I'm an intimacy professional who has been doing improv for over 13 years, and think it's important and overdue to have larger conversations about bodily autonomy and consent in an art form that prioritizes 'yes, and.' I'm building a workshop for improvisers around this and I would love to hear your thoughts about some of the following:

• How do you, if at all, establish physical boundaries on your teams?
• Are there any (specific or unspoken/assumed) boundaries established at your jams, workshops, drop-ins, or any other place where you may be improvising with strangers?
• How have you handled accidental boundary crossing with other improvisers, both in the moment and onstage?
• Have you ever taken a workshop by someone in your community about consent in improv? What was it like?

I was looking around my YouTube account and noticed my team’s DCM submission had zero views. Zero clicks, zero seconds watched. That was pretty surprising because we submitted on time with all the required info, paid the fee, and have all been performing regularly with a good audience.

No one on the team is a current student/house team member and I had a feeling that might work against us, but submissions were open to everyone.

I get that they were overwhelmed with submissions but to charge a submission fee without even watching the submission is pretty shitty.
And no, the video wasn’t downloaded either.

No one was bitter about getting rejected and we were planning on going to support friends and catch the headliners… but now I kind of want to get our submission fee back on principle and not give them any more money?

If your team was rejected, is your submission showing any views?
Curious if this happened to anyone else.

A question that was sparked by the Red Flag post. I remember hearing from a coach (and also seeing this as I've spent more time in the improv scene) that a lot of men when they are coached to show emotion they latch on to and express anger. For the male improvisers out there, what was your journey to showing and exploring more emotions than just anger? I'm starting to coach now and I'd like to be able to help guide people towards a more rainbow of emotions.

Whether it's a team that's innovating the art form or is just plain funny. I wanna hear it!

Taken from Alex Bonifers Instagram story.

Groundlings main co. member Alex Bonifer seems to be accusing fellow Groundlings Main co. member of stealing idea for the mega-viral sketch sensation "Chit".

Over the years I’ve seen a lot of people teach improv that aren’t necessarily the best performers, but I guess the argument could definitely be made also that just because someone’s a good performer, does not mean they’ll be a good teacher at all - and vice versa.

What do you think? Can someone not be a great improviser in general, but be able to teach improv well? Should someone’s performance ability on stage even be a consideration in whether or not they’ll be a good improv teacher?

I’m a relatively new improviser. But I was recently listening to an improv audiobook, and in one section said something along the lines of “new improvisors tend to try to steer scenes in a single direction because they think the idea in their head is the funniest way to go. They’re wrong. Listening to their scene partners will always make a better scene.”

That hit me like a ton of bricks. I didn’t even realize that I was doing that until this book called me out on it. I feel like it immediately made me a better improviser because my mindset shifted from “what can I do to make this scene better” to “how can I support my partner’s choices?”

So I was just wondering what your big “this changes everything” moment was. Maybe we can all help each other be more well-rounded improvisors.

I consume a lot of improv entertainment, and I enjoy listening to comedians discussing the nuts and bolts of improv. Mono scenes, short form, long form, etc. And from listening I understand that 1) Harolds are, like, the end goal of UCB style training, and getting on a Harold team is a coveted position, and 2) Harolds have a specific structure and rule set that makes them decidedly not like other forms of improv.

People discuss Harolds in hushed tones, and many talk negatively about them. But what ARE they?

Edit: I had no idea I would get this much response, and I’m so grateful to all of you for giving genuinely thoughtful and elaborate answers! I’m a little blown away by how much effort y’all put into these. Thank you folks!

Wondering if anyone saw this interesting post on Instagram: (1) Instagram

The text: "For most people, public speaking is a fate worse than death - especially without a script. But for the professional improvisers, this is a piece of cake because their brains enter a state that is biologically unique.

"If you improvise as a comedian, you don't just 'think faster' than the audience; you physically turn off the part of your brain that feels shame.

"In a landmark study, neuroscientist Dr. Charles Limb put jazz musicians into an fMRI machine to see what happens when you switch from 'memorized' performance to 'improvised' creation. The results were surprising.

