Open Letters to P W Wiseman - Part 2a

Episode 2 is out!

For details about the Open Letters to P. W. Wiseman project, read here.

In Tribute to Uncle Steve

If you're a regular to our comedy nights, you might by now have noticed a few changes hither and thither. Not huge ones, merely a poster swap really. The Improvised Comedy show information up around The Miller pub has all become part of the bright red London Improv brand, and the familiar Hoopla! electric blue advertising is now focussed on impro workshops. If you're very keen of ear and have your Observational Switch set to 'on' you may have even noticed Steve shout out the London Improv website (www.londonimprov.co.uk) at the end of shows instead of HooplaImpro.com.

It was a subtle introduction, and purposefully so. As Steve wrote in this blog, things are remaining largely unchanged for you, dear dedicated audience. There will continue to be a high standard of comedy every Tuesday and Wednesday, concentrating very much on building the reputation and outreach of impro, and showing that it is live, vibrant and exciting. We will still be welcoming good quality, well-produced shows from all sorts of improvisers around and about. We continue to only charge £5 for an entire evening of brilliant entertainment. Lucky for you, faithful ones.

There's another reason, and Steve is too modest to acknowledge it, but it's a big reason.

Uncle Steve has almost single-handedly got these nights to be the success they are. The reason there is great value hilarity every week, the reason those performers have had a stage beneath them and an audience before them is because if the amount of work that Steven 'the imp' Roe has put into it. And believe me, after doing a fraction of it over the last few weeks, it is a helluva lot. Steve continues to pump that work in, and he's now joined by a few others; all under the London Improv banner. We could have had a big launch party, but that would have neutralised Steve's long and continuing dedication. No-one is working harder than this man to further impro in London, and for us to come bounding in with a big party would be grotesquely glory-seeking.

Steve is The Man; so next time you see him, tell him how awesome he is and how thankful you are for all the hard work he does.

And if you've ever had an inkling to be funnier or learn any new skill, get yourself down to a Hoopla! workshop or two, and learn from him. He's a chap who knows.

Thanks Steve.

Ooh, if you do want a big party, we'll be having a big send off to mark the end of the season on the 27th July. And if you're good boys and girls over summer, we might have a big one when we start up again in September.
Sign up to be kept in the loop by emailing LondonImprov@gmail.com

The Maydays are auditioning for a new company member

ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT IMPROVISATION?

The Maydays are looking for performers to join their award-winning improv comedy company.

We're looking for someone able to work (and with experience of working) within a range of improv styles including long form, short form and improvised singing.

We are seeking one or more improvisers, preferably living in the Brighton area, who have solid improvisation experience and a willingness to develop. A good singing voice and the confidence to use it are essential, as are a collaborative positive attitude, availability for shows (usually on weekend nights) and rehearsals (Monday evenings in Brighton).

Once a member of the company there are various (paid) possibilities through teaching improv and corporate performance work. If you'd like to apply, we need a brief performance/training CV, and a short covering email to tell us why you would like to join us, what you feel you can bring to the troupe, and what kind of past experience you have with improv.

Please email applications to: mayday@themaydays.co.uk

*Deadline for applications is 12 noon on Friday 6th May 2011.*
Successful applicants will be invited to an audition to be held on the evening of Monday 16th May 2011.

This Week at The London Improv Comedy Club

Tuesday 26th April
Fun Stuff is a regular show with a rolling cast hand-picked by Steve Roe. Together they have but one aim - to give the audience a good time. Lots of fast and fun improvised games with ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’ and ‘Fast and Loose’ favourites.

Cast this week includes Steve Violich, Emily Howell, Tara Philips, Rhys Collier and Andrew Gentilli with Steve Roe directing.

They will be followed by one of Britain’s most established and experienced groups, Brighton’s award winning improv group The Maydays. Including John Cremer, Katy Schutte and that Steve Roe chap.


"*****" - Three Weeks

Wednesday 27th April
Wednesday opens with an improvised musical from London Improv favourite: Music Box, who perform an entire one-act musical based on just a few suggestions from the audience. Cast includes: Becca Gibson, Rhiannon Vivian, Maria Peters and Jonathan Funkhouse.


“Music Box - dynamic, original and captivating. I haven't laughed so much or felt so much a part of a performance... Would recommend their night to anyone who wants to have a good time!”

Then Remy Bertrand directs Friendly Fire's show ‘The Interruption of Dreams’ with a performing collective of improvisers, actors, dancers and an orchestra!

Friendly Fire ask members of the audience to tell them about their dreams. Real, genuine dreams they had. They then proceed to enter a state of semi-psychedelic trance in which each dream will be re-enacted, with all its details explained. Easy.

If you would like email updates, send a message to LondonImprov@gmail.co.uk saying so.

Online Harold for Long-Form Improv Disparates

I have had the pleasure of working with some wonderful teachers and improvisers from around the world. Sometimes we Maydays invite favourite teachers back over from Chicago (Bill Arnett, Nancy Howland Walker and Marshall Stern) and New York (Jay Rhoderick) to fine tune us and join in our shows in Brighton and London. And let’s not forget Tim Sniffen (Baby Wants Candy) who coached me and 8Bit at the end of last year.

When I was at iO and Second City, I met some great American, Canadian and Australian improvisers who I loved performing with. I also dearly miss Jason Delplanque from the Maydays who has moved to South Africa to take the improv world by storm over there. I was contemplating the international talent I have connections with and realised that – of course – we live in a world of vast media and communication opportunities. Why not make an online improv show where any of these people, and any of you, can add the next scene? London Improv have been kind enough to act as host and me (Katy Schutte) and Laura Mugridge are launching ‘Open Letters to P. W. Wiseman’.

