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I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on my life lately. As you probably know, my wife and I are having a baby, my dad is dying, and my birthday is coming up in a little over a month. All good reasons to spend time thinking about how I would have done my life differently.
Since I can’t have a do-over, I figure the next best thing is to pass on what I’ve learned to those of you who are just at the beginning of your improv careers. Hopefully, this advice will help you not repeat the same mistakes I did!
If you’re an improv teacher, you’re probably familiar with the concept of side coaching, where you make subtle comments to your students while they are doing a scene to give them some direction. The concept of side coaching is to help your student see something they can’t see in the moment.
Sounds easy, right? But in fact, doing it well can be tricky. Side coaching is not an exact science, but it is a skill that can be learned, and the best way I have learned is through trial and error.
Here are a few other tips that I have learned over the years that will help you give more effective feedback. See more tips from Jay Sukow, an improv teacher in Los Angeles, below:
At the same time, a more advanced player may need to be working on going deeper in their scene work or working on emotions. Get to know your students and realize when it comes to side coaching one size does not fit all.
Side Coaching Tips from Jay Sukow
The two notes I give most often when side coaching: say yes and like each other. Those two will help any scene succeed.
Here are a couple of other tips:
Let me tell you something that drives me nuts. A person does improv for five or six years and starts getting good at, gets on Harold team, maybe two, and he is killing it.
Naturally, he wants more from his the career, which means he would like to get paid. So he saves up enough money to get headshots. Then he gets agent who sends him on a ton of auditions and he sucks at them. He sucks at reading from a script, he sucks at auditioning.
Then one of his smart-ass friends suggests taking an on-camera class and the improviser balks: "I am on a house team at one of the biggest improv theaters in country. I don’t need to take another class."
He doesn’t know it, but he has just put his film, TV and commercial career on hold. Out of arrogance. Out of pride.
What this really talented improviser doesn't realize is that cold reading and auditioning is a skill, something that needs to be learned, like improv. By stopping learning, he is killing any chance of taking his career to the next level.
I cannot tell you how many people I have known, including myself, who used to think like this.
This happens in the acting world as well. I have seen accomplished actors come out of the audition room with flop sweat and all the color gone from their face complaining, "Man, that was rough. They asked me to improvise." Yet, they never take an improv class. Why?
Just like many improvisers, actors often don’t realize that even if they’ve worked in some of the best theaters in town, the credits don't transfer. Just because you have mastered one medium does not mean that you will automatically master another one. Most likely, it will take less time to learn a new skill because of your prior experience, but it will not happen overnight. Remember you’re learning something related but essentially you are learning something new, and that takes time. Just remember how long it took you to grasp acting or improv.
Several years ago I was in an on-camera class with one of my favorite all-time teachers, Jane Alderman. We had an actor in our class who was in the touring company of Wicked when it was playing for a long run in Chicago. The guy had a big part in it and he was taking an on-camera class on his off night. I knew this guy must be from NY or LA because Chicago actors and improvisers don't think like that. Even though he was in big touring company of Broadway show, he knew that if he wanted to go into TV and film he had to learn some new skills. He wasn’t arrogant enough to think that his part in Wicked would be enough. He was one of the smart ones.
I have friend out in LA who has been quite successful in commercials, TV and film, and you know what? He is always studying and taking classes and working with an on-camera coach when he gets a big audition. Sometimes when he takes a class he will say, “Do you remember so-and-so who was on that network show for six seasons? That guy is in my scene study class.” I love hearing that because I think most of us think once you are on a national TV show you are done learning.
As actors and improvisers, the only thing we have control over is our ability to keep developing our talents, to keep learning new things. The best way I know how to do that is by taking classes. I not only find it fun, but it’s also a great way to meet people and even network.
I try to take this advice myself. Even though I’m a big-time improv teacher with more than 30 years improvising experience, last year I took a stand-up comedy class. I was by far the oldest person in the class by 20 years. Nobody knew my reputation as an improv teacher. I had a ball. And let me tell you, it had a direct impact on my improvising and my teaching. I can’t tell how it did, it just did.
As you read this, my wish for you is to always be learning something new.
Years ago when I first started teaching corporate improv workshops, other improvisers would give me crap saying I was selling out. Wow, have times changed. Today, corporate improv workshops are more popular than ever. And guess what? I still love teaching them, because I believe the concepts of improv are not just great on stage, but they can be truly life-changing philosophies as well.