"During improvisation, the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) didn't light up - it went dark. Even though the study focused on music, this specific neural signature applies to the 'improvising brain' in general. The DLPRC is your brain's 'Editor'. It is the voice that says 'Don't say that,' 'That's risky,' or 'You'll look stupid.'

"The data shows that expert improvisers have the neurological ability to shut this region down on command. Scientists call this state 'transient hypofrontality.' For the improviser, at the exact moment the 'editor' shuts off, the Medial Prefrontal Cortex (MPFC) - the center for self-expression and autobiography - lights up with intense activity. This explains why you can make associations at a speed that seems impossible to the average person. You aren't smarter; you just don't have to run your ideas by 'Health & Safety' before you speak.

"This specific neural signature is the biological definition of 'flow.' While most people wait for flow to happen by accident, the professional improviser has trained their brain to trigger this state significantly faster. The downside? You are a steam train heading for disaster. You have silenced the part of your brain that feels shame, and you might say things you will regret later. But I guess that is what makes you so good at your job."

References:

Limb, C. J., & Braun, A. R. (2008). Neural substrates of spontaneous musical performance: An fMRI study of jazz improvisation. PLOS ONE, 3(2), e1679. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0001679

Rosen, D. S., Oh, Y., Erickson, B., Zhang, F., Kim, Y. E., & Kounios, J. (2020). Dual-process contributions to creativity in jazz improvisations: An SPM-EEG study. NeuroImage, 213, 116632. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116632

In my classes, I was taught that the person who swept would go back to the back line, and other people would come on and start a scene. But I was recently in a jam and someone got annoyed with me because “kept sweeping then leaving the stage empty”. He went to the same improv classes I did (years before me), so I was surprised that we had such different ways of doing things.

Is his way the typical way it’s done? I don’t want to throw things off when I do improv with people outside of my home theatre

(Technically a lil bit clickbait-y lol, BUT hear me out- )

there’s this sentiment online that I keep seeing thats basically like “oh the USA is more improv-focused in terms of comedy, meanwhile Britain is more into “classically trained” type of comedy acting” or smth, and I’m honestly a bit confused.

Like, we do have improv groups here. Examples being (that come to my head at least) the London-based improv comedy group Shoot from The Hip and Mischief Theatre’s “Mischief Movie Night In” , among other examples.

if anyone can tell me what‘s behind this particular sentiment in terms of improv comedy, do let me know!

(I tried asking the r/AskUK sub (as a Brit myself lol), but most of the responses there weren’t…..to put it lightly….very helpful lol. So this sub will do since it IS about Improv lol)

Context: I am a POC that just moved to a new area. A few beginners here like to make racial jokes at me. It got me thinking... my race has come up on stage before, and I found it funny when my teammates joked about it with me. I've also seen shows where the race jokes worked for me. But now, these random jabs mostly feel annoying. I told them to knock it off, so that isn't a problem; I'm hoping to use this post + comment section to better understand what makes this kind of humor land, why it feels inconsistent for me, and to learn some comedy history. I'd love to know your thoughts!

My semi-coherent thoughts:

• I recently saw Stamptown, and Zach Zucker made some jokes about my race on stage, which IMO worked well in the context of the show. I think Zach does a good job of setting up his "jester's privilege" so he's sort of the butt of his joke, and it doesn't feel like punching down. Stamptown seems to be a deconstruction of a comedy show, and I thought it also worked as commentary, like every comedy scene has that cis white guy making racy jokes.
• In general, it seems more likely to work for me if it feels fresh instead of hackneyed.
• In my own shows, it worked because the jokes made sense in-context (e.g. my teammates and I talked about our diaspora experiences in the Living Room opening and it didn't come across as "shock humor"), and because the jokes were coming from a place of community and understanding. I can't explain this more though... it's just annoying if there's no substance beyond "I'm going to repeat an outdated stereotype out of nowhere".
• I wasn't around for this, but my understanding is that shock comedy/blue humor was a bigger thing in the 90s/00s? Like the point was to say the most shocking/offensive thing possible? Is this true??? Why do you think that it went out of style?
• Was shock comedy ever a big thing in improv, or was it mostly limited to stand-up even then? Do you think there is/should be room for shock comedy in improv now?
• IIUC, I think roasts were a bigger thing back then too? Was comedy just more... mean-spirited back then? What do you think the current tone of comedy is?