Open Letters to P. W. Wiseman is an online Harold where we publish an improvised scene and ask the world to improvise the next one. There will be 9 scenes (or so), each inspired by the last and by the themes ‘organic’ and ‘rural’. Scenes must be one continuous shot with improvised dialogue and have a connection (i.e. to do with character, object or environment) with the scenes that have gone before. 'Open Letters to P. W. Wiseman' has three chapters and we encourage successful submitters to film second and third beats to their story or exploration. Each scene must be under 5 minutes and entered within a week of the previous one being published. To enter, publish your scene on youtube and send the link to katy@katyschutte.com including which scene number it is.

Scene 2 is due by Friday 30th April. As this is our trial show, guidance/rules may change as the project goes on… Good luck – let’s make some new comedy!

Scene 1:

by Katy Schutte

The difficulty of things practiced...

Earlier this month I did Stand-Up for the First Time at the Miller, which as the name suggests was a stand-up night for people, like me, who had never done stand-up before. Although I've done a lot of Improv performance, and love the nerves you get before going on-stage, there was something about this night that was giving me a different kind of nervousness. But what was there to be nervous about? After all, it was just a 5 minute slot.

I think the answer lies in the fact that the stand-up set was something that I had written and put my actual thoughts down on a page. Being nervous about this is little odd, in that the real subconscious you is more likely to show itself during improvisation, and surely the threat of unveiling this is something that should be feared more? Having a script to rely on was in effect putting a curtain in front of the subconscious and taking back control of the destiny of the 5 minutes that you'd be on stage.

It was this control that was making me nervous and I was way more concerned about what the audience would think of my "set" because I had spent time writing it (admittedly not as much time as a should have) than if I was doing Improv. As late that 6pm that day I was still seriously contemplating chucking in what I had written and just Improving something up on stage. I thought better of it, after all, what's the points of challenging yourself to do stand-up if you just fall back on something that you're comfortable doing?

As it happened, my set went OK. Of course it would have better if I'd had the opportunity to test it in front of audiences beforehand, but that was the whole point of it being a first time. I do think I have the nugget of a very good and potentially funny idea (The Moment of Clarity), however it does need some work and the reference to Hitler invading Poland was probably taking it a little too far.

As for everyone else, I'm not going to name names, but having seen both nights of SUFTFT, I thought the overall quality of everyone performing was excellent. Would some of them have gotten booed or heckled at a normal comedy night? Probably - but it goes to show how much difference a positive outlook makes. If you close your ears and eyes to something new, it's only yourself that's missing out.

My next blog will be on the simularities and differences between Improv and Cricket. Focusing on the question of "form".

C Jam.

This week at The London Improv Comedy Club

Tuesday 19th April
Tuesday night at The Miller opens with an incredible improvised musical from the fabulous Music Box.
"That was f*cking incredible... I have no idea how you guys did that but it felt like magic... I'd pay good money to see that on the West End...
It was better than Avenue Q."

Followed by a brilliant show from the likes of Dan Attfield, Amy Bailey, Rhys Collier, Luke Courtenay-Smith, Tim Grewcock, Nick Oram and Matt Smith. Do Not Adjust Your Stage, the TV themed improv show.

Then on Wednesday 20th April
Shotgun Impro play out their energetic monthly show. Shotgun Impro perform "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" style fast-paced comedy improvisation, with no rehearsal, no preparation and no script. They take audience suggestions and ideas, and reveal their underlying magnificence.

Friday 22nd April
Featuring amazing guest Katy Schutte (News Revue, The Maydays, Music Box, all-round impro clever-clogs).
It's going to be a Gooood Friday when 8bit bring you the second of their two special shows at The Wilmington Arms, Clerkenwell. They present a night of comedy with some short-form games followed by a long-form play.

This Friday's show features a special announcement about a massive impro project that everyone can be a part of. Come to the show to hear about it before anyone else.
Oh yeah.
Oh... Yeah.


If you would like email updates, send a message to LondonImprov@gmail.co.uk saying so.

A Long Time in the Works

Nathan Keates is a playful character and creator of Ludus Ludius in Cardiff. Pretty much every week he will cover the full width of the country to attend a workshop or show in London. That's enthusiasm you can't buy (or it is about the price of a return ticket to Wales).

"British improvisation has been developing for many years but it seems quite recent that more people are getting really excited about long-form. By watching the increasing list on the Crunchy Frog Collective site we can constantly see more groups, but predominantly these are short-form. We have had many short-form groups appear and develop and this will always be the case, and it seems like long-form is more of an American thing.

In my discussion with people from all over the world, from Mexico to Italy, I can be sure to say that there are wonderful formats being played – from one man with his suggestions stuck over him playing out the scenes on his own, to teams of hockey-style players playing Match Impro. There are varying competitive formats, from Scared Scriptless in Australia to TheatreSports in Canada (these are not solely played in these locations, but merely examples). The intended audience makes styles vary hugely, as we look at The Noise Next Door touring the UK comedy club circuit with their quick-fire short-form, and those that perform family shows like Crayons in Tulsa, America.

But what long-form is available to watch on our damp little island? There is a lot around. I recall coming back from Edinburgh Fringe ’10 and speaking to a friend who saw the same long-form show as I did. I loved it and he didn’t. The great differences in opinion is perhaps what drives the massive contrast in what this country has. In the UK we have seen only short-form on our television screens. However, over the last few years on the radio we have had some lovely long-form, including the recent Showstopper Improvised Musical on BBC Radio.

