Why Bother?

At this point you may be asking yourself, "Why do these people submit themselves to possible embarrassment and humiliation night after night, year after year??" Or maybe you're not. In any case, you're going to hear about it now. I asked the kind folks who visit a certain improvisation newsgroup as well as several of the stars of the imrpov show Whose Line is it Anyway? the following question, and they were wonderful enough to bless me with many replies which I will now share with you:

Why, oh great gurus of improv, do you do improv??

Error 404 - "Cult of the Stage Monkey"

Reason 1: It's a full-body adrenaline rush to get up there with no idea how your scene is going to progress, what you will say, how your audience will respond, etc.

Reason 2: It's also a rush to somehow pull it off quite often.

Reason 3: If anyone else out here does "normal" theater too, it honestly makes you a better actor. You are more able to take on more characters and cover when things go wrong.

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Anita - Comedy Helper (Denver, Colorado)

I started doing improv because I am addicted to acting, so I feel the need to be working on a class or production at all times. Since being in an improv troupe is like a combination of producing a show and taking a class, and it's always going on, it satisfies my cravings. Yes, improv is acting.

I also like the kind of people I get to work with in improv as opposed to scripted shows: they tend to be better actors, as improv requires that of them. My pet peeve in scripted plays is working with actors who require that everyone else says exactly the "right" words and makes exactly the "right" movements, all in the "right" order every single performance, or else the actor will freeze in terror and have no idea what to do. This shows that the actor doesn't really know what's going on in the play. Sometimes all they know is their lines.

Improvisers always know who they are and what's going on. Even when my troupe does scripted scenes, I know that the other people on stage are capable of continuing the story no matter what I say or do, so I can just play without worrying about the scene falling apart. That's the most comforting feeling in the world.

And, I like the magical feeling, like playing pretend. When an improv is going well, everything anyone says or does becomes the right thing, and we can be transported and transformed into all sorts of wonderful things (I particularly enjoyed being an intelligent cow from the dark side of the moon. You had to be there.)

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Matthew R. Krevat - Raleigh's Village Idiots

It's the magic. When a scene just grows between the players and everything just clicks, that's a great feeling, one of the best. The best compliment we get, in my humble opinion, is when we're accused of having scripted the scene ahead of time or having plants in the audience. When it all comes together like that, I get goosebumps. And then I have to pluck them and make little pillows and jackets.

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Randy Tennison - Funny Outfit

I work in a "responsible" position all week. Originally, I did improv as a stress reliever. I could get out of the suit, be silly, do fun things, get laughed at, and enjoy it. Now, it has become a part of me. When I am not involved, it feels like something is missing. Plus, the friendships with the other performers is truly wonderful.

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R. Kevin Doyle - Loose Screws (Honolulu, HI)

My Essay on Why I do Improv
by R. Kevin

Ahem.
Ahem.
Sometimes, when you're performing with your group, you get that magic moment where all five of you think the exact same thing at the exact same time. For that instant, you are at one with your group, with the show, with the audience. When the show is over, everyone knows (whether consciously or otherwise) that they've shared in some sort of unifying event. It doesn't always happen, but when it does... in this post-me-generation (is it post?), we need to be reminded every now and then that we're part of something bigger. That's why I love improv. Oh, and the money.

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Jared "Shaggy" Brustad - Funny Outfit

The feeling you get before a show, when you know you're about to get on stage and have no idea what's gonna come out of your mouth. That, along with, the feeling after a show that was really, really great.

Plus, I just love being on stage!!!!!!! I love it!!!! I LOVE IT ALL!!!!! I WANT TO DO IMPROV NAKED!!! *Note: The creator of this page does not support and/or advocate the performance of naked improv. That is unnatural and unholy. But if you're doing some naked improv, please let me know where and when..for....reasons...thank you.*

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Trish Berrong - Funny Outfit

It's therapy and recess rolled into one. Plus you get to create something magical and entertaining with a group of friends. And when you do it well, you feel smart and valuable and liked (back to the therapy part).

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D. Denton Turley - Funny Outfit

I was at a point in my life where I had no idea what I wanted to do, I took my high school drama course and a woman named Trish Berrong sent a flier encouraging people to come to audition. I went, made it into workshops and from that point on I was a member of the "improv society". All week long I'm a night watchman, but a couple of times a week an audience pays good money to see the troupe I'm in do shows. This is my way of telling myself, "I am somebody, with a profession!". It's also like a drug, the whole, "Will I fail?" aspect makes almost seem dangerous, and that makes the art satisfying.