Thank you all for reading!

Hi Everyone! I don't know quite what to call this. But there is such a strong divide that I wanted to float it here. In my experience as an improviser and coach, I've noticed there is a strong divide in how people want to give/receive notes. Some coaches/improvisers take the supportive route. Encouraging improvisers to trust themselves and stating notes in only a positive way. For example "I see you're hesitating in this scene. Trust that you have a good idea and follow your feet!"

Then you have the opposite end. You have improvisers asking their coaches to tell them everything they did wrong so they can fix it. Or coaches that pick a part scenes to an extreme. Telling improvisers everything they think they are doing wrong.

I feel like living in the middle of those two must be hard? Because I don't see it much. I guess I'm wondering how some of the more experienced coaches have navigated improvisers wanting more direct feedback without bursting confidence and the individual's artistic voice? I've seen so many talented improvisers rise quickly during the beginning classes, but then wither once they receive coaching that is more harsh. How do you help people grow? I personally lean the encouraging route, but sometimes get disappointed students who were wanting something more direct.

In my 13 years I’ve seen so many people come and leave the scene. Some people just have no explanation, just didn’t feel like doing improv anymore. One of the funniest people I’ve ever performed with just decided he didn’t like improv anymore and left. Some people were accused of unsavory things, and left on less-than-ideal terms. Some people had dramatic fallings outs with theater leadership and were never seen again. I’ve seen people date within the scene and break up and one or both of them were never seen on stage again. Some people have used improv as a launch pad to television or movies and quit performing. I’ve seen it all. What’s your story or someone you knew who performed a lot and then disappeared from the scene? Obviously no naming names, and this is not a space to hate on anyone for their choice to quit improv. Interested in your reasons why or reasons you’ve heard from others!

Hi everyone!

I've been doing software dev for a while, mostly building games in Unity, but the last few years I've been deep in web dev for my career. A few months ago I started taking improv classes at Chaos Bloom Theater in Denver after falling down a rabbit hole of Dropout.tv stuff (e.g. Make Some Noise, Game Changer, etc...)

I wanted to combine both worlds so I built a browser-based improv party game called Prompt Party which is a love child between Make some noise and Quiplash!

The idea is simple: one person performs, everyone else submits prompts from their phones, players vote on the best one, and the winner gets displayed on the big screen for the performer to act out. There's also a Show Mode where the audience can submit prompts for a troupe to perform live.

No app download, players just scan a QR code or enter a room code from their phone browser.

I haven't playtested it with a real improv group yet which is honestly why I'm posting (I do plan to playtest with my improv 3 class soon).

I'd love feedback from people who actually have done improv and maybe how the game could be improved. Happy to hear if the format is fun, broken, or somewhere in between.

You can play it free at

https://promptparty.live/

or check out the itch.io page here:

https://ethanwheatthin.itch.io/prompt-party-live

Thanks!

Hopefully this post won't be rejected. I am just wondering what things, big and small, do scene partners do that drive you crazy BUT you can't say out loud.

SIDE NOTE: I've been doing improv for 7 years and I know I'm not perfect either. I know that I have a tendency to reject my scene partners ideas if they are (in my opinion) non-sensical (like suddenly making us fish or now we're on Pluto, things like that...).

BUT my biggest pet peeve is when someone introduces some kind of object work and then completely forgets it ever existed. The worst is when someone initiates a scene in a car and they're driving. We get unrealistic, exaggerated steering wheel movement and talking and never looking at "the road". Recently one person actually got up from driving and just started something completely different. I called them on it: I told them to get back into the car. They were not pleased.

I know people must have them but no one seems to talk about it. Please share.

What are the most important skills for an improviser to learn? I think skills like listening, heightening, character, object work, and others are all important. But what do you think are the 10 to 12 most important skills that every improviser needs to learn and practice?

I am introducing two new people to improv, so beginners games and easy things are welcome. Please and thank you. You can't say no!

So I've been lurking in the IS DEVIL'S DAUGHTER RUNNING IO WITH AN IRON FIST OF DEATH?!?!!!!1 thread, and a lot of the comments were about the general vibe of teaching styles at the various Chicago schools.