Variety can also be seen in the festivals we have had. The one-off Shifti, produced by Fluxx’s Chris Johnston, was probably the most diverse, collecting all sorts of improvised shows from around the world. We have had festivals in Bristol, Bristol Jam that’s now heading for it's third year. This year we saw the fourth 50-hour Improvathon by The Sticking Place, and Animo by Improbable. These were both long-form productions that were both fantastic. Even with our London festival, Slapdash [returning this year], we saw a large amount of long-form showing; like Music Box – musical stars who are residents at the London Improv Comedy Club.

The love of long-form has no doubt always been around. The growth of this style of the improv artform is therefore completely diverse. Formats that have sprung up like 'La Ronde', 'Beast', 'Harold', 'Henry', 'Rupert' and even 'Sybil' (that I have had a few attempts at) have each got their structures that make them different.

In America I noted that there are a lot of genre-based long-form productions, for example David Shore’s Monkey Toast talk-show. There have been looks at long-forming independent movies and now the UK has a murder mystery. Improbable’s Animo was in fact their first production, originally performed in 1996. The interest has been around for quite some time. Also, we have a lot of interest in musical improvisation, which can be seen by various groups performing it within shows, and some that only do music. We've already mentioned two groups that are devoted to musicals.

The influx of practitioners coming to the UK has always been useful and productive. Outside influence brings and creates new styles, and approaches that push and further the art form. Alan Marriott lived in London for a while and his mark is still frequently spotted. Each of his returns to the country signals some form of metaphorical parade. I have a massive personal investment in his current activities, as my aspirations to actively do applied improvisation for autism is an event that he is involved with in Canada at the moment. With visits from Montreal Improv and Jen Goodhue, amongst others, we have gained a lot of fantastic insight from their vast experience. Now we have the acclaimed David Shore from the Canadian lands regularly producing Harold shows with Hoopla!. And he is coaching regular groups in a traditional American long-form way. The are only a few of the practitioners we've met. These are indeed exciting times for long-form to emerge. Even British players have traveled for training and returned to share the wisdom and alternative focuses that give that marvelous new approach.

The fact is that we improvisers all have our different interests in the art of improvisation, be it long-form, short-form, contact improv or even the more dance or physical improvisation styles. However, long-form is one that I do really enjoy and wish to see and do more of. So with a huge impression from the outside influence, be it possible for it to settle and stay. With that - and those who are traveling for the training and bringing that joy back - we can be excited and happy about the possibility of more long-form."

Nathan Keates

What makes makes people watch...?

For my first entry into this blog, I'm going to try and answer a question that I really don't know the answer to, or even know if there is an answer.

Anyone who's watched a lot of Improv will be able to tell you that there is some sort of indefinable quality that makes some improvisers more watchable on stage than others. This has nothing to do with talent or experience, but it's just a quality that's there that makes it difficult to take your eyes of someone.

I'm pretty sure Keith Johnstone (I can't find the exact reference in his books) said that an improvisor should try and make the audience want to take them home at the end of the evening. Whether this is for the same reason you'd adopt a kitten or for more morally corrupt reasons I can't recall, but I think this is a good aim.

We make snap judgements in everyday life, I know for one that when I meet someone I decide in the first 10 seconds or not whether I like them of not. Likewise with art, we often just know if something is good or if we like it, regardless of what sort of art background we have. Another example, would be looking at flats, from experience the worst flats I have lived in have been ones where my gut told me this wasn't right yet my analytical mind over-ruled this initial instinct. More often than not these instant judgements are correct, but why? I don't think anyone really knows, but millions of years of evolution probably has something to do with it.

But this doesn't answer the questions as to what makes some improvisers more watchable on stage than others? I've though about this a lot recently, and although I can't put my finger on it, and here are a few traits which I think more watchable improvisers have, you'll note that I'm more certain about some things rather than others:

• Does not appear to dominate scenes, gives the other actors space;
• Not afraid to make mistakes, constantly pushing themselves and getting themselves in trouble;
• Plays slightly low status to the audience;
• An egoless performer (conversely an ego driven performer is nigh on unwatchable), unaware of how good they are;
• Happy to play furniture, make a small addition to the scene;
• Never look like they are trying too hard, make things look effortless, as if they are not even thinking;
• Emotionally honest with themselves, they allow a little peak into their or their character's soul;
• Can see their enjoyment, they look like they want to be on stage.

By no means is this a full and thorough list, but I do think it answers a very small segment of the question (or at least serves as a useful list of performance skills). In fact I am probably more confused now as to what works than when I first started writing this what I like and what I don't. I also know that this doesn't even gets close to identifying what it the watchability factor actually is.

It should probably be pointed out that I don't want to give the impression that other improvisers are unwatchable. This certainly isn't the case, what I'm getting at, and I'm going to paraphrase Orwell - "All improvisors are watchable, but some are more watchable than others".

Perhaps we shouldn't think too hard as to why we like something and just accept it for what it is as some things just can't be answered.

Jacob Banigan: a Lover of English

LondonImprov will be providing you with regular interviews with excellent people from the impro community, because we like you very much. To show you how serious we are about it we flew Jonathan to Vienna for our first one. Okay, that's not entirely true (he was out there for work) …

JACOB BANIGAN began improvising over 20 years ago in Edmonton, Canada, with the revered Rapid Fire Theatre. He's since moved to Austria, where he performs regularly with Theatre Im Bahnhof in Graz and The English Lovers in Vienna. He travels all over the world to teach and perform.

How did you discover improv?
JB: I first saw it when I was a teenager, when my sister told me to go see TheatreSports. I always knew I wanted to perform, and when I saw improv I realized the players were really enjoying themselves and the audience was with them the whole way. The world of stand-up looked pretty nasty from a distance, and when you're in the comedy world, you see that it really is.

