You know about “yes.” And you know about “and.” Outside of "Yes, and" what else is there for an improviser to improve upon? If you love the art form beyond its practical use for actors; you’re trying to get on a theater’s house team; or you want your comedic voice to be as sharp as possible, you’ve come to the right place. Grab your flannel and get your Zip Zap Zop hands ready—here are tips, exercises, and insights from some of the sharpest minds in the improv scene for getting better at being spontaneous.
1. Practice with improvisers of all skill levels
We all know that Malcolm Gladwell quote about 10,000 hours, and while it may cause some subconscious eye rolls, it’s essentially (and unfortunately) true.
“Just log hours,” says improv teacher Karen Baughn, who helped open the LA-based improv facility the Shared Experience Studio. “Whether that means taking more official classes at your favorite school, doing drop-in workshops around town, or forming an indie team with your best improv friends and rehearsing in your living room—the more reps you put in, the more second-nature it all feels, the more room for natural fun.”
But don’t just seek out people you deem “peers.” Yes, it can be a great education to play with folks you admire (so you can, frankly, steal their moves). But as UCB musical improv instructor Andrew Young notes: “Playing with less experienced players gives you experience in supporting folks who may not be as sure-footed or confident. And the ability to make others look good is what really makes a great improviser.”
Let this philosophy guide you when looking for classes. If a friend is offering instruction, put aside your ego and take it. “Status is constantly shifting in this fluid social landscape, so don’t let your perception of someone’s level rob you of their insight,” says Baughn.
2. Seek new experiences
It’s a paradox, but a necessary one: You need to improvise as much as possible, until you need to stop improvising. Confusing? Young breaks it down succinctly: “Improv without life is stale,” she says. “Finding new experiences and living your life is the best way to keep your improv fresh. Go see non-improv theater and films. Meet people. Be genuinely curious about others. And then actively fold those discoveries into your play.”
This is especially helpful for those experiencing “improviser’s block.” Think of it like coming up with ideas in the shower—if you let your mind wander through unrelated stimuli, it will intuitively find what it needs to find.
Comedic Timing 101: How to Tell Jokes With Ease 3. Shake it off after a tough performance
If you have a tough show, make like Taylor Swift. “Give yourself grace and remember that this is supposed to be fun,” reminds Baughn. “Taking it too seriously can put you deep in your head, afraid of making mistakes, and then too often making worse mistakes that you didn’t even have fun doing.”
“Just like improv itself, when it’s done, it’s done,” says Young of any rocky performance. Thus, punishing yourself over something inherently ephemeral is unhelpful and even absurd. Here’s a therapeutic tip: However long the show lasted, that’s how long you can dwell on it. If you just had a lackluster 25-minute set, take 25 minutes to stew in those bad vibes. Then, when those 25 minutes are up, never think about it again.
4. Do advanced improv exercises
Monkey wrench
If you’ve ever taken house team audition workshops, a coach has likely run you through a version of this exercise. As Baughn phrases it, “One person is tasked with making the scene ‘good’ and the rest of the team has the stupid, silly job of intentionally throwing in improv mistakes.”
While the rest of the team literally tries to sabotage the set, our “good improviser” must fold in those diversions and make them support the scene. More often than not, Baughn says, you’ll discover some inspired moves and “stop fearing making mistakes.”
“I heard about your day”
Young calls this “a confident gifting/support/listening exercise”—those all sound like pretty good skills, no?
The game starts with Improviser A saying to Improviser B, “I heard about your day.” Improviser B responds, “Oh, you heard about that,” infusing the line with emotion. Then, Improviser A adds information and context to justify that emotion. For instance, if the response was angry, they might say, “Your boss gave you a hard time?”
Improviser B agrees instantly, and tells us why: “Yeah, he’s still busting my chops about losing those client files.” From that point on, Improvisers A and B constantly agree and heighten emotions, instilling a sense of confidence, specifics building, and radical agreement.
5. Remember that growth is exponential
“I feel like people get improviser’s block when they don’t see vast improvement all the time,” says Baughn. “You made progress so quickly from your first improv class to your graduation show, and now you’re inching along.”
Think about improv as an exponential bell curve. It starts with a huge explosion of growth from learning a brand-new skill, then gets subtler as you move into the “refinement and adjustment stage, which doesn’t have the same wow factor,” says Baughn. “Take notice of the small changes that you are consistently making and celebrate them like the wins that they are.”
Ultimately, “you can never be perfect at [improv],” says Young, which is what attracts him to it. “That desire to keep growing in a collaborative way is inherent in improv, and I love that.”
And speaking of collaboration…
6. Focus on a group
Unlike standup comedy, improv demands teamwork. “When you have a shared goal with seven other hilarious people, and you have a structured rehearsal time that forces you to hang, you can become so close, so fast,” says Baughn.
Let that closeness inform your work. Let friendships and inside jokes fold into onstage camaraderie and audience invitation. As Young puts it, the improv community is “a bunch of kind, funny folks who give back to me and each other tenfold. My best friends are improvisers and I’m very lucky for it.”
And to that end…
7. Focus on joy
“The thing you have to keep protected is the love of the game,” says Baughn. While you might focus on improv as a holistic improvement tool for your career and craft, it’s ultimately about the fun of improvising itself.
“If you see someone do something great in a show, tell them,” says Young. “It makes them feel supported [and] encouraged, and saying it out loud often locks it in your brain as something to emulate.”
At the end of the day, improv is a group of grown-ups trying to heighten a spontaneously agreed-upon truth toward the goal of laughter. In other words: It’s very silly. So you might as well, as Baughn puts it, “cultivate an atmosphere of joyful play.”