Guest Blogger Steve Eley on Improv Comedy
Here’s the last donated blog from Steve Eley, creator of the Escape Pod Podcast (among others). I asked him to contribute not because of his expertise in the arts, but because I know he can tell a story. As you will see here…
Being asked by Gray to write a guest post on this blog was a bit surprising. This subject matter is a bit off my track; I’m not talented at the stuff Gray talks about. I’m a mediocre actor, a dangerously bad dancer, and there are laws prohibiting me from singing in six states. The one thing I’ve had success in is podcasting — which simply means I have some ability to talk into a microphone and sound like I know what I’m talking about. That’s easy; anyone can do that. Hell, even right-wing idiots can do it.
But since this isn’t my usual audience, I can make a confession here that I wouldn’t make there. I’m actually very shy. Few people believe me, even among my closest friends, but I identify as an introvert. I’m an introvert who can address an audience of 20,000 people every week, speak with spontaneous panache at a convention, and talk your ear off at a party. This is not a paradox. Shaking a stranger’s hand, I’m simultaneously relaxed and confident, and anxious enough to chew my own arm off to get away. The trick I’ve learned is simply faking it well; often well enough to forget that I’m faking it myself. And how did I learn to fake it?
Improv comedy.
I think everybody should learn to do improv. Especially the people who know with total certainty that they could never do improv. I had my formative experience with it in Georgia Tech’s theater group, DramaTech. We started with a few weekends’ worth of workshops, which became a performing troupe, the Let’s Try This Players — they’re still around 15 years later. Tech’s an engineering school; I’m not the only geeky introvert this troupe converted to a social mayfly.
The thing about improv is that it always looks much harder than it is. In truth, the hardest part of it is simply letting go of the belief that it should be hard. Once you learn to allow it to be easy, to let it flow, it’s easier to keep it going than to turn it off.
I learned two basic principles in improv that can be applied to any social situation anywhere. Together they’re enough of a social toolbox to defuse any social fear. They are spontaneity and acceptance.
Spontaneity simply means living in the moment. The surest way to freeze on stage in improv is to spend time planning your next line. You’re in a dynamic environment, the other people are constantly changing the context, and by the time you get to your clever line it simply isn’t relevant anymore. You can’t plan the scene, just as you can’t plan good conversations. Other people are too independent. The only thing you can do is open your mouth at the right time, and trust that whatever comes out will be the right thing. If you’re truly living in the moment, fully aware of your context, and confident enough, it will be. And when it is, that builds your confidence and awareness. It’s a self-reinforcing feedback loop once it gets started.
Acceptance was our most unbreakable rule in improv: never say no. “No” kills the scene. Failure to collaborate kills. If someone asks you to hold steady the invisible ladder they’re climbing and you say “No,” there’s nowhere to go from there. It’s not funny and there’s no plot that comes out of “No.” The correct answer is “Yes, and…” Accept and validate the point of view that the people around you are building — and then add to it with your own ideas. The same is true in any group dynamic. You have the power to change anything around you, but only if you accept the power of everyone else to do the same. This doesn’t mean having no boundaries; but if you’re doing improv (or life) and people are constantly pushing your limits and making you say “No,” you’re probably on the wrong stage.
These ideas are not unique to improv, and I know I’m not the first person to talk about socializing effectively with them. You can read the same stuff in How to Win Friends and Influence People. But improv is where it sunk in for me. Making it funny, having fun, is how I fully absorbed it. If you ever find yourself in my shoes, think about improv yourself. It’s worth a try. (And then can I please have
them back? I like those shoes.)
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Have Fun,
Steve Eley (sfeley@gmail.com)
ESCAPE POD - The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine
http://www.escapepod.org
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