What do you really love about improv?
With improv, the audience accepts all your ideas. If you say you’re 10 feet tall, they just go: “Okay”. And if you act a little bit that way they see it even more. We can paint the picture as fast as we want. What sustains it is the reality of these ridiculous situations: audiences come back for the true moments, instead of the comedy of it.

What was your favourite ever improv moment?
In 2006 I got to do a World Cup of TheatreSports in the Canadian team, with two very good friends of mine: Steve Sim and Derek Flores. That was a super highlight for me. But I’ve worked with so many great people. I go to Edmonton and we have fantastic shows. Sometimes just me and Mark (Meer), sometimes with others. And Jim (Libby) and I tootle around doing a lot of two-man shows. We created a board game show where you roll the dice and it tells you how long the scene is. We both play all the characters. It’s a mix of short- and long-form.

You were in the 50 hour Improvathon, and you’ve done ultra-long Soapathons. What’s the best thing about them?
The stories can take so long and get so complex, and when you try to back-track through one you realise it started two days ago! In the Improvathon, Ruth (Bratt) and Mark (Meer) had a funny little boob-poke right near the beginning. It was so early, but it paid off throughout, and at the very end created the most romantic, touching scene. There would be no way to predict that, or make that happen. You couldn't write that story, it would be ridiculous.

Did you have any out-of-body experiences?
I had some brain farts, yeah. Nothing that was transcendent, just embarrassing. Part way through a scene you think: “Am I still here? Am I still talking? Fuck!” There’s always a time in the Soapathon where everyone is flumping on stage. But everyone comes back.

Have you ever had a totally shit show?
Oh yes. In Wetaskiwin, Alberta, a small town. We did a fundraiser gig for The Wives of the Mounties. Full of small-town ladies with power issues (because they’re married to Mounties), all hammered. We got there and the place was already a riot. We couldn't wait to get off the stage. It felt like forever. They hated us. They threw pennies at us. They even came on stage and said: “SHUT UP AND GET OFF!” I got mad. I’ve promised myself never to get mad on stage again. We did maybe 10-15 minutes… We were supposed to do 40.

Do you perform in German when you do shows in Austria?
I perform in German sometimes, very bad German. My characters are usually foreigners or animals. Or objects.

Did you have to adapt your humour in any way?
Performing in another language allows you to simplify. You can’t be clever. You can’t make jokes. If I lose track of what’s going on in a show that’s mostly in German, it’s usually because people have started making jokes or doing wordplay. If you keep it to what’s real, and what’s here, it’s no problem. It can be really helpful for people to travel and perform in another country where you can’t just make references to your own pop culture.

How would you describe your own style?
I don’t mind giving life to objects or to dogs. Again, don’t play the dog like a crazy dog - just be a dog. The reality of that is interesting, too. I don’t mind looking stupid, because it’s not me, it’s the character. If I went out there and tried to be funny and charming I’d be dead. You don’t have to defend your ideas or sneak them in emotionally, you just have to bring them to the stage and connect them to the other people. People respect that. Sometimes people take the serious stuff too seriously, that’s bad theatre. It just needs to be alive.

What was your favourite improv show you ever saw?
The first time I saw Crumbs in Winnipeg they just blew my mind. Their style was so different from anything I’d seen before and I immediately wanted to steal from them. I was watching their show looking for a structure, and afterwards they told me they didn’t have one. They just start: no games and no hooks! They just kinda play. It was a revelation.

Do you have an improv hero?
Mark Meer. Everyone is just trying to catch up to him. Actually when I’m playing with him I’m not trying to catch up to him, I’m trying to knock him off his balance. I learned years ago not to try to play the same game he’s playing, because you won’t be able to. If you’re in his game, great, but if you’re not - don’t even try. My job now is like: “Okay, Mark seems to know what he’s doing, I’m going to try and make him trip.” But he totally glosses over, like that’s part of his world too! There’s nobody else like him. And he does it with pure joy.

Do you think improv works on TV?
It’s on in America occasionally, but I don’t think it’s exactly been done properly. ‘Whose Line’ is fantastic, for what it is. There was this show called ‘The Green Screen Show’ [where actors do a short-form show in front of a green screen, then environment and props are animated in before it’s broadcast]. I liked that it was about suggesting something that could then be put in afterwards. You can’t do that on stage. I think that’s the way to go, just without all the ‘funny-funny’.

Jacob is currently working on an improvised movie. At the moment he's not sure exactly how it will work.

If you would like to read the whole unabridged interview, you can: HERE

This week at The London Improv Comedy Club

Tuesday 12th April
Another night to see some brilliant people try their hand at something new, and show-up all the professionals with how good they are. Loads of lovely improvisers doing stand up for the first time ever or doing brand new material.
Cast includes:
Debbie Syrop, Paul Foxcroft, Conor Jatter, Tome Webster, James from The Miller, Rob Grundel, Steve Roe, Jonny from The Miller, Emily Howell, Edgar Fernando, Paul Rice, Matt Thompson, Ryan Miller, Louie Christie, Geoff Marshall, Vikki Pipe, Luke Beahan and Nick Oram...
Compered by the delectable Becca Gibson of Music Box Improvised Musical.

Wednesday 13th April
Fun Stuff and The Guild of Angels

Fun Stuff have but one aim - to give the audience a good time. Lots of fast and fun improvised games with ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’ and ‘Fast and Loose’ style favourites.
Cast includes Rhys Collier, Dylan Buckle, Nick Oram and Steve Violich
with Steve Roe directing.

followed by

The Guild of Angels. Expect something new and exhilarating with a brand new show from Jules Munns, the creator of the Slap Dash impro festival, and performer in Music Box and Friendly Fire.

Tuesday & Wednesday produced in association with Hoopla Impro Shows & Workshops.

Thursday 14th April
It's Jonathan's birthday, so feel free to send him large presents that are also incredibly valuable. And give him a hug.