Recently, I was interviewed by Jody Michael and Associates, a career coaching and organizational coaching company, about how to use improv to improve leadership skills. But of course, improv can help improve lots of other aspects of a corporation, as well.
If you’re in the corporate world and you’ve heard about improv workshops, you might be interested in knowing exactly how your company could benefit from one. Here’s what I think are the biggest benefits that corporations can get out of hosting an improv workshop:
1. Building trust
Too often in companies, people have work together, but because of office politics, personality conflicts and meetings behind closed doors, there is often not a lot of trust among co-workers. Just think how much more productive, and yes, profitable, companies would be if there were more trust in their organization.
When I teach corporate improv workshops, I build trust through play, which is a hard concept for some result-oriented people in corporate America to understand. I structure my corporate workshop with games and exercises that are solely designed with having fun in mind.
Giving the participants permission to be silly and to laugh without worrying about what they’re supposed to be learning is the secret ingredient in building trust. The sure sign that this is being accomplished is when their laughter fills the room. Laughter is the by-product of building trust.
2. Listening
I cannot tell you how many times some big, Type-A sales rep will come up to me before a corporate workshop and say, "I am a great listener. I don't need help on listening." Then we play an improv game and he won't shut up, or worse, he tries to control how he thinks the game is supposed to go.
Listening is an attitude. It’s about letting go of control and responding and building off the last thing that was said by your partner. We all need to work on listening, including me, the guy teaching the workshop. It’s muscle, a skill that needs to be developed. I have very rarely meet someone who is a natural listener.
In improv, we learn that real listening comes when we suspend judgement and have the courage to throw away the script in our head. Instead of rehearsing to yourself in your head what you're going to say as your boss drones on and on about something, instead you can learn to truly listen in the moment and react to the last thing that was said.
3. Yes, and…
Once a corporation works on building trust and teaching people how to listen, then they’re ready to learn the improv concept of “Yes, and…,” which means that they can take an idea that someone else has offered and build off of it. In the fear-based culture of some companies, the thought of saying “Yes, and…” to Larry's idea about payroll and adding something to it, instead of shutting him down, is revolutionary. This is a powerful tool that can change the culture of a company and can generate ideas and solutions beyond everyone’s imagination.
Instead of thinking about ways that every idea won’t work, employees are encouraged to find ways to be supportive of one another. If employees learned to say “Yes, and...” 40 percent more often after taking an improv workshop, just think what that could do to change a company’s culture and productivity. Nothing makes me happier than when I hear from a client after a workshop who says, “Hey, we used that “Yes, and…” concept in a brain-storming session recently and it really worked.”
4. You can learn about your organization through improv
What I am the most proud of in my improv training is that through the games and exercises I teach, corporations can identify bigger issues in their organization that need to be talked about and open up discussions about them that lead to solutions.
I have seen high-level managers admit in improv workshops that they take on too much responsibility because they didn’t trust their team, or sales reps who catch themselves telling people what to do in improv game because that’s how they think they should lead. One time, a CEO who had organized a training showed up late to it and the rest of the group felt uncomfortable about proceeding without him, which turned out to be a great gift he gave that workshop. In the right hands, improv workshops have the power to correct some of these issues hidden in an organization that get in the way of the company being the best it can be.
There has been a lot of discussion in improv lately about classes where students (women in particular) don’t feel safe. And many people who teach improv are now thinking about what the best way is to handle these kinds of situations in class.
Recently, Jay Sukow, who teaches improv classes in Los Angeles, received a question from another improv teacher about how to handle situations in class that make people feel uncomfortable, and Jay asked me if I would chime in with my advice as well.
Q: What do instructors need to keep in mind/be aware of/do that will help avoid students being uncomfortable or harassed in class and help students who are doing things that harass or make others uncomfortable recognize that and correct it?
Jimmy Carrane: I think the most important thing is to create an environment where people feel safe and feel that they have a voice, where if something happens, and believe me, it will, that they are comfortable discussing it in class.
I don’t believe that making people feel comfortable comes by stopping people from saying certain things. It’s about having a discussion about how students are feeling about any given situation in a class.
I accomplish this in my classes by encouraging my students to speak their process. On the first day of class, I set the tone by going over a couple boundaries for the class. I tell them that if things come up for them, they can speak their feelings around it. If they feel angry or shame or “in their head,” or if my side coaching did not help them, they can talk about it.
