Tonight is my 4th improv class and I find that I don’t look forward to it as much as I do when I have a comedy performance to do. The reason is that in the comedy performance you get immediate feedback where as in the improv class where for now there is no audience except your classmates, I spend most of my time comparing myself and my “funnyness” to others in the class. While the majority of the class are returning “comedy troupe” members and mesh well together because they have been together for a while, us newbies are sort of like the incoming freshman class in High School. We haven’t earned the comedic respect yet of the older members and so it feels like a “try out” every time we take the stage.
It’s like when you have an encounter with someone and afterwards you think of all the clever things you should or could have said. That’s what it feels like. After every “scene” I find myself critiquing my own performance in my head, thinking of all the funnier things I could have said and kicking myself for not being as funny as I could have been.
As with any new hobby, the first few projects are not always easy. Sometimes it takes a few weeks to get in the groove of whatever you are doing. The problem with Improv class is that in 3 weeks I will be on the stage, thrown into the mix, with an audience that may or may not laugh. Pressure!
We went to an improv comedy theater in Austin while I was there last weekend. I had high expectations even though it was the “class” and not the troupe performing. I have to say it was painfully bad. I felt the pain of the performers as some of them struggled to be spontaneous and funny and just weren’t. After each “skit” the audience rated the performance (as it was a contest to see which comedian was the funniest) on a scale of 1 (bad ) to 5(excellent) by clapping. I held my breathe after each skit hoping that no one in the audience would be cruel enough to clap when the mc said “who thought the performance was a 1”. Mostly, the audience would clap a 3 rating (to be polite) because mostly the performances were 2 at best. The guy that ended up winning the “night” was really not that funny, but definitely the funniest among the group.
I found during the performance that I was projecting my emotions, my fears and insecurities onto the performers, feeling their pain as their attempt at humor fell short. Placing myself in their shoes on October 19 and feeling the pressure they must be feeling. What I’ve discovered is that “forced humor”, the kind you have to come up with on a seconds notice is not as fun as I thought it would be. I am spontaneously humorous, just not when I am expected to be. Or something like that.
That’s not to say that I’m not having fun. There is one guy in particular, one that has never done comedy that makes me laugh so hard I almost cry. He has a gift for improv. And I have to admit when I shared that I do stand up and the other class members seemed to be in awe of that, I felt pretty good.
And I have to say I have gained a lot of respect for people like Drew Carey and the group on Who’s line is it anyway. What may look easy to the audience is actually pretty difficult. They make it look easy. When in reality, it’s a talent and a skill. Something to work at to become comfortable with. Practice makes perfect.
Without challenges life would be pretty boring. My niece who mentioned in a blog about me that I am willing to try anything is pretty accurate in her assessment. My motto is “you don’t know until you try”. Which has led me to some pretty epic successes like motherhood, and stand up comedy, and meeting Joe, and writing a blog to some pretty epic failures like playing piano, and yoga, and most every weight loss program you can think of….weight watchers, jenny craig, the cabbage soup diet, Slim fast, LA weight loss to name a few. And a few middle of the road pleasures where I am not great but not bad either…i.e. singing in the choir, handbells and well….improv.
I remember when the boys were young whatever activity they signed up for, we made sure they carried through with it for the entire season. If they wanted to be in soccer and after the first game hated it because it was not as fun or easy as they thought, we made them finish the “season”. If we had let them give up after one guitar lesson, or one drum lesson, or one karate lesson, or one soccer game they never would have known what they were good at. And some things that they didn’t particularly like at first because they didn’t think they were good at turned out to be the very thing they were exceptionally good at once they got through the first few weeks of the uncomfortable newness.
Some things, you do once and love and you wish you had found out sooner that you were good at. Like comedy for me. And some things, no matter how much you desire to be good at you probably never will be…like playing the piano. I can still see the relief on the piano teacher’s face when I said “maybe this is just not for me”. This was a teacher who taught all levels of kids and adults and I was a challenge. LOL!
I still have a pretty lengthy bucket list. Most things on it are things I want to do once, that I don’t really have any interest in becoming good at, or even doing again once I have the experience. This list includes things like zip lining, seeing New York City, and para-sailing. Other things I feel driven to do and will probably succeed because of that “drive” like finishing a book, and working again.
And as for improv? Well time will tell if it goes the way of yoga and zumba or if it becomes a part of my life like blogging and stand up.
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."
~Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
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