Saturday 16th April
A really special show as 8bit bring you the first of two gigs at The Wilmington Arms in Clerkenwell. They create an intricate adventure of stories and characters from a single word from the audience, and take you on a journey the likes of which has never been seen before or since. And in this show they will be trying out a whole new thing that they've never done on stage before. Ooooooh.


"The best British Harold I've ever seen" - Matt Andrews, Fingers on Buzzards

How often do you get to spend a Saturday eve watching brilliant improvised comedy & then party-ringing into the night with your mates, hanging those school-night consequences on the coat hook of mirth? Hardly ever, right?... then read the date. Oh yeah, Saturday fun-time.


If you would like email updates, send a message to LondonImprov@gmail.co.uk saying so.

A New Generation Of Punk Rock

In a divorce settlement between me and sleep, I would cite the following three documentaries:

Westway To The World (2000) directed by Don Letts
Dogtown and Z-boys (2001) directed by Stacy Peralta
The Filth and The Fury (2000) directed by Julien Temple

Each one has struck me that a group of passionate individuals can come together and by sheer grit and determination will eventually find success, despite the world around them acting disinterested and/or aggressively negative.

I couldn't help but draw comparisons between the plight of early punk-rockers and skaters - struggling to have their art-form recognised - and the community of improvisers that surround me who are working hard on putting on brilliant shows while possible audience members wander unknowingly by.

Joe Strummer, the front-man for The Clash, was an intellectual and brilliant man with a passion that could rip a hole in parliament. Watch Westway To The World and you can't help but be struck by how focussed he was in achieving his goal. Hang the punk conventions on the wall, this guy avoided mind-limiting drugs and people who would lead him astray. Punk Rock was his addiction, his religion and his reason. I could list plenty of improvisers who feel the same about their art.

The Clash went on for longer than most bands have ever managed, and produced brilliant songs throughout their time; songs that everyone knows. A rare accolade for any band, and certainly one that won't be managed by any current popular television-age act I can think of.

There is footage of the Z-boys Skateboarding Team in Dogtown where they unleash their stunts on an unsuspecting crowd at a 1970's skateboarding competition. Until that moment skateboarding had been a balletic sport performed by pretty-boys in tight white vests and finely coiffed hair-dos, who did graceful handstands on their boards and balanced with stiff backs. Then the Z-boys appear from nowhere, hitting the deck with slides and skids and jumps, screeching round the park as close to the ground as they could with threadbare jeans and t-shirts that flapped in the wind. Skateboarding was suddenly exciting. No longer were the stars made up of people who could stand-up straight, they were those who took risks and flooded the competition with unpredictability. The Z-boys were pioneers, and despite the dejected looks from the skate-stars of the day, the crowd had now been subjected to the future of skating.

I couldn't help picturing Michael McIntyre in a tight white vest after that, much to the horror of my own sub-conscience.

You can see where I got my inspiration for the website design from. I genuinely believe improv is a new punk-rock. We are doing comedy our way, the way we believe it should be done. We do improv because it is exciting, new, ever-changing and not tied down by existing conventions. It worked for stand-up comedians twenty-five years ago, and now look.

We will do this whether we get an audience or whether we don't; but do you remember the names of the politicians that tried to get The Sex Pistols removed from the country, or do you know The Pistols as one of the most iconic bands in music history? Improvisers are passionate people who are doing good stuff. I take solace in believing that once it kicks off, impro will forever be a leviathan on the British comedy timeline. I know where I want to be when that happens.

God save the Queen.

Why Do You Improvise?

I know why I improvise, there are actually lots of specific reasons, but there is one fundamental thing that links it all together and keeps me coming back for more. It’s what makes me go to workshops and run them, and go to shows, and read about improv, and write about improv also.

To begin with the fundamental thing is that improvisation is very rewarding, and I mean that in the literal psychological sense. When we do things that help us survive, like find something tasty, solve a puzzle, meet a friendly person, etc, our brain releases dopamine which feels good and encourages us to keep doing those things.

Improv has a lot of different rewards for me. Working with people is social, telling stories is mentally and emotionally engaging, and getting up and performing in front of an audience is challenging and exhilarating. So it provides rewards in a lot of different areas. You might like to know that dopamine helps with creativity in certain parts of the brain, so doing something creative that you find rewarding makes you even more creative when doing it. So the more you enjoy something the more motivation and the more freedom of thought you gain.

To give an example of a specific reward, I was reminded of this whilst working in a very unrewarding and unengaging job. The reason boring jobs take so much out of you is that you aren’t releasing dopamine that much, so your motivation falters and you spend a lot of time treading water rather than running on ahead. That’s why I think it’s important to recognise what feeds your inner process and embrace it.

“Find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life.” – Confucius

I was interviewing a customer who had her daughter with her, and the daughter was drawing to stay occupied. The girl had drawn the clouds in the sky and the ground with a car and a house on it. Then she piped up and said:

“What should I draw next?”

I saw the huge blank expanse in the middle and said the first thing that came into my mind.

“How about the horizon?”

She looked at me quizzically and I said

“It’s where the ground meets the sky,” I said.

“So draw a straight line across the middle,” her mum said.

So the girl drew the line, stared at it for a second and then revelation struck.

“Oh, that’s!” and she pushed her hand out in front of her. She suddenly grasped perspective, she just didn’t have the words yet. Then she drew a road winding out from the house all the way up to the horizon. She had learned something. A fundamental building block in her understanding of 2D representations of 3D objects had just arrived, or in other words she suddenly got how to draw things Going Away.

