'Did I tell you the one about ...
the time I took comedy classes?'
By Amber North, The Tennessean ©
August 15^th, 2004

Writer learns to laugh at weaknesses and celebrate strengths in improv sessions

I'm the type of person who finds utter satisfaction in making someone laugh.

Nothing's sweeter than listening to someone express amusement at my jokes. Even the pity laughs are great.

I have a friend who always tells me I should be a stand-up comedian.

I love making people laugh, plain and simple. And I like to be spontaneous and say what's on my mind, whether it be for a good laugh or not.

Little did I know that the combination of these interests is the foundation of comedy improvisation, or ''improv.''

Some friends and I went to see a comedy troupe from Chicago perform, and I was amazed by the way random, funny material that instantly popped out of their mouths. I wanted to do something like that.

While I was entering information for the Davidson A.M. calendar, I learned that Nashville has its own comedy improv troupe called Ideaprov. It's a nonprofit organization that promotes the philosophy of being innovative through imagination.

Ideaprov was having summer workshops for people who wanted to learn more about comedy improv.

I thought this would make a great story — not to mention be a great excuse to try my hand at improv.

So I got approval from my editor to write a first-person account and signed up for the next session.

Baby steps
The Cycle is a two-hour class that takes place every Monday at Belmont United Methodist Church, and I attended three consecutive classes. It's taught by Ideaprov director and creator Paul Bellos.

To start off the class, my four classmates and I did various exercises such as arm and leg stretches and push-ups. This seemed weird at first, because I hadn't done this since I played sports in high school. Bellos explained that actors have to do exercises in order to be loose and relaxed before they rehearse or perform.

After the warm-up, with about an hour left in the class, we did scene work. We lined up at the back of the room side-by-side. There were no cues — two of us had to rush to the middle of the floor to begin a scene.

This was my favorite part of the class. There were no scripts: everything had to be done at the spur of the moment.

In my first scene with someone else, Bellos told my scene partner to sit in a chair and cross his legs. I was to stand there, watching.

As you can see, everyone has something to say in this "third wheel" scene, where two performers  attempt to ignore a third. "Of course, I ended up being the third wheel," says Amber North, center, with Robert Thompson, left, and Tracy Bailey.

Being a movie buff, the way he was sitting instantly reminded me of the famous scene from The Graduate when young Dustin Hoffman looks at Anne Bancroft in awe.

''You're trying to seduce me,'' I told my partner.

Apparently, the other students got it, because they laughed. This definitely was a self-esteem booster.

I wasn't nervous for the rest of the scene, and most importantly, I felt like I didn't screw it up. After my partner and I finished, a nice woman pulled me aside and said, ''You were great!''

After class was finished, I left with a smile on my face. I felt good about myself — I made people laugh. And I got great feedback and advice from Bellos, who told me that I was very organic and had a natural stage presence.

That made me feel good, especially since I don't have any training in theater.

After this good first experience, I was convinced that getting the audience to laugh while thinking off the top of your head was all it took to be as good as the guys on Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Doing comedy improv wasn't so hard, after all.

Patience, patience
At least that's what I believed - until the second class.

The next session, we moved to a different level of training that was more difficult. Much more difficult.

One exercise involved doing a monologue based on a word. It worked like this: A student would come forward and begin talking to the audience (Bellos) about only one word. After a few minutes, another student would step in and take over from the previous performer's monologue and take it in a new direction.

I just could not do it. The word was origami, and before I stepped forward I thought I could improvise a monologue about it.

I was wrong.

All I could think of to talk about was how confusing these little paper puzzles are to figure out.
The response I got is one a jokester dreads: the straight face. The look in Bellos' eyes said, ''Stop boring me.''

Feeling that I was stinking up the joint, I began to trail off from my monologue, hoping that someone would jump in to take over.

The problem wasn't that I couldn't think of how to make origami interesting: It was that I was thinking too hard about making people laugh. I discovered that it's difficult to be funny if you think too hard about your jokes.

