“Just have fun”

That’s my least favourite improv note, “just have fun”. You know what’s fun to me? Scenes that make sense and are funny and where people are listening! Just have fun, that doesn’t mean anything!
Karin Louise Hammerberg on UCB Long-Form Conversations

I think the stupidest thing you can do is feel like there is status about improv. It’s like made up, it’s all made up!
Karin Louise Hammerberg on UCB Long-Form Conversations

A lot of people take a single note, and say this is the solution and it’s not. [..] Because I spent a year getting that [particular note] hammered into my brain, it’s now just muscle memory. But it takes so long to get that muscle memory to work!
Dru Johnston on the latest UCB Long-Form Conversations podcast talking about actioning notes.

It’s go time. Inflorescence, an improvised piece I’ve been working on for the last few months finally opens tonight. Six shows only. 7:15pm tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday; then Thursday through Saturday next week, at the Old Council Chambers at Trades Hall. Tickets on the door.

A Tale of Two Shows→

Despite the grief we give ourselves for poorly timed edits and missed game moves, it’s the other show that matters more. The one about people just making things up as the go. The one about people pushing boundaries, taking risks, experimenting and being brave enough to follow the fun.

This isn’t sketch or theater. The audience knowingly came to see improv. They want to see both kinds of shows. A bunch of people making things up (and sometimes failing) isn’t a bad thing. It’s what makes our art form unique. And when everything comes together, it’s what makes improv seem like magic.

Laughter is not the only legitimate response an audience can have to a show.
R. Kevin Doyle on comedy as a byproduct of improvisation, not the absolute. More on Improv Nerd from 35:14 in.

Now, and I’d say for the past ten years I’m so much about the patients and group work, and being able to combine those things of not feeling like you have to invent crazy things to get laughs or try not to go directly for a laugh. It’s all about that collaboration and the patients and being kind and good to each other on stage.
Jeff Griggs on Improv Nerd talking about what he tries to share when teaching improv.