I found that rewarding, because I love learning and understanding, I get a real buzz when I solve a puzzle or I learn something new from an improv game. So seeing that in another person is great, especially kids who are still open to that process. They go through revelations and paradigm shifts almost every day. And it was just an offhand comment I made, I wasn’t trying to be clever or instruct her, she had just grabbed what was in front of her then wrestled with it until she understood it. It was fun to accidently contribute to her learning.

So learning is very powerful for me. Learning for myself and also being around others and seeing that revelation when they get something new, I love that. I’m sure you do to, it’s fun to be around open minds. That’s why I treasure great teachers and appreciate how they let people discover new things. And it is also why I know that I will never stop learning about improvisation and myself, and that if I am working on a project it needs to be something I can learn from. I could never just churn out show after show if I didn’t feel like I was learning, I would have to hit up a workshop and get some new ideas.

The reason I share this, is because as I say above, knowing how you work is important to get the most out of your time. So as an improviser you might like to ask yourself the question.

“Why do I improvise?”

If you look at the things you do all through your life and pick out the ones that reward you the most, you might find a common thread. It could be being part of a team, it could be the atmosphere of shows, it could be singing improvised songs, it could be the joy of fucking around and getting away with it. Whatever it is, if you can identify it then you can make sure your projects fall into alignment with those rewards and what you do will become even more incredible to you. Or in other words, do what you love doing.

So that is why I improvise. In order to do what I love doing.

Why do you improvise?

This week at The London Improv Comedy Club

Tuesday 5th April
Music Box Improvised Musical open Tuesday evening with their fly-like-a-bird musical adventure. They take just a couple of audience suggestions and leap off into the unknown.

“A real improvised musical with narrative, genuinely good songs, sometimes moving, very funny songs and all that stuff that people work on for years writing a musical.”

They're followed by murder mystery courtesy of The Faux Pas.
A killing has taken place, the body has been chalked, evidence found and suspects gathered. Luckily Rosy Fordham is here to investigate.
Murder mystery themed improvised comedy with Rosy Fordham, Stephanie Ancell, Nick Bulleid and John Robert Davis.

Wednesday 6th April
After the resounding success of the first two Stand Up For The First Time nights, it would be silly not to let more improvisers have a go. A bunch of lovely people go up in front of an audience with their first ever solo routine and make it look so easy you'd wonder what all the fuss is about.
Line-up includes:
Alex Baines-Buffery, Chris Werren, Clive Moore, Matt Andrews, Jules Garnett, Roderick Millar, Lydia Nicholas, Marcel Katz, James Ross and Pete Edwards...
Compered by the mighty Steve Roe of Hoopla!

Friday 8th April
A special treat for everyone as YouTube stars The RH Experience take to the stage in a far-too-rare live show. If you've seen these guys online you'll know them as fresh-faced and boundlessly energetic.
Part-hoody, part electronic: expect a night of fast-paced, frustratingly youthful, fun-time-comedy.

"These pioneers of tomfoolery make us laugh to the point of exhaustion."
- thefourohfive

If you would like email updates, send a message to LondonImprov@gmail.co.uk saying so.

TV comedy doesn't think outside the box

The Guardian is running a series of articles on the state of British TV. Today's was Brian Logan writing about comedy.

It's no surprise that Logan dedicates most of the piece to stand-up, and the fact that the likes of Michael McIntyre and Mock the Week have managed to dominate the box. As Logan points out, most other comedy that doesn't subscribe to its norms suffers the fate of either being pushed off to the fringes or having all the charm removed from it in order to please the commissioners. Which brings Logan on to Fast & Loose, the Beeb's update of Whose Line is it Anyway.

'And when the BBC created a new impro show, Fast and Loose, they staffed it with standups not improvisers. The resulting show clung too closely to panel-show convention, while the unpredictability of impro was almost entirely edited out.'

Good to see someone from outside the impro community concisely nailing what disappointed so many when that show aired, with its inevitable whimper. Despite the abundant talent in the cast, it was like the show had taken all of what makes impro good and run it through a depressing Mock the Week filter. Which is about as effective as popping Lewis Hamilton in a 20p Noddy car ride outside Asda and going: 'now win the F1 championship, you knob.'

And it's not just impro that suffers. There's tons of other comedy out there these days that just won't get a look in on the telly schedules, which has to be annoying for its creators. Logan cites Tim Key, Tim Minchin and the Pajama Men among the principle victims – all of whom are amazing performers who deserve as wide an audience as anyone. As Logan puts it, 'given the chance, [they] could bring something unimaginable to the small screen'.

Logan also mentions Stewart Lee, who at least got recommissioned for his Comedy Vehicle series. And this whole debate reminds me of something Lee wrote in his memoirs (and I'm paraphrasing terribly here): that comedy audiences like one of two things, to have their world view reinforced, or to be shown something new. I'd say TV comedy largely caters to the former.

Finally, though, Logan leaves a note of hope – which should appeal to anyone who's ever got off their arse and staged a night in a cramped sticky-carpet sauna above a pub, or gone out and shot something ramshackle with their mates to stick on YouTube:

'"We're in the glam rock era of comedy," live promoter Mick Perrin suggested to me last year, "and the punk revolution is coming". Now that standup has proved it can work, and work well, on TV, it's time to let the many other species of comedy follow suit.'

But as cool as that sounds, I can't help thinking it's missing the point. Looking at Tim Key and his Invisible Dot production company, and the buzz of people at the Miller for last night's Hoopla gig, I realise there's so much to be gained by going for Stewart Lee's other crowd, the people actively seeking something new. Get them away from the TV and its self-imposed limitations, pop a beer in their hand in a room above a pub and go 'this is quality, and it'll blow your face off'.

The revolution may not be televised, but that doesn't mean it's not happening...