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Bob Kennedy

I love acting, but I'm not the best at remembering lines of dialogue.

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Shaun Landry - Oui Be Negroes (Chicago)

I enjoy improv for the same reason I enjoy doing theatre. The satisfaction of entertaining an audience. The creative license it gives me...and like any other actor who was single at one point...picking up people after the show.*Note: The creator of this page does not advocate the use of "celebrity status" to pick people up. Unless you are a cute guy..then call me!*

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Stu - The Brothers Grinn

I get bored easily. Have done plays/musicals enough over the years to get real tired of doing the same lines time and time again. It's an inner creative challenge to get up and do show after show coming from inside of me and my fellow players. And it is fulfilling in that same way.

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Linda Williams - ComedySportz (Kansas City)

This question always makes me realize how lucky we are. So many people have jobs that they don't enjoy, that sometimes it takes a question like this to make me stop and realize how fortunate we are that we are the type of people who know how to seek out what interests us and throw ourselves into that. Improv is pure energy. There is no way to explain the satisfaction in making a scene go somewhere with people that you trust and making that "click" with them at just the right moment where the entire audience sees it and goes along with you for the ride. The bonding that occurs between individuals in a troupe can be so strong. When you surround yourself with people that make you laugh and are smart and quick and fun.. you can't help but have a good time.

And a huge thing for me is I love the challenge. When I made the jump to committing to improv full time in either performing, teaching, or office work and left my other " real job" a large part of it was because I wasn't being challenged any more. ( okay and part was cause I got canned - but anyway ) With improv it is constant challenge. I love that!!! Also, personally, for me, because at ComedySportz we do a family show, there is a huge reward to me to be able to make a crowd of 150 people with such diverse backgrounds, and such a wide age span enjoy what we do. I love saying good-bye to our audience and seeing bachelor parties, coporate outings, 9 year old birthday parties, 50th wedding anniversaries, and first dates all in the same audience. And I guess, really, it comes down to the audience which is what I love the most. Sure the attention and focus they give is wonderful. But knowing that for some moment, brief as it may be that what we do impacts someone else's life is really amazing to me. I remember as a child the first time an actor made eye contact with me in the audience at a show I was attending... This was over 20 years ago .. and I still remember it ... to think somehow that might happen with one thing I do or one time I make someone laugh is really incredible.

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Matt Chiappardi - Mixed Signals

Basically because it's a lot of fun to be that free on stage. As a group we can create whatever we want, no matter how "out there," and people will accept it. And it's great to work together cooperatively with people

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Roger Winn - Comedy Helper (Denver, Colorado "Where everything is funny because there's no oxygen.")

I enjoy improv because as an actor, it allows me to be working on my craft constantly, i.e. I don't have to go through auditions, costumes, tech week. That's not to say I don't audition for formal theatre-I do-I just don't get cast in every play I audition for; so improv keeps my skills sharp.

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Paul Killam

I love theatre because of the communion between audience and actor: for 2 hours you are no longer sitting in a theatre off of Geary St., you are in fair Verona, watching the tale of two families and their crazy kids (the willing suspension of disbelief thing) - in improvisational theatre, the commitment from the audience is much stronger: they imagine the sets, props & costumes. And I never get typecast (except by me).

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"Devil" Andrew Currie - Improv Heaven and H*ll

(I enjoy) the immediacy. When I was at Second City I could bring out my observations of the day on the stage that night; multiply that by six or seven cast members and you've got daily group therapy!

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Brad Sherwood - Whose Line is it Anyway?

It's a lot of fun. I get to do what I love, with my closest friends. And I get paid!

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Colin Mochrie - Whose Line is it Anyway?

I was working as an actor in Vancouver when I heard that there was an exhibition of something called Theatresports where two teams of improvisers played against each other. The second I saw is, I wanted to do it. I signed up for the classes and started doing it full-time. Improv is my favorite thing to do. You don't need a lot of preparation. It is almost always done with good friends so it's always fun.

When it's going well there is no feeling like it. The adrenaline is pumping and you feel like you can do anything. It's like doing other types of comedy in that when you get a laugh it is intoxicating. Unlike other types of comedy though, it has a constant rush of oxygen. There is no fear like it.

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