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As improv has gotten bigger over the years, more and more people have become improv teachers. What once was just a hobby for a handful of people has become an actual profession for hundreds of people around the country.
So this week, I started thinking… what made me become an improv teacher in the first place? And why do I keep doing it after all of these years?
To help me, I asked Jay Sukow, a former improv teacher at Second City who has recently started teaching his own improv classes in Los Angeles, to give me his thoughts on why he loves teaching improv, as well.
If you’re considering becoming an improv teacher, we hope our answers inspire you to take the leap!
Jay Sukow, improv teacher, Los Angeles
The reason I decided to become an improv teacher was two-fold. One reason was Dead Poet’s Society. It tells the story of John Keating, an English teacher who inspires his students through his teaching of poetry. From the first day of class, he tries to get his students to look at life differently. He inspires them. He tells them to rip out pages of their poetry books. He encourages his students to "make your lives extraordinary.” He introduces them to the Latin phrase carpe diem (seize the day). The ending of the film made me cry as the students salute Keating by standing on their desk and calling out “O Captain! My Captain.” I get chills just writing this. He inspired his students. Much like my teachers inspired me.
And it’s not just my teachers who inspired me, it’s also my students who continue to inspire me. When someone’s eyes light up with “I get it!” When someone says to me, “You changed my life.” When the career corporate person quits their job and becomes brave enough to pursue their artistic passion. When the grandmother says, “I play better with my grandchildren because I now say ‘Yes, and…!’” When the performer who’s fallen out of love with improv experiences that thing that reignites their passion and comes back reenergized. When people make lifelong friends, find a soul mate, are just happier in life. When a student becomes a teacher and evangelist and our relationship has evolved into becoming good friends. When students change their lives by starting improv companies, especially ones that give back to charities and communities. When a student who is too scared to open up and be vulnerable, who hides behind cracking jokes, being sarcastic and defensive, changes their actions and opens up to the possibility of what can happen. When the executive vice president of a Fortune 100 global fast food company tells you he uses the improv exercise “Red Ball” to start his weekly meetings. When I’ve affected someone’s life.
Another reason I got into teaching was that I wanted everyone to experience the joy, the magic, the love of improv. To see what we could do instead of feeling the pressure of what I was going to do. To show off your intelligence without fear of being made fun of. In improv, I found my tribe. I felt a part of something bigger than myself. Improv kept my ego in check since I had to leave it at the door. Improv allowed me to play and have fun. Improv has had such a big impact of my life and I wanted to share that with everyone I met. I learned that to hold onto something, to really benefit from it, you have to give it away. Improv is one of the few places where we focus on similarities, not differences. I’ve taught classes made up of such disparate people: 19 year old college students, Vietnam veterans, retired grandparents, career advertising professionals, suburban mothers and husbands, recently divorced. All in one class. And that’s the norm, not the exception. It’s always the case that people who would never had met any other way, who don’t run in similar social circles, get to know each other in a supportive, low-stress environment. Because “Yes, and…!” really means “No judgement” of others, but more importantly, of each other. Make each other look like rock stars. Inspire each other to be great.
Along the way, I’ve learned so much. Benefitted so much. Made lifelong friends. Gotten married and had two wonderful children and a dog. All because of the power of “Yes, and!”
I teach now also because I see a lot of negativity in scenes, a lot of conflict, yelling and anger. A lot of individuality. A lot of desperation to be funny instantly, with every spoken line. A lot of making others the butt of the joke, picking on scene partners, saying “No” to most offerings, even as simple as, “Would you like something to drink?” I want to see that change. To see people play not for laughs. I want people to see every opportunity as a wonderful possibility, to see every mistake as a gift, to help everyone feel the magic I feel. I want people to embrace the unknown, to follow the fear, to create, not destroy.
My classes come with lifetime tech support. (Thank you Dean Evans for that line.) Never forget I got your back. And your front. And all of the wonderful you. Those are the main reasons why I decided to become an improv teacher and coach.