I am just starting out and I only have experience with Second City, but I notice people have very strong opinions on the different styles of teaching at each school, so I was wondering, what would you say are the biggest distinctions? I know the surface level - SC is for improv-to-sketch pipeline, iO and Annoyance are long form, etc. - but on a more granular level what do you see as the philosophical differences?

I am planning on branching out once I feel comfortable with what SC is teaching me, and my instinct is to take classes at iO next, but this isn't me asking for advice on that. Just providing context.

I'm at a crossroads. I have a friend who wants to start a new theater and wants me to help, which is very cool! But after going through some traumatizing events (yes, related to my original theater, sadly), I'm wondering if it would be better if I moved away from my city and did improv somewhere else for a while. (Or maybe even look to move to greener pastures for my life in general, but you now what they say about greener grass...)

Been through anything like this? What did you do?

Is anyone else here taking the Chicago IO month long intensive? If anyone’s taken it recently, any suggestions on where to stay?

The Fairmont is prohibitively expensive, none of the airbnbs within throwing distance for the entire duration seem particularly affordable as a single person.

Would love to get a group of respectful, kind, non-smokers/non-vapers with good hygiene and a deep abiding respect for personal space and boundaries together and sublet a place or something. 🤪

(Mods: apologies if this falls outside the guidelines. I suppose it’s at best improv-adjacent. Feel free to delete it if it’s a no, but given the relative absence of noise on this I figured I’d reach out here to see if we can solve what should be a pretty obvious problem. I am honestly tempted to just buy a place and then rent it out as an Airbnb for the non iO months, such is my frustration with Chicago housing in the summer, except I’m in Canada and don’t know shit about how to get a mortgage in the US and it’s probably a short timeline).

I’ve seen a lot of posts over the past several months asking for advice on how to handle other players who do X or do Y. Sometimes the poster is uncomfortable with behavior or frustrated by the other player’s moves. The implication is “how do I stop my scene partner from doing x or doing y.“

If I could give one piece of blanket advice, it’s that you will experience all kinds of players throughout a lifetime of doing improv – short attention span players, always going blue players, players who have three stock characters they always use, touchy feely players, standstill players, players who will walk through the obvious space object table that you were just setting up dinner on! – and one of the best skills you can learn is how to play with all of them and still create successful scenes.

Learning how to play with, and sometimes play around, performers who throw you curveballs is an invaluable skill. Rather than look on difficult scene partners as “ruining the scene,“ or “making it all about them,“ relish those moments and learn from them. What can you do to justify what they just said? How can you get the scene back on track? Or how can you follow the new track that this person has just laid down?

Make yourself a servant of the scene, a searcher for the unusual and the entertaining, and an advocate for the audience.

Here’s a couple strategies. I’ve used over the years to change my thinking on working with “difficult“ partners.

1. If you wanna call out behavior on stage, whether it’s nonsensical or inappropriate or something in between, make it about calling out the character that your partner is playing and not the player themselves.
   
2. When your partner’s offer is so out of left field that your initial reaction is to reject it, go the opposite direction and over accept it. This might get you to crazy town pretty quickly, but it’s a way to quickly heighten the scene and maybe get that scene to a fun and quick end.
   
3. If a scene partner contradicts you on stage, go with it, don’t ignore it. Justify it. Does your scene partner suffer from amnesia? Are they face blind? Are they living in an alternate reality or parallel universe? Justify. Justify. Justify.
   
4. If you have a teacher or director guiding you, talk to them about the performance. If you’re independently working with someone who you find difficult to work with, talk to them frankly, but make most of the comments about yourself rather than about them. “When you did X I was confused for a minute since I didn’t know where you were coming from so I did y.“ “ i’m not super comfortable playing Blue on stage. If you throw a suggestion that’s sexual while while performing, I might redirect that. Just so you know.“

More than anything, try to be a kind and generous performer, and a missionary of funny.

I’d love to hear what other people are doing to help them overcome performances with performers who they find difficult to work with.

I've always been discouraged by my teachers and other improvisors from using animals or food as a suggestion. No one has ever told me why. Is this a thing outside my scene? Why shouldn't I suggest animals or food?