The next scene work involved groups of three people. I felt more secure during this part of the class — and I realized my strength.
I'm a reactor. I'm most at ease entertaining people with my own reactions to other people's actions.

For example, I did a scene with Bellos and another partner, Montrobias McKissack. The object was for two people to ignore the third wheel and cause tension. Of course, I ended up being the third wheel.

I'm a very animated person, so my reaction to their rude behavior involved me yelling and flailing my arms in anger. The reaction alone made it funny.
It's like being in elementary school when you see your teacher get so mad that her face turns red and she grabs at her hair in fury. Even though it wasn't supposed to be funny, we still laughed.

 As the class time ticked away, I became more and more relaxed. I was getting the gist of what was going on. I stopped worrying and took in what Bellos had to say to help me improve.

I shouldn't have been so hard on myself. But that's what I get for thinking too hard. I learned that's not what improvisation is about.

Ideaprov's philosophy states that it's ''innovation through imagination.''

I asked Bellos to explain this to me. ''Everybody's got a great idea,'' he said. ''It's not about thinking of something; it's about the implementation. We come up with great ideas, but we're too afraid to act upon them because of what people would think about us or that it wouldn't work.''

Lesson learned
I went into my final class reminding myself that my goal was not to join a comedy improv troupe right away. I just wanted to take in all of Bellos' advice.

Bellos asked around the room what each of us wanted to get out of The Cycle classes. I said I hoped to learn as much as I could about comedy improv so I could do it on the side for fun while pursuing a career as a journalist.

Other students had different reasons.

''I took this class because it is a vital tool to my craft and my professional goal of becoming an actor,'' said Leslie Wallace, who earned her degree in theater at University of Mississippi. ''It teaches you how to be spontaneous, free and to source a character on the spot.''

Montrobias McKissack wanted something more creative to do outside the usual 9-to-5 job schedule. Though he studied method acting at Occidental College in California in hopes of becoming a pro, improv was new to him.

''The most important thing is to relax, let it go and be organic,'' McKissack said. ''That was the biggest challenge for me.''

As Bellos said, comedy improv is an art.

''It's like any art form — if it looks easy, then it's probably very complex,'' Bellos said.

''We try to teach people that it's not about one-liners you come up with, and it's not about your impression of Adam Sandler. It's about being more of yourself and being comfortable in your own skin.''

Point taken.

- Improv lingo cheat sheet -

Comedy improvisation: Comedy performed with little preparation concerning subject matter and structure. The performers usually make up material spontaneously, following a general theme and format.

Stand-up comedy: Unlike comedy improv, stand-up involves a comedian performing a series of amusing stories, short jokes and one-liners. All of these together make up a monologue.

Edit: When a performer sweeps across the stage to take another performer's position, which finishes the scene. The edit forms a new scene.

Scene work: A scene performed by two actors. It is essential that actors make it clear to the audience that they have a pre-existing relationship (whether they are former roommates, friends, lovers, etc.), who they are, what they are doing and where the scene takes place.

Suggestion: Audience input. For example, a performer might ask the audience to name something they would find in a car, and an audience member might respond by saying ''loose change.'' The performer then will use loose change as a theme for the skit.

Offer: When the actor introduces basic information, such as giving another character's name, identifying a relationship or location. Offers also can be non-verbal, such as using a physical gesture to describe an invisible object.

Accepting: A very important fundamental to comedy improv. The actor's role is to accept and build from another performer's offer, usually said in a ''Yes, and'' format.
(Example)
Player 1: This place has great weather.
Player 2: Yes, and I like how friendly the people are.

Blocking: When the actor denies the other performer's specific offer, which prevents the scene from developing, making it boring to watch.
(Example)
Player 1: That girl's hair is a beautiful auburn color.
Player 2: No, it's not, and her hair color is strawberry blonde.

Amber North ends her summer internship on a funny note. Now she goes back to Western Kentucky University for her usual portrayal as ''poor college student.''