Jimmy Carrane, improv teacher, Chicago
I originally started teaching improv and coaching around 1992, and to be totally honest, I did if for the money. Back then, the only people getting paid in improv were the piano players and the teachers/coaches, so naturally, I wanted in on that.
I first looked at teaching like a temp job. I was just doing it to pay the bills until I got my big break (which, as you know, hasn't happened yet -- I am still waiting). At the time, you could make up to $35 for three hours of work coaching a Harold team in someone's tiny apartment in Wrigleyville, and that was some good extra side money for me while I worked a day job selling office supplies.
I continued to teach on the side for a long time, always hoping that someday I could ditch my day job and focus on improv and acting full time. Then one day, around 2002, I was working at a commercial real estate office and teaching a couple of classes at Second City, and I came up with the idea of teaching my own classes. So, I put up some flyers for my first class, took out an ad for it, and the class filled up quickly. I could not believe it. Of course, I took that as a sign that teaching improv was something I was meant to do, at least for now, and I took the leap to make it my full-time job.
My relationship with teaching improvisation has completely changed over the years, as has my approach to it. Today, I teach improv because I love the process more than anything. I love taking a group of strangers and having them give themselves over to something that is bigger than all of us. By doing this, they start finding their comedic voice and taping into their honest life experience, and improv becomes effortless for them. They begin to trust -- the class, the teacher and themselves.
They start feeling like they belong and with that comes a new freedom and new confidence. And regardless of how funny they maybe at this point, they are becoming stage worthy. We start to believe every word that comes out of their mouths and they become better actors without even knowing it. They are entertaining me, and I am a tough audience.
Yes, it seems kind of magical when I put it that way, and it’s hard to believe it really works. Students often can’t believe it either. They’ll come up to me after a class or a workshop and say, “Is it supposed to be that fun and easy?” They seem puzzled by the whole experience. “Yes, yes!” I say. “It is supposed to be this fun and easy.” This is what I am after. This is why I am still teaching for God’s sake!
I also love collaborating with other people, and my students are no exception. When I teach, I don’t come in thinking I know all the answers. Instead, I like to improvise along with the class. For the most part, I don't plan what I am going to teach. I wait for the class to present what they need to learn that day. It's exciting to work this way because it forces me to be in the moment with them, much like when you are improvising in front of an audience. I am in the zone, I am listening and responding. Don't tell anyone, but my students are actually inspiring me.
But the thing I love the most about teaching is creating intimacy with a group of strangers, and out of that comes a sense of community and connection among my students. I will say this: Nothing makes me more proud than when students or improvisers I have taught and directed remain friends after the class or show is over. You wouldn’t believe how happy I feel when I talk to a former student who says something like, "Oh, you know Jerry, Julia and I are still good friends from your class ten years ago." That is almost as good as when someone says, "You are my favorite improv teacher," or "I learned the most in your class” or “You are best improviser teacher I have ever had."
Improvisers and actors usually classify themselves either as one or the other. But you know what? I wish improvisers would realize they are really actors and actors to realize that learning how to improvise is a necessary part of acting.
Over the years, I’ve found that actors are afraid to improvise, convincing themselves they can’t work without a script. They will they get an audition where they will be asked to improvise and they will freeze up and leave dejected and won’t come close to getting cast.
On the flip side, often when improvisers have a script in their hands, they don’t have a clue what they are doing. They think that they’re such great improvisers, they don’t need to learn how to act. Both the actor and the improviser are missing opportunities.
Both the actor and improviser can learn from each other, and the easiest way to do that is for the improviser to take an acting class and the actor to take an improv class.
To help me explain why this is important, I asked Andrew Gallant, who teaches Meisner acting classes at Green Shirt Studio in Chicago, to give me his thoughts on the subject.
Why Improvisers Should Take Acting Classes
-- Jimmy Carrane
1. It helps you get good with a script
Guess what improvisers? If you want to do commercials, TV and films -- the things that actually pay you money and may bring some exposure to your career -- then you are going to have to audition to get them. Which means you are going to have be good with a script. This translates to knowing how to ACT!
