Recently, I had a student in one of my improv classes who was asking a lot of questions in their scene. They were rapid-firing questions as if they were interviewing the person rather than improvising with them. After the scene was over, we talked about all the questions. By the way, I don't believe in "you can't ask questions in improv." I think that so-called “rule” and others like it handcuff improvisers. The so-called rules in improv are better served if they are called guidelines, and they need to be flexible. That being said, asking too many questions in a scene was ..read more

When I first started improvising, I had an idea of the type of improv I aspired to do. It was more slow and grounded than other types of improv, made up of relationship-based scenes like the kind I teach today in my classes and workshops. It was an ideal that took decades to achieve. In my head, I quit a thousand times. And achieving my ideal was never a destination. I would do a show where our group would do the kind of improv I had always dreamed about, followed by ten shows that weren't even close. The longer I did it, the more consistent this became. I have had the same ..read more

For me as a performer, I always want the audience to love me, and all the other kinds of love don't matter. This month I turned 60, and my wife and I gathered 12 of my friends for a party at our house to celebrate my birthday. After dinner, and before they brought the cake out to sing “Happy Birthday,” I was brave enough to ask my friends: "What is one thing you like about me?" I was nervous to ask, and even more nervous for them to reply. There was an awkward pause at first. Maybe people thought I was kidding? I was ready to retract it when someone finally ..read more

Some improv teachers (including myself) will say over and over again “Don’t try to be funny.” That can be confusing. A better approach is, “Play the reality of the scene.” When improvisers do that, especially when they are given a certain task, the funny will show up without them trying. In improv, the more believable you are in an imaginary situation, the funnier it will be. That’s why before you can be funny you need to be real. Which means play the reality of the situation. If the scene has you and your friend driving in a car to go the movies, be in the car, play it like you would in ..read more

Like many of you, I love to catch up on entertainment late at night before bed, and lately, I've seen some really great TV shows, movies, stand-up specials and documentaries that have reminded me of my own journey as an improviser. So if you're looking for a little creative inspiration, here are a few things I recommend you check out. The Bear Season 2 (Hulu) For those of you who haven’t seen The Bear, the show is about a brilliant young chef named Carmy who returns home to Chicago to run his family’s beef sandwich shop. Season two opens with trying to open a fine dining restaurant where the ..read more

A lot of times when people are improvising, people think they have to keep going no matter what. Oftentimes improvisers feel so much pressure to keep a scene going that they will muscle ahead in a scene even when they don’t know what’s going on. If you get lost in a scene, the best thing to do is to be honest so you can get more clarity. For example, if you are improvising and your scene partner says something that you can’t hear, don’t pretend that you did. Instead, tell them you didn’t hear what they just said. Ask them to repeat it, just like you would in life. Also, if your partn ..read more

To be a master, you must remain the student. We all want to master improv. But a true master accepts that he's never going to master what he's trying to master. Shunryu Suzuki explains it better in his book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: “If your mind is empty… it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.” When we have been improvising for a while, we think we know everything, especially if we have success. We can let the rules of improv, or a certain style of play, or our status interfere with our progre ..read more

Kim Greene is the owner of The Laughing Academy in Glenview, and she’s someone I have known in the improv scene in Chicago since the ’90s. We first met doing a business theater gig for Second City, and today, I teach classes for her at her theater. What I love about Kim is that not only is she a wonderful teacher, but also she is one of the biggest supporters of the arts that I know. She is always going to shows at venues all over Chicago, in addition to seeing the many shows she produces at her own theater.  She gets the artist’s journey because she is one h ..read more

When we watch an improv team or a person on stage who loves improvising, it can be contagious. If we are having fun, the audience is having fun. But often, I forget to bring the joy and bring the love to what I am doing, both on stage and in life. In my improv classes and workshops, we will be doing a round of scenes to warm up, and I’ll find that my students will play characters who are argumentative, dark and snarky. I will side coach and say, "Find the love," and something will change. I cannot explain how it does, but the scenes become lighter, more compe ..read more

As we come to the end of this year, I have 3 wishes I'd like to make for all improvisers in 2024. 1. Slow Down Slow down on stage and in life. When we slow down, we feel our feelings. Feeling leads to more creativity and a deeper connection with the improvisers on stage and the audience. We are told in improv to be in the moment, and I can tell you from experience that it is easier to be in the moment when you are going slow. I re-learn this every time I go on a walk with my 7-year-old daughter. Usually, it takes us 10 minutes to walk one block. She will stop on the way to study a st ..read more