Community Improvisation

A message from a fellow improviser:

Community projects, eh? They may be pinched for cash nowadays, but they find ways to make up for it through enthusiasm, access to wonderful spaces, and dialogue with local people hungry for something a little bit different.
Improvisers are a little bit different. And many of us love to grab a chance to perform for a curious audience.

It should be easy as pie to put the two together. Community Improvisation is a step towards that goal. It's a site to publicise events looking for performers, whether it be for charity fundraisers, community markets, or school fetes. And it's a space for performers to self-organise to get involved with these events, figuring out whether they can rock a Harold together, or throw together some fiendish games to entertain.

All are welcome. The site is what you make it!

Best,
Alex Fradera

(v)?

A few people have asked why I went for the American spelling of 'Improv' and not the British 'Impro'. Some even seemed a little hurt that I'd betrayed my impro roots and defected to the other side (of the Atlantic). One tiny little V holds the potential of some serious debate, so lets clear things up.

Eleven years ago when I first came across improvisation in the form of Baby Wants Candy at the Edinburgh Fringe festival, I remember over-hearing a couple of friends of mine arguing about whether it should be shortened to Improv or Impro. I thought at the time.. what's the difference? It's only a word.

The two are quite different, I think. In general (and this is very general), Improv from over the pond is fast-paced, snappy long-form, aimed at being funny and crazy. It's had more years to become an established form of entertainment, with bigger audiences made up of people wanting to see the latest graduating class of Harold training or improv-trained alumni. The list of American and Canadian improvisers is as long as an Improvathon with big Hollywood names like Bill Murray and Amy Poeler. And Chevy Chase.

British Impro is - for a start - still finding it's footing. You won't find a TV Special of The Upright Citizens Brigade with huge comedy/film stars like Tina Fey, but you might find an episode of Showstoppers on Radio 4 and re-runs of Whose Line Is It Anyway? on Dave (at least half of which performers are North American). Non-commercially there seems to be a deeper investigation in to character depth and progression, realistic story arcs and reference to the longer heritage of British theatre. And I'd much rather watch Clive Anderson present 'WLIIA?' than Drew Carey.

Of course, this is totally general and I wish no disrespect to anyone working hard at this awesome, explosive, wonderful art-form. This is my passion and anyone who is putting effort into doing this stuff well would get a big fat cuddle from my chubby arms. There are similarities at every turn and the basic rules of good improvisation don't change. For every Die Nasty Improv Soap Opera there is an Austentatious Impro Novel. For every Curt Hatred there is a Reckoning. For every BassProv there is a Katy & Rach. Brilliant groups, all with individual styles, but with nuances of similarities.
For every 'Yes and...' there is a 'Yeah and...'

Yeah, and... they're all ace.

I called the site London Improv solely for internet search reasons. That's it. London Impro would only be found on Google if you searched for 'London Impro'. London Improv can be found if you type in London Impro and London Improv. I'm not betraying my routes, I'm just improving our Search Engine Optimisation, and that's better for everyone. And also geeky as hell.

Picture courtesy of Rapid Fire Theatre, Edmonton

Hello.

If you are reading this, it means you have found the site. And that's a good thing... Welcome, it's nice to see you. The fact that you are here means that this whole thing might work.

What thing?

Well, London has loads of brilliant stuff going on, and one of the most exciting is improvised comedy. There is a lot of improv about and the London Improv community is thriving with incredibly talented groups of dedicated performers making people laugh their heads off on a regular basis. But it seems the improvised comedy audience is few and far between. Unjustly.

Is the reason because improvised comedy isn't very good? No, absolutely not. Some of the best things I've seen on a performance stage has been completely made up on the spot by improvisers. It's like having a laugh with your mates, but every single one of those mates has trained for years to make themselves even funnier. You must remember Whose Line Is It Anyway? .. that brilliant, unpredictable show that was on about 15 years ago and is now being repeated on Dave every couple of hours? Remember that? I challenge you to find someone who didn't really really really like that show.

What about genius stuff like Curb Your Enthusiasm or Spinal Tap? or Beardyman? Or the film District 9? They're all improvised in different ways. If any of that floats you boat, just imagine what it'd be like to see people do that sort of thing right in front of your very eyes.

Granted, there is some improv out there that leaves a lot to be desired. I won't go into that because I'm meant to be encouraging, but if that's what you've seen... well... that's probably why some think impro isn't very good. That's easily cured by just seeing some really great stuff. And that's why LondonImprov.co.uk is here. We're here to make sure you find the best opportunity to see the best improvisation there is.

THIS BLOG...
Will fill with writings from some of the best improvisers around. Be sure to check back regularly to see what's going on. Upcoming shows, theories on impro, big news in the improv community... All sorts. We'll see. We will be hand-selecting some really great people to fill us with their wisdom and word-joy.

THE LONDON IMPROV COMEDY CLUB
Every Tuesday and Wednesday at The Miller near London Bridge, the London Improv Comedy Club happens. Currently they're presented by Hoopla! one of the foremost forces in bringing brilliant improvisation to the streets of London.
From May, Wednesdays will be taken over by London Improv, a community of improvisers who will go out of their way to give you a giggle in the middle of the week.

Our aim is to only put on really high quality improv, so you can rest assured that if you come to one of our shows you will only get top quality comedy.

There will also be special events hither and thither, so keep your eye on the website to keep totally up do date with the most exciting, fast-paced and creative entertainment in London.

You're welcome.

Kiss.

Slow and Tight

So Fast and Loose happened. Impro is finally back on mainstream TV, at least for 8 weeks anyway. We had an impro-watching party around the main event, watched some made-up-on-the-spot telly such as Curb Your Enthusiasm and Reno 911, and we watched some YouTube clips of brilliant groups like Beer.Shark.Mice and the amazing Upright Citizens Brigade (video below). which were all magnificent, but by far the central reason for our evening was Fast & Loose.