To give students the space to talk about their process, I, as the teacher, have to shut the fuck up. Improv shouldn’t be a lecture class; it’s not the Jimmy Carrane Show. Sometimes my students get frustrated with me because I don’t give more direct feedback, but I do that so that I empower the rest of the group to speak and I am not the dominate voice.
Yes, I am the authority in the room, but I am not God. My classes are a collaboration. When students have a question, I turn it back to the class. The answer is in the room, and the answer does not have to come out of my mouth. By doing this, students become more comfortable speaking their process.
Remember, no matter what guidelines you set in class, things will come up: People will be triggered, boundaries will be pushed. You cannot teach improv without this happening. How you handle it separates the good teachers from the great ones.
Also, know that each class is different, just like each person is different, and what makes one person uncomfortable may not phase another. It is not black and white. It is art, and the last I checked, art is still pretty subjective.
More than ever, teachers need to be present. We need to be tuned in to our students. When something happens in class that may be sensitive, it’s our job to make sure it gets talked about. You’d be amazed when issues get discussed in the moment how often they resolve themselves.
Jay Sukow: This is a great question and comes at a time long overdue. We need to change. Change is usually met with resistance, but leads to better outcomes. As improvisers, we embrace change, so working together, we can make this happen. There can be a difference between being uncomfortable and harassed. A student feeling uncomfortable because they don’t like being in front of people is different than a student being uncomfortable because they keep getting inappropriately touched. You must be aware of both. Look, there is no place for harassment in class. Period. It’s all about safety, support and the joy of play.
Here are my suggestions for dealing with uncomfortable situations in improv class.
Recently, I read a wonderful article by Madeline Wolfson about award-winning playwright, actor, and sometimes improviser Tracy Letts. In it, he gave 10 pieces advice on how to live a more creative life. I liked it so much, I have included the link.
Now, I’m no Tracy Letts, but I like to think I’m a pretty creative guy. So after reading his list, I was inspired to come up with my own list of five things that make me more creative.
Do you have any other ideas for ways you can boost your creativity? Share them in the comments below.
A lot more people are teaching improv these days than ever before. I could not be more excited about how many people are going into this amazing profession, and I also know that there aren’t many places where you can get advice on how to be a good improv teacher.
So Jay Sukow, a former improv teacher at Second City who now is teaching his own classes in Los Angeles, and I decided we wanted to share with you a few of our favorite tips that we have found over the years that have made us better improv teachers.
In the months to come we hope to answer your questions about teaching improv, so if you have any questions for us please feel free to e-mail me at jimmy@jimmycarrane.com. Enjoy.
Do you have any tips or suggestions on how to be a good improv teacher? Let us know!
I first met Paul Normandin in an workshop I was teaching at the Oklahoma Improv Festival, and months later I got to work with him again in Austin at the Out of Bounds Comedy Festival. I always like seeing him. He's warm and friendly, and he is always a good reminder about how big the improv community really is.
I recently saw Paul again when I was in Austin, TX, to teach at The Institution Theater, and he told me about this wonderful event called Free Hugs Day that he does each year and how improv had inspired him to do it. I asked him if he would be willing to tell his story, and here it is. Enjoy!
***
As I was standing on the corner of 6th Street and Congress Avenue in downtown Austin at 9 a.m. on Dec. 27, 2011 holding a sign that read “Free Hugs,” I was thinking my idea was pretty crazy. It was a brisk 40 degrees and windy. I was in the shadow of tall buildings and sunrise had passed, but the heat was not finding my double socked feet, and I was shivering. I may have been dressed in a nice suit and tie, but they did little to stave off the cold. My friend, Gloria, gave me a hug, and I smiled when she left to get my coat from the car.
So why was I here?
Well, in 2010, I started taking improv classes from Andy Crouch at the Hideout Theatre in downtown Austin, not far from where I was standing that morning. That same month, my wife, Victoria, and I had institutionalized our adult child in far off Michigan. I needed to do something to help me cope, or to at least distract me from that. And when I asked myself, “What could drag my focus away from everything?,” the thought of standing on a stage without any script topped the list.
I was 48 years old when I came to improv. I did not want to get on Saturday Night Live or be the next Jay Leno. I just wanted to try to find something more challenging than raising a mentally ill child. I failed.