Improvisers have had the reputation for years that when they get in casting session and are asked to read off the script they usually suck. The reason they do is they usually have no formal ACTING experience or training. Remember, the last time I checked, there was no one getting rich off of just doing improv.
Why Actors Should Take Improv Classes
-- Andrew Gallant, co-founder of Green Shirt Studio
With the holidays almost here and the year almost over, it’s the perfect time to think about what gifts we’d really like to receive. This year, if you're an improviser, instead of asking for another plaid shirt or pair of skinny jeans, how about asking Santa for some things that will really make you a better improviser?
Yes, the things on this list can't be put in a box. But as the Grinch realizes: "'Maybe Christmas,' he thought, 'doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little big more.'"
So without further ado, here are the five things I hope Santa is able to magically leave under the tree for you this year:
The other night after an extremely fun Jimmy and Johnnie show, a former student who was in the audience came up to me and my wife, Lauren. I asked if he was still doing improv, and he said to me sheepishly, "Yeah. I have been improvising for six years now, and the problem is I don't know if I am getting any better."
Then Lauren jumped in asked him a question. "Are you still having fun?”
"Yes,” he said.
“Well,” Lauren said firmly, "If you are still having fun, that's all that matters."
Wish I had said that. Because she is right. It is that simple, it’s just not that easy.
The whole point of improv is to have fun. When we take our first improv class, we all fall in love with the freedom we feel in class, the ability to just let loose and be creative. We like it because we’re having fun.
Then somewhere along the line, it becomes competitive. We want to make it on a team, or get a part in a show, or we simply start comparing our progress with other people's progress – “They do better characters, or make stronger choices” -- the list can go on and on. We end up putting pressure on ourselves, which is the number one killer of improvisation.
One of the most common ways we put pressure on ourselves is by saying, “I have been doing improv for X number of years,” or “I went through all the levels at Bob's Improv School.” When you say this kind of stuff, you usually think you should be farther along than you think you are, and without knowing it, you’re putting even more pressure on yourself.
When we put pressure on ourselves, we take the joy out of improvising. If you want to put pressure on yourself, you should become a high powered lawyer, not an improviser.
The problem is we are in a hurry to get better. Unfortunately, we don’t have control over when we get better. In fact, in my experience, it rarely happens on my time table. Actually, it works just the opposite: If you don't care if you are getting better, you get better faster.
I have been doing Improv Nerd for over four years, and you know what? This last run of live shows, I finally felt I was getting better as an improviser. It only took 30 years, hundreds of shows and 165 episodes of Improv Nerd for me to feel this way.
How did this happen? Because, I stopped caring if I was going to do a good show or not. I stop worrying if I was getting better. Letting go of those things gave me more room to have fun, which is the true goal in improv. And guess what? When I started putting my focus on having fun instead of being good, I got better without even trying.
So, please, for me, let go of the idea of getting better. Right now, assume you are getting better and that you don't need to worry about it, ever. And remember, I am a slow learner and this took my over 30 years to learn. I just hope it happens faster for you than it did for me. In the meantime, just have fun.
Nothing gets me more excited than when an improviser from another city reaches out to me because they are thinking about moving to Chicago. Of course we talk about classes, performances opportunities and their goals. What we often forget to talk about is something equally important: Where are they going to live?
So, if you’re an improviser who’s been performing for a couple of years in a smaller city or you’ve been killing it on your college improv team and your thinking of making the big move to Chicago, this blog is for you.
I know moving across the country to a brand new city can be overwhelming. Chicago, especially, is a sprawling city with a reputation for being the murder capital of the country, so picking the right place to live can be tricky.
To get the lay of the land, start by taking a look at the map of the L, which is our (mostly) above ground transportation system. In Chicago, you won’t really need a car, because the L takes you everywhere you need to go, plus it’s usually cheaper and easier than looking for parking. The buses are pretty good here and if you are brave enough, some improvisers get bikes and hopefully a light and a helmet.
