Comments on: Facing My Biggest Fear: Improv Comedy

By: Business News » Blog Archive » Will Video for Food » Facing My Biggest Fear: Improv Comedy

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:28:25 +0000

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By: Peter Coffin

Peter Coffin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:57:17 +0000

Improv is great, but steak is way better.

By: Nalts

Nalts — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:39:26 +0000

@1@8 Sometimes I edit out the funny parts and just leave the repetition, SHOUTING, repetition and dead……. um…….. air.

By: JimmerSD

JimmerSD — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:14:25 +0000

You actually edit?!? out the ‘unfunny’ parts? Really…?

I went on a cruise a couple years ago that featured a ‘Second City’ touring group as their entertainment….. odd eh?… yeah I know…

On the ‘fun days at sea’ they would have improv workshops. I was suprised how few people showed up to take part but It really gave me the bug again. Hope it works out for you!

By: jischinger

jischinger — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:01:45 +0000

what, Pictionary wasn’t good enough?

By: marquisdejolie

marquisdejolie — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:41:46 +0000

Good choice, Kevin. This will discipline you, give you focus. There’s nothing funnier than a focused old fart.

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:59:19 +0000

DahliaK is right, Kevin. The classes will train you to to be spontaneous and to learn how to fill uncomfortable silence. Not that I could do improv!

The Whose Line guys were the best. They could make anything funny.

By: DahliaK

DahliaK — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:35:18 +0000

Oh yeah – example of effective dead air – during Bush administration, standard fare on the Daily Show was a brief clip of Bush saying something typically Bushlike, followed by Jon Stewart with a quizzical expression – no words. Just the facial expression. All the sounds were of the audience cracking up. I used to say, the show didn’t even need writers, all they needed was footage of Bush, and Jon Stewart’s face.

Ahhhh… the golden days of easy political humor. Still, things weren’t all good back then….

By: DahliaK

DahliaK — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:27:34 +0000

Heya, Kevin. My daughter does improv and just loves it. Don’t worry; they have a bunch of exercises and warmups and techniques you will learn.

I disagree with this “Daniel Sevitt” (real name? I don’t THINK so) character. Repetition can make the improv session funnier as a meme keeps coming back in funnier ways. (That’s what SHE said.) Shouting has its place, let’s say your assignment is you believe someone is hard of hearing and they are to guess what assumptions you hold about them. (lame example, sorry). Dead air can be HILARIOUS if the pauses are pregnant … and the facial expressions suitable.

Have you been a guest on The Daily Show yet? Make that your goal for after you complete the class.

w00t!

By: Reubnick

Reubnick — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:26:30 +0000

Ah, Improv comedy. I love it. It’s probably one of the better things I am actually good at. I used to be in this thing called “Destination Imagination” in 6th and 7th grade, which was basically all about Improv. Even though it had the stupidest name of all time, and everybody else in the group was a stupid idiot, I loved it. I used to play this character who was a washed up child star who always said “That’s abnormal-Chormel!”, and also this character who was a washed up rockstar named Rex Keifer. I played a lot of washed up things, that’s for sure.

Either way, I don’t know where I’m getting with this. If I could give advice, it would probably be to use repetition. From my short stint, I’ve found people like repetition.

But, of course, it’s probably not the wisest thing to take advice from ol’ Reubnick!