But I did find improv and all the people that go with that! I found best friends, “Yes, And…,” and a community of people who encourage and support each other. I had been taking classes for about 15 months, and I was at a bar after one of those classes with some of my best friends. (I don’t qualify the term “best friend” with “from improv” anymore). The conversation turned to scenes and formats and crazy ideas we have. Without thinking, I mentioned my crazy dream of standing on a street corner with a sign that read Free Hugs. I said I wanted to do it as a social experiment, but also because people are just too afraid of each other.
Before I could qualify how silly this idea was and how I could never muster the courage to do it, someone said, “That’s a cool idea.” People at the table recommended where I could stand, what I could wear, and what I could say. They projected how many people might hug me and how I could make the signs so they would last the whole time in any weather. Gloria Rabil Bankler said, “If you do it, I will be the first one to give you a hug.” She agreed this was crazy, but...
Friends started talking about joining me for an hour or so. People offered to bring the huggers food. Before I knew what had happened, an event sprung to life around me. I had been training for 15 months to say “Yes, and,” so I did. Thank goodness for Facebook and the ease with which you can make an event.
I have worked as a project management professional for most of my life. I have led big efforts to make big changes, but never for my own purposes. I bring enthusiasm to the projects I work on, but this event had a mind (and life) of its own. Encouragement and enthusiasm came from everywhere.
Back to the street corner. Before I knew it, it was 11 a.m. The light rain had stopped and Ryan Hill, Bob Olmstead and Allison Asher showed up at 6th and Congress. It was warming up and the hugs were plentiful. That moment remains etched in my soul. I had said something in a bar three months earlier and now it was happening because my friends all said “Yes, and…” to my crazy idea.
Since that day, we have continued to hold a Free Hugs Day in Austin every year, and we have steadily grown in participants.
The question “Why are you doing this?” is often quickly followed by, “What church are you with?”
But their questions are always answered with an enthusiastic response. We either say something like, “We want to make people feel less afraid of each other, and this event is not affiliated with any organization,” or “No church, and who doesn’t need more hugs in their lives?”
I say “no church,” but really I guess this event has its roots in the followers of Keith Johnstone and Del Close, because their followers trained me and my friends, so I guess that makes us disciples of the Church of Improv. Too much?
Over the first five years, I learned that Jan. 21 is International Free Hug Day. So naturally, I changed the date of the Austin event to align with that date. Thanks to my friend, Tim Coyle, I have a flag that flew over the Texas Capitol on Jan. 21, 2015. I have a letter that came with it saying why the State House of Representatives gave me the flag. I also have a proclamation from the City of Austin signed by the Mayor and City Council saying nice things about me and Austin Free Hug Day, which was all delivered with speeches and such in the guise of an improv show on stage at the Hideout Theatre, thanks to Roy Janik, the artistic director there. I cried a lot and someone filmed the whole damn thing!
As I finish this blog, it is 12:03 a.m. on Jan. 21, 2016. In less than nine hours, I will be on the street for the sixth annual Austin Free Hug Day. I will be giving out hugs with my friends and saying funny things to those passing by in hopes they are not so afraid to say yes and trust us with a hug.
Thanks, Jimmy, for giving me the opportunity to share my story about how improv and the Austin improv community gave me courage, encouragement and a tacit agreement to try to change the world, one hug at a time.
At the end of every Improv Nerd podcast, I ask the guest, “What is one piece of advice you would give someone starting out in improv today?” Often when I go out of town to teach a workshop, a very smart student who listens to the podcast will ask me the same question. My answer is usually pretty rambling, because I am pretty rambling, even though I have rehearsed what I’m going to say in the car 100 times.
So today, I decided to share with you what my one piece of advice is. And to keep with the theme of "rambling," my answer is actually in three parts.
If that was the only opportunity I fucked up, that would be enough, but I once made a list of all of the stupid decisions I made or opportunities I turned down, and it was at least 74 things that I said no to when I could have said yes. So if you are getting in your own way, for God’s sake get into therapy, a support group, a 12-program, whatever. Don't rely on improv to solve all your emotional needs, because it won't.