For reference, Second City is located near the Sedgwick stop on the Brown Line, and iO Chicago is at the North/Clyborn stop on the Red Line. But living right near either of those institutions is going to be cost-prohibitive (we’ll explain more below).
So that means, you’ll need to find another neighborhood to live in (preferably along these two L lines). To help you out, I’ve put together a list of the five best neighborhoods to live in if you’re an improviser. I recommend you look for an apartment within several blocks (walking distance) of one of the L stops mentioned below.
Good luck and welcome to Improv Capital of the world. You are going to love it here and may never want to leave.
Fuel up at bars and restaurants like Penny’s Noodle Shop, Cozy Noodles n’ Rice, Wrigleyville Dogs, Costellos, Chicago Bagel Authority, and Red Ivy. For grocery stores, you’ve got a Whole Foods on Ashland and newly remolded Jewel on Southport.
Apartments may be small, and you’ll likely live by yourself or with one roommate. A two-bedroom averages about $1,700 a month.
It also has the Davis Theater, which is one of few indy movie theaters still left in the city, a great book store called The Book Cellar, and one of my favorite stores in the city if you are into holistic healing, Merz Apothecary.
As for improv performance opportunities, North Center is the home of Corn Productions, which hosts a slew of shows, including its long-running Improv Gladiators.
As for grocery stores, there are tons to choose from, such as the brand new Mariano’s on Lawrence and a Jewel on Lincoln and Montrose.
Aside from being near Second City and iO, if you’re into stand-up, there’s also Zanies Comedy Club. And a couple of stops away, you’ll find yourself at Comedy Clubhouse where the One Group Mind house teams perform. These neighborhood are chalk full of grocery shopping, there is one of the cities biggest and coolest Whole Foods right across from iO and a Treasure Island across from Second City.
If you’re already an improviser living in Chicago, let us know if you have any additional comments to add to the list. You may just be helping out a future teammate!
Growing up, I always told myself that I was not very good at math. As an improviser, I told myself I was not good at characters. I thought characters had to have an accent or a funny voice, and I knew people who were brilliant at them: Joe Liss, Pete Gardner and Dave Koechner, to name a few. I was convinced I could never do what they did, so for years I resisted doing characters at all.
But then I stumbled on how a physicality can lead to a character, and everything changed. I remember I was playing a doctor, and I washing my hands at the top of the scene and was being very slow and particular about how I was doing it, which led me to realize that this guy was a bit of germophobe, probably a bit of a shy nerd and unsure of himself. It was still me, but the physicality had given me a character and freedom. I loved it. It was working.
Of course if something is working in my life, I stop doing it. (See: yoga, walking, drinking water). And for years, I have done a lot of scenes where I just resort to playing myself and forget I have a body on stage.
But recently, I did a scene where I used a physicality to create a character and I remembered just how fun and easy it can be.
Earlier this month, I was at The Tampa Improv Festival and I performed a live episode of Improv Nerd with Mike Carr, Artistic Director of SAK Comedy Lab in Orlando. If you are not familiar with the podcast, I typically interview my guest and then we improvise together. Mike choose to do a short form game that I believe was called Chairs that I had never played before. The premise is simple: At the top of the scene, we both walk around on stage holding our chairs and then someone from the audience yells stop. When they do, we place the chairs down and then begin the scene.
Mike is an excellent improviser, and as soon as we put our chairs down, he established from the first line that we were in prison cell, but our relationship to each other was not clear yet. Were we two prisoners? Was one of us a prison guard? Was one of us a lawyer? Mike endowed my character with being nervous based on my body language. I was far away from him, my back was to the wall and I was gripping the chair. As an improviser, you could not ask for a better gift.
Suddenly, using physicality to create a character all came flooding back to me. All I had to do was heighten what was right in front of me. I started to physically embody the fear, bracing the wall in utter terror of Mike’s character, who was a murderer. I moved slightly away from him because I did not want to be killed. This led to our relationship: I was his lawyer, probably a guy who not had many of these murder cases before.
