You know why I think so many people are drawn to doing improv? I don't think it's because they want to be famous, or even that they think they're funny. I think it's because improv gives people a sense of belonging and community, something that gives people a powerful sense of meaning in their lives. […]
We are told improv is great for finding your voice. Everyone who markets improv uses that phrase, but until recently, I really didn’t know what people meant by it. And surprisingly, I am learning this through another art form — storytelling. After a bit of break, I am back to doing storytelling and I am […]
I love reading books on spiritually as much as I love ones about improv. And one of my favorite things to do is see how spirituality and improv overlap. Recently, I having been reading a book called Love Is Letting Go Of Fear by Gerald Jampolsky, which is loosely based on some of the concepts […]
Improv is collaboration. That is why we do it, because we love to collaborate with other people. But when you have been improvising for a while, you can get set in your ways. You can start to feel comfortable only playing a certain style of improv or playing only with certain people. I know this works […]
In improv, we are always striving to be authentic on stage, but teaching authenticity can be a tricky thing. One of the people who taught it the best was Del Close, an improv teacher I studied with who influenced a generation of comedians from Bill Murray to Chris Farley to Tina Fey to Amy Poehler to […]
As you know, one of my favorite topics to talk about is shame, especially how it affects improvising and performing. Nobody has done more research on the topic or is filled with more of it than I am. That make me an expert on the subject. In all seriousness, it is killing me. Shame is the […]
This is the blog you are getting this week. I am pretty sure it’s not my best work. I can live with that, since when you get this I will be finishing up a five-day vacation with my wife, Lauren, and my daughter, Betsy. It is our first official family vacation. Hopefully, I will have […]
If you’ve ever watched a painfully bad sketch on SNL, you know that writing good sketches isn’t easy. While there’s no perfect formula for a funny sketch, there are a lot of important elements to consider when trying to write something that will actually make people laugh. This week, I asked Sam Bowers, director of […]
We all want to do the perfect improv show. Every move is brilliant. Every edit is just right. Every scene is hilarious. But what happens when in the first couple of minutes of an improv show we bomb big time? Well, if you are like me, you feel shame. You shut down. You become best […]
I was so stupid when I starting out improvising in my 20s. I really didn’t think I needed people. My goal was to “make it” all by myself. I laugh now thinking about it. I chose an art form that requires you to depend on other people, yet I was committed to making it all […]