There has not been a mainstream British impro TV show since Whose Line Is It Anyway? about 15 years ago, so the expectations amongst the impro community could be felt like a build up of silence before a tidal wave hits...

So did the wave hit with the full force of a 15-year surge and a burgeoning contemporary impro scene? Well, um,... -ish... sort of like... sort of.

The twitterverse was lit with swathes of commentators. I would say it was mostly positive. Interestingly, the good complimentary stuff seemed to come from the 'normal' TV viewer. Lots of people thought it was hilarious. That is great. The dissenters, however, appeared to be people from within the improv community. There was a noticeable voice from improvisers all over the country that was disappointed and unsatisfied.

I am mixed. I thought the show was okay, but felt very calculated and safe. One if the most joyous aspects of doing impro is that the audience call out suggestions. This does two things:

1. proves that it's improvised.

2. gives the improvisers completely bat-shit crazy unexpected suggestions to work with.
There was no audience interaction whatsoever on Fast & Loose. Why the hell not? They managed it 15 years ago with Whose Line? so why take a backwards step now?

The cast list included Pippa Evans and Humphrey Ker. These are two perfectly decent improvisers who could cope with any suggestion the audience could muster. Future cast members for the series include Ruth Bratt and Dave Reed, who are also off-the-cuff masters. The Fast & Loose decision-makers are happy to use less-well-known but entirely capable improvisers, but it appears that due to some wet fear of risk-taking they also had to go down the danger-free route of stand-up comedians and a fail-safe format. The name of the show ended up being quite the opposite of the truth.

My lady-cohort observed that if you wanted to broadcast a show about mime, you would go and talk to some mime artists; find out if there was a community of people who do mime and which performers those mime artists respect most. You would work with those maestros to form the best mime format you could for your TV show and the best mimists for your cast.

Why then, didn't Fast & Loose work more with prominent people in the improvisation circuit? There are people out there who've practiced incessantly on the art of improv for years and years and are regarded as figureheads in the community. Dylan Emery is one of the creators of Showstoppers, performs in Grand Theft Impro, runs the Crunchy Frog Collective, part of the astounding School of Night and is well regarded as a bit of a powerhouse in making existing improvisers work harder and be better since he took up the mantel that Alan Marriott left behind when he moved back home to Canada.
Steve Roe almost single-handedly runs Hoopla! and you won't find anyone battling harder to get improv out of dingy pub cellars and into the public eye. He is also a brilliant improviser himself.
Katy Schutte is just about one of the best improvisers I've ever worked with and imparts the knowledge she has gained from training in (impro-Mecca) Chicago to our little island.

Any one of these people could have given Fast & Loose a list of incredible, reliable, hilarious improvisers (including themselves) who would have astounded the audience. They'd have had some pretty brilliant ideas about show formats too, that certainly wouldn't have felt as stale as F&L did for a lot of it. These are people that trust in the abilities of fellow improvisers, and prove it by performing in front of real-life audiences with them. 'Them' includes me, and I'm a long way away from the best improviser in town.

When you perform live you don't even get to edit out the poorer bits in post-production like they can with TV. If F&L producers were scared of going the whole hog and committing to impro, why didn't they learn from the success of Whose Line.. and allow the performers to fly?

Fast & Loose just didn't seem to stray that far from the sterile safety we see in Mock the Week; a show that willfully gives the impression it is impro, but is not even close:
Exhibit A It doesn't really have improvisers in it.
Exhibit B It is mostly made up of stand-up comedians.
Exhibit C Everything just looks, well.. rehearsed.

hmm.

Wow. that's all pretty negative. There are positive things that came out of the Fast & Loose series debut. For a start, with the above list of evidence you can now delete Exhibit A.
F&L did actually have improvisers in it... It's a start.

Also, there were some bits that were actually impro. The dinner scene was a TV evilution of a 'Scene Replay' impro game, albeit rushed through.

The sideways floor thingy near the end was pretty much a classic 'Genre Swap' but with an added aspect you can't easily do live on stage in a room above a pub, with no budget because it's hard to get a decent-sized audience because no-one knows about improv because TV execs have been too scared to put it on TV even though everyone EVERYONE liked a show that was on 15 years ago. That game worked really well and the twitterverse was almost unanimous in it's appreciation.

So, I guess in summary; it was frustrating for improvisers or impro-fans who've seen just how good impro can be; and what can possibly be achieved live on stage. Those who have seen entire musicals and shakespearian style plays created in a moment, those who have been whisked along an intricate weave of intertwining storylines and characters, those who have seen skilled actors work together to create miraculous and hilarious things on stage... will have been rather underwhelmed.

But for anyone who doesn't know about improv and hasn't been exposed to it, well, it may have opened their eyes to a whole new form of performance that isn't the standard vanilla 'much-repeated one man stand-up routine with the same jokes coming up time and time again but with slightly different delivery'. Which can only be a good thing. It's a tentative toe-dip in an improv pool that can only be improved by a braver jump into the shallow end. And then a doggy paddle.

For impro virgins with a whetted appetite, there's so much to discover (shortform, longform, musicals, theatresports, impro soaps, harolds). If you want to discover more, don't limit yourself to a TV show that's controlled by TV executives, seek out the good stuff:

in London:
hoopla!
showstoppers
music box
8bit
grand theft impro
school of night
horse aquarium

in Brighton:
the maydays
the noise next door

anywhere else:
start from the London Improv website, and work outwards.

and then demand that TV execs allow this kind of thing to happen:


If you would like email updates, send a message to LondonImprov@gmail.co.uk saying so.