This is when improv is the most enjoyable for me -- when I have a strong emotional connection with the other player on stage, and now it’s just a matter of listening and reacting honestly from your character’s point of view and adding specifics. That is what we did. The status shifted, we found several games in the scenes, and the audience loved it. And best of all, it was easy. I wish all improv was that easy.
So next time you think you don’t know how to “do” characters, remember that your body can give you a lot of clues about who you are. By simply observing how we’re feeling and behaving, we can tap into comedic gold.
Next week is Thanksgiving here in America, and most improvisers will be headed home to spend some time with their dysfunctional families. For most improvisers, spending the holidays with their parents can be as painful as being cut from a Harold team or bombing on stage. But don't worry, you don't have to get drunk or play Xbox for 48 straight hours to get through it. I am here to help. I’ve come through for you this year, by creating my "Improvisers Guide to Surviving Thanksgiving."
Of course, this is a starting-off point. I listed my five favorite ways to get through Thanksgiving, but I would love to hear what you do to survive the holidays. So down below in the comments, if you would share with us some of the ways you use to survive Thanksgiving, I would really appreciate it. And yes, have a great Thanksgiving!
A friend of mine who is an actor called me the other day in a panic. He had a decision to make and wanted some help. He had been offered a part in an independent film that was shooting out of town. And while he was excited to have a part in a film, he would have to drive about 15 hours there and back, he wasn’t sure if they were going to pay for his lodging or meals, and he wasn’t going to get paid.
He was confused. On the one hand, he was afraid if he said no to it, he would be passing up an opportunity, but on the other hand, he didn’t want to keep acting for free.
This is a common problem for many aspiring actors. We know that in order to grow our careers, we have to start by being in shows and films for little to no money. In the beginning, agreeing to do projects for free helps us gain valuable experience, gives us an opportunity to network and provides us some good clips for our reel. But once we’ve gotten that, continuing to do projects for no money offers diminishing returns. After a while, it just keeps us small.
So the question for my friend was, “Was this film worth it?”
As we kept talking, his voice got calmer and he got clearer on what he wanted. He realized if he was going to do all that driving and lose two days of work from his day job to be part of the film, then he wanted to get paid. How much he wanted, he wasn’t clear on yet, so I suggested that he call his agent and ask him what would be a fair price for this kind of work.
Later that day, my friend and his agent came up with a price to do the film, and then the agent said the director should contact him directly to negotiate the fee.
So my friend e-mailed the director telling him to contact his agent, and the director got all weird and did not want to deal with his agent, which put an end to the negotiation, and the part, for my friend.
The good news was the decision was made for him. Sometimes when you start to take yourself and your career seriously, the Universe can’t help but to do the same.
Even though he didn’t get the part, my friend made all the right moves. He called someone for help, he took care of himself by running the offer by his agent, and then he acted super professionally by not lashing out at the director. No part of this process was easy.
As you read this, if you’re like most actors, you may say, “But Jimmy, he did not get the part.” You are right. But the story does not end there.
A week later, my friend called me back again and wanted to share some good news. Since he had “lost” the part in the film, he had gotten cast in a play, booked the biggest commercial of his career, and had just landed an audition for a network TV series, which happened to be on the same day he was supposed to be out of town shooting that independent film.
Coincidence? I think not, and neither did my friend.
“I never would have gotten all of these opportunities if had a taken the independent film,” he said, sounding much more calm and confident than he had the week before. “The Universe took me seriously because I took myself seriously.”
I hope I can remember to do the same.
Lately, I have been trying my hand at stand-up and storytelling, doing some open mics around the city. So far, the results have been mixed, but where I am starting to see it pay off is in my improv.
Doing things outside of improv only makes you a better improviser. A lot of times I think that when I’m in a rut or have had a series of bad improv shows, the answer is to force a solution and just work harder. But the truth is, more improv doesn’t necessarily make me better. Sometimes it makes it worse. That is when I need to go out and do something that brings me joy so I won’t put so much pressure on myself when I’m doing improv.
