Why do people think improv is weird?
Because it is…that’s the article…
Oh, ok then. Let’s explore it more.
But hang on, to begin with, let’s not just assume that is a fair question. Do people actually think improv is weird?
Unfortunately, as someone who has long done improv, I can say I’ve encountered a lot of people, both in the performing arts and outside of it who do think improv is weird.
Well, who are these people to judge improv as weird, and what do they mean by weird?
Generally, I’ve always found that improv is something of a difficult concept for some people to grasp. Once again, this comes both from those in the performing arts and those outside of it.
For people involved with the performing arts, I think there are those that get it and those that don’t. For some actors, performing is something that you work on, rehearse, develop and polish. It’s something that is scripted and choreographed. For a performance style that is intended to be anything but scripted or choreographed, the concept of a finished performance in front of a paying public being unscripted is somewhat alien to them.
But surely anyone within the performing arts industry must be familiar with improv? Not as much as I imagined. I think this will change more in the future as the world of improv and the performing arts is rapidly more connected online. People just have more exposure to it.
But there are those who I met in training, and on projects in the years since who come from a background where improvisation was at most just a workshopping technique for getting into character in something scripted. Hot seating or creating a backstory would be the main places they would come into contact with improvisation techniques and never with the idea of it being the whole performance.
Then there are those who may well have come across improv within the industry, but either it’s not their taste, they have never really attempted it, or don’t have a natural aptitude for doing it and therefore reject it. So many times, I’ve met actors or directors or other industry professional who seem to snub improv and do so with a sense of snobbery. It’s not for them and therefore they don’t think it should be for anyone.
I’m sure many of you reading will have come across actors who think that improv isn’t real acting, or that improv is just a lower form of acting taken up by lazy actors who don’t want to put the work into prep.
Sigh…
Those are performers who from my perspective could and should know better. I’ve said it many times, but from my perspective, improv is the most valuable acting skill one can develop. And yes, I mean develop, as whilst you will meet those who have a natural aptitude for it, or just seem to get it from the get-go, it is something that you can develop as a skill more and more. As an improviser, I’d never reject doing scripted work or the process of scripting, performing someone else’s dialogue or directing or choreographing things. In fact, I’m of the opinion that doing improv can make you a better script writer, or a better director. And this holds true whether what you work on is for stage or screen. Improv just helps you see the possibility of options in front of you. It lets you open you mind and be creative.
People outside the industry are usually a different kettle of fish though. In my experience, for the most part, if people outside the performing arts industry don’t get improv, it’s mostly because of a lack of understanding of what improv is.
I’ve said it time and again, but it’s still the case that for your average Joe public, improv means Whose Line is it Anyway? and probably nothing more.
Everyone understands what stand up comedy is. Most people don’t understand what improv is. With stand-up comedy, you watch a person tell a joke or a funny story. All of the components of what you need to understand what is happening and find a stand-up comic funny will be included in what they say and they way they say it. With improv that isn’t the case.
For improv to be most successful, it is dependant on your audience knowing that what you are performing is being improvised. This doesn’t mean that people can’t enjoy improv if they don’t know that what they’re watching is being made up on the spot, but in my experience a huge part of the appeal of improv is the challenge aspect of it.
Why do people cheer in a musical when someone has a show stopping number and belt that hard to hit note? Because the audience appreciate that the performer has risen to the challenge. This is the same for improv. But simply put, some people who have limited or no experience with improv may not ‘get it’.
Lack of understanding and audience education about improv means a lot of general public just don’t quite get it.
Then there is that most people are more familiar with short form improv, which at its heart is an improvised sketch show. But think about it. Sketch shows often are weird too. Sketches are often about very unusual characters and these kinds of characters lend themselves to often emerge in improv shows too.
But beyond that, short form improv often has rules for improv games, and these are a whole bunch of extra things that audiences have to understand as part of the price of entry to understand an improv show.
Each game has its own rules, so whilst you can just watch a stand-up comic tell jokes and stories (which can also lean into the absurd) a short form improv show needs an explanation every three to five minutes of what the next challenge is. And then the challenges themselves will make shows seem even more weird.
OK, I’m watching a show, and the characters are speaking only in questions, but no answers…or every line they say starts with the next letter of the alphabet…or single syllable words only…huh?
This means that audiences have to pay attention more just to understand what the heck is going on, let alone whether the performers are completing their challenges well, and all of this is before the layer of is this funny or enjoyable?
These are barriers to the entertainment which some people don’t tolerate and have time for, and until they’re understood by any individual audience member, they’re likely to find what the performers are saying or doing weird.
Long form isn’t much better either. You’re at a show where the start of the show has performers talk to the audience to ask what the show is about. For most other types of shows, it’s the performers who tell the audience what the show is about and not vice versa.
Then you’ll see the same actors often playing many parts, and do stories with narration like it’s a kids show, and there’s no set or props or costumes. These are factors which all are barriers that audience’s have to overcome and pay closer attention to, to enjoy.
A knock on effect of the lack of costumes, set or props is that improv performers will more often than not make larger than life character choices to make their characters stand out from one another. This is especially true when one performer is playing multiple distinct characters. They have to do what they can to differentiate them from one another.
So, no wonder that people think improv is weird.
But then again, some people think golf or football is weird and they wouldn’t be wrong either…
So, you hit the ball with a stick and try to make it fall in a hole half a mile away…and that’s meant to be fun? What?
But then there is the last aspect that people may think the people who do improv are weird…and they’re probably not wrong about that either.
Adults pretending to be people they’re not and acting out stories like the make believe that we did as children…yeah, that’s completely normal.
Add to this that people who do improv may often bleed aspects of their improv skills into every day life, and this can be jarring for the non-improv folk.
You can get loads more improv articles in theimprov section of the site, and don’t forget to check out all our Extreme Improv videos on the Extreme Improv Xstreamed YouTube Channel and see Extreme Improv live on stage with all details on the Tickets page
Want to learn improv skills? You should check out the range of improv books from David Pustansky, who is the author of the popular Extreme Improv Big Book of Improv Games series of books. Available worldwide on Amazon and Kindle, you can find links to the books here
