantial salary), it's best to just say "what a great show.  Best presentation ever" than to try to be "in the moment."

The article came out in the trades with my quote and, after a gentle spanking by both the general manager and head of the division, life went on without too much drama.

But, my general manager at the time, Pat Wallace, had a word or two of advice for me..."put your mouth on a seven second delay from your brain."  Good advice that I take with me everywhere today.


I've made many local stage performances and tons of speeches before different groups, but my confidence took a quantum leap forward when I started taking classes in improv.

You can take improv classes now in any city from Jupiter to Stockton.  It may not seem as great as having four lines in a production of Our Town with the "Open Pants Players" but there's something invigorating about full-contact improv, with other strangers, who are just as nervous as you.

One of my classmates was an accountant, one a physical therapist, one delivered pizzas, one was retired military and a few were aspiring comedians.  

Learning improvisational theater teaches you how to move, support others on stage, react quickly to things and ultimately to be "in the moment" and fearless.  You'll build confidence, work better with people and, ultimately, have more fun than the law allows.  It may just improve your ability to do your job.  If you take only a few classes or a study for a whole year, learning improv will only help you get by in your work and personal life, and you'll meet some great people...especially a funny accountant.

I read a survey that said that 80% of Americans would rather have surgery than speak in front of a large group.  Well, I've had surgery and I don't know why anyone would ever say that.

I never had to be catheterized after a speech and I never had to miss a week of work after speaking in front of Rotary. 

You think Steve Carell would rather have his gall bladder out rather than talk to Letterman?

You may not want to become the next Burt Wonderstone, but it beats having to lose a gall bladder or your job.  Just try not to be too full of yourself if a national magazine wants a quote.  Your boss reads everything.

--Rich Brase
redrich24@yahoo.com
richideas.net
 

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