The Long & the Short of It

Somebody in one of my classes the other day asked me to explain the difference between long form improv and short form. Class was technically over, and people needed to leave, so I condensed my reply into a 20-second soundbite: "Long form starts with 3 opening scenes that are essentially short form scenes, then expands on them by going backward and forward in time to create a 30-minute, totally improvised play."

The students all stared at me like I was speaking Martian.

Improv, long form or short, kind of defies explanation. Until you've seen it, the explanations don't really make any sense. So it's good to see some improv now and then, peeps, just so you remember what it's s'posed to look like.

The good news is, we have shows all the time and most of them are free. The ones that aren't free are still cheap and often include alcohol, which I'm told some people enjoy.

The even better news is, we have a Held2gether YouTube Channel with a bunch of clips from different shows. There are short form clips and long form clips, so you can compare them for yourselves while keeping in mind that the long form audiences tend to be drunk. I'm just sayin'.

As far as shows go, we have a couple coming up in the very immediate future, as these posters prove.