I used to love Sundays because of my obsession with the Jets, but lately that has just let to misery and depression. It's actually a relief the the football season is over, but Sundays have taken a whole new meaning ever since I started taking improv comedy classes. From 6:30 to 9:30 I am in a consistent fit of hysterical laughter. It's a place where I can get up in front of 15 other people and completely let go of all inhibition. It feels nice to be so vulnerable in such a spot light, it's a time where I have to free my mind of all useless thoughts. It's unbelievable how much these classes correlate with my study of the art of conversation.
Last night, our instructor Rick explained that the beginning of a scene may seem like the hardest part, but it is the simplicity of it that makes it work. This is called "Building a Base Reality" where you really have to make everything up. The problem is that we try to over complicate things and try to make everything we say hilarious. This is simply not going to work. We can't truly open our minds when we are constantly thinking of little one liners trying to make sure every word we say gets a laugh. This leads to hesitation, and confusion which will drag out the beginning of the scene for way to long. Rick explained that you want to establish the picture of the scene, the relationships between the characters and the current situation as soon as possible; and the simpler the better! This part does not need to be funny, it just has to make sense. It is from this concrete base that we build the funny parts of the scene latter on.
This is the same idea when talking with strangers. Most people think that the hardest part of making new friends is finding the perfect words to approach someone you do not know. Trust me, I am no stranger to this feeling of anxiety. It is completely normal and expected to have this feeling, but it's not really logical. We put so much pressure on ourselves to make the first words that come out of our mouth pure gold, while in the grand scheme of things they are rather meaningless. In fact, the simpler this opening line is the better. It's a base to build a conversation off of, not the conversation itself. Recently I have been trying to approach more people while I'm out during the day; asking questions, noticing unique things or qualities, and as of late talking about the abundance of snow. We can start the conversation with literally anything - "Hi, my name is Chris" has even worked - but it is how we transition to a meaningful conversation and sustain their interest that is the difficult part.
We also went through this one exercise that focused on expressing emotion. There would be three chairs lined next to each other. The person in the first chair would start giggling - at about a 4 on a scale from 1-10. The person in the second chair would see them giggling and would start all out laughing - at about a 7 or 8. Finally, the person in the third chair would loose it and start laughing hysterically - turning that bitch to 11! It was about seeing someone else's emotion and expression, feeling that emotion mirror inside, and then heighten it to another level. We are always hearing that we must show the audience how the characters are affecting one another, and this was a great way to practice being affected. It was a start at a study of body language, which I hope to get into soon (but again, that's for another post).
All in all, here are the things I have to focus on:
1) Quiet my mind to really listen to the other person. Turn off all unnecessary thoughts.
2) Don't put too much stress on opening lines, in improv and when meeting new people. A conversation can begin with literally everything (sure some may be easier to work with than others, but all can work), it's how you transition to a conversation that is the difficult part
3) Learn to pickup on other peoples emotions, and try to mirror or complement that in myself. Try to relate or sympathize.
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