Just Don't Quit

When I first started improvising, I had an idea of the type of improv I aspired to do. It was more slow and grounded than other types of improv, made up of relationship-based scenes like the kind I teach today in my classes and workshops.

It was an ideal that took decades to achieve. In my head, I quit a thousand times.

And achieving my ideal was never a destination. I would do a show where our group would do the kind of improv I had always dreamed about, followed by ten shows that weren't even close. The longer I did it, the more consistent this became.

I have had the same experience with teaching improv, podcasting and writing this blog.

For the last three years, I have been pursuing stand-up comedy, and I  am back at that frustrating place where my ideal is not matching my performance. My head is telling me to quit, and when you are my age, the voice is even louder than it was when I was in my 20s.

It has taken me three years to get five minutes of material, which I am still working on. At times, I feel lost and out of control, which means I am learning. 

But learning is not a good substitute for accolades. 

People keep telling me “It's not like you are just starting out. You have this improv experience,” but not all the credits transfer.

Stand-up is a skill and a craft that takes time and effort.

At 60, I feel more urgency to get better quickly. Not that I have any illusions that I’ll get famous from this, but I want to at least get good at it before it’s too late.

Then I remembered something Ira Glass, host of NPR’s “This American Life” said that put everything in perspective:

“All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal, and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work.”

Today, I try to have hope that my work will eventually get good. And to continue to have hope I have to stick with one mantra: “For today, I will not quit.” 

Repeating that to myself and doing the work is all we can do. As Confucious said: “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”

Want to keep perfecting your improv? There are only 4 spots left in Jimmy's Advanced-Level Virtual Improv Class starting June 3. Sign up today!