We could fill a thousand pairs of elasticated sweatpants with jolly good reasons why you should try comedy improvisation. We don’t actually know why we chose to give you just three?
To be fair, it would have taken us ages to rummage through all those sweatpants and give you the full list. Wellbeing, community, confidence, joy, listening, life skills, creativity – the list goes on and on and on.
I think what we’re trying to say is that we’re lazy.
Yep, even lazy people can do improv. You don’t have to do any prep. There is no homework. There is no script to learn. You just turn up and make things up with other people who are there to help you make things up.
There you go! There’s a reason to try improv! Even lazy people can do it.
We didn’t even have to riffle through a pair of TK Maxx sweatpants to find that one, and we haven’t even got to our actual three reasons why you should try improv yet! That’s how easy it is to give you reasons why you should try comedy improv.
If we weren’t so lazy, we’d go back and change the title of this blog to ‘Four reasons why you should try comedy improv’.
Anyway, here are the actual official but rather randomly selected three reasons why you should try comedy improv.
Why you should try comedy improv: reason number one
If you listen to Iain ‘The Hat’ Luke Jones and Dave Hodgson shoot the breeze on the Liverpool Comedy ImprovCast, you will hear at around the 37 minutes and 55 seconds mark, Dave utter arguably one of the best reasons why you should try comedy improv.
He says, “Everyone has it in them to be able to improvise.”
Admittedly, as quotes go it’s not exactly in Aristotle’s league, but Dave did hit the nail firmly on the head. Everyone has it in them to improvise, because you do it all the time. You do it when you are talking to your family, your friends and Barbara the window cleaner. You do it when you make up an excuse for why you’re late for work, why you haven’t rung your mum for a week, and why the kids’ Easter eggs have mysteriously disappeared overnight. You do it over the garden fence, in the pub, in the supermarket and in the hairdressers.
You make up stuff all the time, off the top of your head, based on your experiences and what the person opposite you is saying and doing. So, why not take all that expertise and put it to good use by trying comedy improv?
Why you should try comedy improv: reason number two
Everyone is really nice.
We’re not kidding. Literally everyone who does comedy improv is really nice.
It makes sense really. Comedy improvisation is collaborative. You can only look good if your scene partners look good. You have to listen and watch your fellow improvisors carefully and react to what they say and do. In improv you give each other ‘offers’ or ‘gifts’. We know! Gifts! How nice is that? You have to be generous, open hearted to other people’s ideas and support whatever they say and do with a ‘yes’ and an ‘and’.
Basically, you have to be nice.
Usually at this point there would be a cynical comment about the fact that everyone being really nice could be a little bit annoying, but you won’t find any such comment here – because we do improv so we’re nice.
Why you should try comedy improv: reason number three
You will laugh. A lot.
Comedy improv is a joy. There is a surprise around every corner. An unexpected wonder in every scene.
It is an extraordinary feeling to watch people make something out of nothing and it is even more extraordinary to be part of it. You will marvel at the stories that come to life, on the spot, off the top of heads, and in the moment. That makes the laughs even more special and doubly earned when they come.
And what is better for the soul than a good laugh?
Please try comedy improv.
The Oickers 