Tag: typecast

The Enigma of Rick Moranis→

Modern comedians can learn a great deal from studying the careers of Rick Moranis and others who crossed from sketch comedy shows into feature films and situation comedies. They must ask themselves whether they want to commit to a basic comedic persona in project after project, even if it means being typecast.

This article isn’t super improv-related, but I like the idea of the above a lot. In the last couple of years performing, I’ve worked out those comic personas that I like to bring, and that others like to see me perform (lot of love for angry, flustered Mike). The ongoing joy of improvisation for me is being able to subvert those expectations – which in turn is a great excuse to expand your own range. In short: keep trying new stuff!

Sidney Goldstein, Basketball and Improv→

Goldstein has a solid fundamental philosophy on developing basketball skills, one a lot of coaches don’t share. Most coaches recruit and play the best talent available, treat drills as a warm up and think that drawing up plays and running their players in scrimmages will make them better. Goldstein believes any player of any shape or size can learn and develop the skill to do anything with regular, proper practice. Goldstein for example says a 7 footer could learn to crossover dribble and hit a jump shot with practice, and the reason most can’t is because most coaches focus on having them stand near the hoop, rebound, block shots and dunk on people… and thus never teach them those other skills.

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I read through Goldstein’s topics, specifically his Advice to New Coaches, and couldn’t help notice parallels to learning and teaching effective improv. Both basketball and improv are active skill based endeavors that for any preparation has to be done in the moment on the fly, where a combination of execution and creativity determines success.