Category Archives: Improv Diary

The improv diary is a place to record ideas in classwork, practice, and performance. It is by no means a replacement for solid improv education. It is provided for discussion, not in leu of improv training.

2007 Del Close Marathon Wrap Up

After watching 36 hours of a 56 hour improv marathon, improv stops looking so much like improv and more like a math equation. You can see patterns forming between performers and see differences in the way geographic locales play. After watching 36 hours of improv, you become a bit of a machine, analyzing each scene [...]

How You “And”

Recently I had the oddest sensation about my improv - it just wasn’t working. Not working in the broader sense, that scenes were consistently turning problematic. I would go into scenes and for one reason or another they would fizzle out into a not so funny mess. My forward motion stalled and my scene partner [...]

Class Show, 4 Square, and an Improv Resolution

So, it’s been pretty quiet around the Improvoker parts of the globe, not for lack of news, but more for lack of time. I’ve gone from temporary improv hiatus, to full time improv employee. I now feel like improv is my second job. Let me explain.
Before I started my Billy Merritt 401 5 weeks back, [...]

From my 301 Notebook

On starting my 401 class last Saturday, I thought it was a good time to take a look through my improv notebook and post a recap of some of the lessons learned in my 301. My 301 was taught by Chris Gethard, who changed the way I view improv. Some of the notes are from [...]

Are We Having Fun Yet?

I’m more than half way through level 301 at UCB NY and it’s been interesting. My instructor Chris Gethard may be one of the most brilliant thinkers I have ever had the pleasure of working with. He is insightful, straightforward, and extremely astute in his observations about improvisers and their work. I have been humbled, [...]

The Art of Sucking

For all the credit I give Mick Napier and his excellent book Improvise, learning the rules of improv as taught by Del Close in Truth In Comedy is a necessity. Mick teaches a far more organic form of Improv that, while being a great addition to Del’s teachings pushing forward an improviser stuck in a [...]