Since a new batch of classes starts this week, I figured it's as good a time as any to address the common misconception that improv is about trying to be funny.
Improv is about many things: listening, being in the moment, letting go of your agenda, agreement, commitment, jumping into something fully, carrying your own weight, playing well as a member of a team, connecting with others, creating something that's greater than the sum of its parts, to name several.
Improv is also NOT about many things: being funny, going for the joke, being sarcastic, being witty, being clever, being the center of attention, showing off, to name several.
In an improv exercise, game or scene, the goal is for the team to build something together that, because the players played by the rules and within the structure of the game, ends up being hilarious. The brilliance of improv is that the less you try to force funny to happen, the better the scene will be and ultimately, the funnier it will be. Doing those things that improv is NOT about will do nothing to build your scene and or the sense of teamwork improv depends upon.
So if you're concerned about taking an improv class because you think you're not funny, don't worry! Improv class is about learning the fundamentals of improv and learning to apply them in the exercises and games we do... it's also about making great new friends, having a blast and laughing till your sides ache. That's what happens in a class that's not about "being funny."
By Sonnjea Blackwell