Last year we saw a slew of new books on improvisation come out, and I wanted to share with you four of them that I especially liked. As you know, typically I write this blog a couple weeks before Christmas so you can ask for them from Santa, but with Lauren pregnant and the chaos of the holidays, I could not get my shit together in time. Plus, these books are not that expensive, so if you have to buy them for yourself, I’m pretty sure you can afford it.
by T.J. Jagodowski, David Pasquesi and Pam Victor
$17.31 on Amazon
TJ and Dave is one of my all-time favorite improv shows. The patience. The intelligence. The honesty. It's such a beautiful show to watch. And this book is a great window into how they do what they do. l love reading books about people's process from people whom I love and respect. And this book does just that. We get inside the minds of TJ and Dave. They share their way of improvising, their philosophy and approach. What I appreciated most in this book, considering all that they have accomplished, is the humble tone they take in their writing. They're simply telling us what works for them in their show. Plus, this book makes you look at the basic concepts of improvisation (Yes and..., Listening, Honesty, Not Being Funny) differently, which is always helpful if you want to keep growing in this art form. I especially like the part where Pam Victor interviews them, giving us even more access to their brilliant minds. This book is dense and took me time to process. I found it as inspiring as watching a TJ and Dave show!
In Mick's first book, Improvise: Scene from the Inside Out, he reinvents how to improvise a scene. In his latest book, he does the same thing with long form. Behind the Scenes: Improvising Long Form is written by a more mature Mick, but that doesn’t stop him from blowing your mind, and he does it in a very logical way, laying his points out clearly and doing a terrific job of explaining the reasons behind his theories. He backs up each of his points with real life examples from his years of experience as a director and performer at The Annoyance and The Second City.
This book gives the reader practical exercises to address these issues that are simple and doable. Of course, he speaks honestly and challenges old ideas about long form, confronting the reader on issues that improvisers rarely like to admit. For example, Mick says it's okay to get laughs in long form, and he gives ideas on how to make long form more accessible to a larger audience and as well as on the importance of giving a proper introduction when performing long-form to non-improv audiences. So brilliant, so simple, yet if you have been improvising for a fair amount of time, you may have over looked it. I appreciate that Mick comes from a director's eye so he locates things that a player may not see but doesn’t cram his ideas down your throat. You get the sense he’s letting the reader come to his own conclusions. It’s clear he's put a lot of time and thought and passion into this book, and it shows.
Well-respected improviser and teacher at iO West Paul Vailiancourt is passionate about improv and it shows in his book, The Triangle of the Scene: A simple, practical, powerful method for approaching improvisation. Just like Paul himself, this book oozes enthusiasm for improv. When reading this book, it’s clear Paul devoted himself to this art form and he wants to generously give the reader a set of practical tools to further their long form improvisation.
What I loved was right from the start, he emphasis the importance of "relationship scenes" and then lays out a method to help you make them even stronger. Paul’s methods are very easy to follow and super helpful to any level of improviser. He's gone to great length to make his advice practical and easy to understand for the reader. He's also has included embedded videos to help the reader apply the lessons in the book. The examples he gives are clear and concise and do a great job of helping the reader understand the point that he’s trying to make. I found Paul's approach to be very thoughtful, easy to absorb and each chapter builds off the next, like a great improv class taught by a great improv teacher.
4. Improv ABC: The A-Z Guide to Kicking Butt At Improvisation
by Ben Noble
$9.99 on Amazon
The heart of improv is to have fun, and in Ben Nobles's book, The Improv ABC: The A-Z Guide to Kicking Butt at Improvisation, he has done just that, with his snappy graphics and easy-to-apply lessons. It truly is a guide, something you can keep going back to when you need inspiration or a quick tune up. What I loved, and it may be almost over looked, is the excellent job Ben does compiling all the schools of improv under one roof and making their approaches so practical and easy to follow. Just like the other books on the list, Ben’s not trying to sell you on the one way to improvise. Instead, he's included everyone’s approach and he lets the reader pick and choose what works for them. Plus, the quotes, graphics and art direction make reading this book such a good time that you’ll forget you are actually reading. I would dare say that it's almost as fun as improvising.
Bonus Pick
The Inner Game of Improv: 5 Steps to Getting Bigger in Your Improv Career
by Jimmy Carrane
$3.99 on JimmyCarrane.com or Amazon
I feel cheesy mentioning my own book, but hey, what do expect from a guy who writes a book about having a more successful career as improviser? In this book, I lay out the five things that often prevent improvisers from having a bigger career: perfectionism, resentments (and expectations), low self-esteem, playing small, and not taking care of yourself. I try to give you practical tools to help you recognize and let go of each of these character traits so you can get more opportunities and make the most out of your improv career.