I need to remember that it's important to be filled up creatively, not only for my improv, but also for my teaching, and if you ask my wife, my life. Yes, I am easier to be around when I am creatively fulfilled. Having another creative outlet gives me more to give to my classes, to my scene partners on stage and to the audience, as well.
For me, I feel creatively fulfilled when I’m expressing myself, and sometimes improv can do that for me and sometimes it can’t. Any art form has its limits, and I get in trouble when I think I can get all of my needs met in one place. That is when I get stuck and frustrated.
That is what was starting to happen. Most of the time when I was doing a live version of Improv Nerd, I was making it life or death. I was putting way too much pressure on myself – all because I wasn’t allowing myself to have enough fun in the rest of my life. My whole life was serious, so my improv became serious, too.
Then this summer, I decided to take a stand-up class at the Lincoln Lodge. I spent time writing my set and perfecting my delivery. This led me to doing a few storytelling events at The Abbey Pub, Louder Than a Mom, and Surprise Party. And suddenly, out of nowhere, improv started to feel fun again, and isn’t that the point of all of this stuff anyway?
This past Sunday I had one of the best times I’ve had at an Improv Nerd show in a long time. Then after the show, I had to drive to Second City to celebrate the third year anniversary of a little improv show called "Jimmy and Johnny" that I do with the super talented John Hildreth. Each month we ask a special guest to join us to improvise. Our guest this time was one of my favorite people to improvise of all time: Susan Messing. We have known each other for more than 25 years and I love her. Of course, those two were great as always, and even though I thought I was a bit off, I had a blast working with them.
I actually came home that night feeling invigorated and, dare I admit it, happy. (No, not a typo or misprint. You read it right, happy.) That was the direct effect of me finding a way to fill my need for creativity outside of improv. Now, I just have to keep remembering it.
Over the years, I cannot tell you how much time I have spent trying to figure out why I haven’t had a bigger career. I have seen people I started out with in Chicago go on to have gigantic careers in comedy. What was wrong with me? I could never crack the code.
So I started studying other people success. First it was a hobby, then an obsession. I spent a lot of time and money in therapy talking about it.
My therapist kept telling me I was hitting the glass ceiling, and I knew he was right, but I couldn’t figure out how to do anything differently.
I would ask my guests on Improv Nerd the same question over and over: What was there secret to their success? Until even I got tired of asking the question.
But over time during all this obsessing, something funny happened. I started to become more successful. The podcast and the blog started taking off, and because of that people flew me across the country to teach and do live tapings of Improv Nerd at festivals and theaters. People kept saying silly things like, “How does it feel to be household brand?”
I was now actually making at living at this -- in improv terms, a very good living. I was becoming a success. (Shhh, don't tell anyone).
I was excited about this and wanted to share what I was learning. Whenever I took little baby steps toward success, I would write about them in my blog.
Then, earlier this year, my wife Lauren suggested that we should take all of the blogs that were about having a bigger-better career in improv and put them together into our next book. The thing about Lauren is she is a bit compulsive, so when she says she’s going to do something, she actually does it. So she began weaving those blogs into a book, five minutes after she said, “This is our next book.”
The result is my new book, The Inner Game of Improv: 5 Steps to Getting Bigger in Your Improv Career, which just launched this week on Kindle on Amazon. (You can also get a PDF version of the book on my website).
In it, I talk about how many improvisers think that they just have to do more shows or take more classes if they want to “make it,” when really, what they really need to do have a little more self-awareness.
I came up with the five most common things that get in improvisers’ way when it comes to having a successful career: perfectionism, resentments (and expectations), low self-esteem, playing small, and not taking care of ourselves.
Here are my five steps to getting a bigger, better improv career:
In each chapter, I help you identify these obstacles and then give you some practical tools for overcoming them. It’s a down-to-earth, easy read that’s choke full of personal stories and real world advice.
I hope you check out my book and let me know what you think. And I truly hope that all of us find a way to have a bigger, better career in improv.