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Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre

Keith Johnstone · 10 HN comments
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First published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
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All the comments and stories posted to Hacker News that reference this book.
I think comedy is one of the hardest things to pull off commercially. I did some attempts at stand-up at local open mics and it was brutal (mostly). It also taught me that the crowd is unpredictable (the success of a joke depends not on how good the joke is). Creativity and coming up with genuinely funny shit for me is linked to not paying attention to what your audience might want to read in the same way as an author who "writes for an audience". It kills your authenticity.

while pandering to your audience is bad you _do_ need feedback - so a catch 22. If you have a chance to play with ideas with a couple of other writers/comedians who take the process serious, feedback worth gold because nothing beats bouncing your ideas off one another. the other route is to try to do it all by yourself like Stewart Lee[1][2] who is imho a comedy god - but it requires insane levels of dedication, self-control and tenacity to get there (alone). Whether you're into comedy or not, Stewart Lee's "Content Provider" (imho) is a must watch for anyone who thinks about digital media (most people who reads HN).

one of my favorite sources on how to constantly be creative (not just in in the space of comedy) is John Cleese[3] and Keith Johnstone's "Impro"[4].

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uovt1sC3rtM&list=PLWsk2FPzPs... (sharing this list feels wrong because jokes on stage live on back-references to previous jokes so much is lost)

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/profile/stewart-lee

[3] https://www.amazon.com/So-Anyway-John-Cleese/dp/0385348266

[4] https://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-Joh...

In addition to the other advice I'll add this:

-Take an acting class. Or an improv class, if that's easier to find. But acting classes address anxiety more effectively I think.

-Read "Impro" by Keith Johnstone[0]

I've had social anxiety since adolescence and eventually learned how to pretend to be functional socially. It involved a lot of observing of others for whom this came naturally and forcing myself into social situations where I could practice. Eventually you find that the people you interact with can make all the difference between this being 'work' vs 'fun'. Then you seek out the latter as much as possible to form your social network.

[0]https://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-Joh...

Find a couple of friends to be a sympathetic audience, then give your 90-second speech as a description of the emotions and reactions that are running through your head. Describe them in real time, use the emotions as fuel instead of reasoning with them.

From "Impro", http://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-John...

"... Once you learn to accept offers, then accidents can no longer interrupt the action. When someone's chair collapsed, Stanislavsky berated him for not continuing, for not apologising to the character whose house he was in. This attitude makes for something really amazing in the theatre. The actor who will accept anything that happens seems supernatural; it's the most marvellous thing about improvisation: you are suddently in contact with people who are unbounded, whose imagination seems to function without limit."

chckn
That quote resonates with me. Besides fear of judgment another part of my problem is acceptance I believe.
"Impro" by Keith Johnstone. It may seem like a book on improvisational theater, but is more a collection of notes on interaction between people. Quite eye-opening and empowering. Would recommend to anyone. http://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-John...
There's a great improv book that helps with inter-universe clock sync and emotional reactions to resync operations :) http://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-John...
thirdtruck
Seconded. I've been meaning to re-read my copy for ages.
Seconding sohamsankaran and natrius on this. Joining an improv club easily counts as one of my best decisions.

Let me recommend the book Impro (http://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-John...), in particular.

Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre (http://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-John...) has a great section on communicating status through body language and movement.

It describes a number of exercises where one actor takes the role of a superior and the other an inferior. The techniques are quite effective for the intended audience.

I would quote from it but I had a paper copy and it's really only worth running through once a decade for a non-actor interesting in the physical aspect of acting.

It's been a habit of mine for a number of years to smile as soon as I wake up. It's a wicked hack and it works.

In AA they tell you to "fake it until you make it", and encourage newcomers to do assorted mundane "be useful" stuff like set up chairs or make coffee, even if (or especially if) you don't feel like doing it. The physical activity of being productive leads to a certain mental state.

BTW, much the same idea is discussed in this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-John...

Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre, by Keith Johnstone.

If you're being a reddit punthreader, please kindly leave HN alone and die in a fire.

If you're honestly asking for more information: http://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-John... <=Excellent part on status improv

thaumaturgy
You're relatively new here, so you might not know that it's very much not OK to talk to someone like that here.
Apr 18, 2011 · d_r on Hacking The Status Game
There is an excellent discussion of status games in the book "Impro." Highly recommend it if you're interested in hacking the non-tech side of things.

http://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-John...

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