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Lessons in improv or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the jokes that bomb

Posted on December 3, 2009December 3, 2009 by Staff

By Charlie Tyson, Staff Writer

I am not Jerry Seinfeld.

I am not even Larry the Cable Guy, who recently topped Newsweek’s list of the world’s least-funny comedians.

While I will often venture onstage against the dull brick wall of a comedy theater, I am far from a professional comic. I’m simply an enthusiastic conversationalist.

“Improv is the skill of having a conversation,” improvisational comedy performer and teacher Kit FitzSimons said. “The core of improv is really what gets us through the day in normal life — supporting the people we’re around, getting ideas out faster, moving plans forward.”

I am one of many local high school students dallying in this craft of onstage conversation. The mere existence of high school improv — a rarity in other regions of North Carolina — may be surprising to some. However, improv is firmly entrenched in the cultural history of our area, and high school improv is at the heart of it all.

Many know Zach Ward as the owner of Carrboro’s DSI Comedy Theater. DSI’s influence over the cultural scene of Carrboro is undeniable; yet Ward’s forays into improv began during his time as a student at Chapel Hill High when, in 1993, he founded Chapel Hill High Improv.

Chapel Hill’s improv team had existed in prior years as a faculty-run organization, but Ward’s revival of the troupe as a student-run group sparked a chain reaction. In a series of events affirming improv’s cardinal maxim of “Yes-And,” teams also bloomed at East and Cedar Ridge.

In addition to improv groups based at individual high schools, teenage comedy has also blossomed at — where else? — DSI.

FitzSimons, resident instructor and theater manager at DSI, coaches Giuseppe, a DSI-based high school improv team. Giuseppe is comprised of 14 students from local high schools, as well as one home-schooled student.

The goal of the team, according to Ward, is to “produce a professional improv group that just happens to be comprised of high school students.”

Whether performing with Giuseppe or with a troupe based at a high school, professionalism is a universal goal. DSI’s proximity helps to achieve this aim, as the theater serves as the central beehive for all these groups, providing a stage for high school improvisers.

“The resources our local high school students have at DSI are incredible,” Ward said. “You have the unique opportunity to intern, study and work with a professional comedy theater.”

More important than improv’s impact on the town is its impact on the students. In addition to performance experience, improv teaches communication skills and creative problem solving.

FitzSimons likened improv to the skill of having a conversation.

“It opens up new ways of thinking about things,” he said. “It makes people listen to you, and it makes you listen to them.”

Ward’s assessment of improv’s benefits reads like a shopping list of favorable results.

“Self-confidence, strategy, listening skills, empathy — all things that might help make your personal relationships better,” he said. “It gives a specific demographic of student something to be proud of.”

East sophomore Max Huffman seconded Ward’s sentiment.

“What we’re doing is not just a club, but it’s teaching communication skills and preparing people to be better-communicating, funnier people in adult life,” Huffman said.

Huffman said his comedic experience taught him how to connect with others.

“Before I started doing improv, I was an awkward kid who talked too much,” he said. “Now I’m an awkward kid who gets onstage and talks too much. People like you better if you’re onstage and talking as opposed to just talking.”

Huffman is a second-year member of Giuseppe and a first-year member of East’s improv troupe, Randomax.

“Giuseppe is great because we’re right there in DSI, we’re in the epicenter learning directly from DSI professionals,” he said. “Randomax is great in a totally different way, because it’s all your peers and you’re learning from each other. It’s a totally different learning experience.”

East junior and second-year Randomax member Emma Lo described improv as an “outlet.”

“[Improv] has definitely broadened my sense of humor and made me more outgoing and interesting in conversations,” she said. “It has also taught me about supporting other people in all aspects of life.”

High school comedy is a source of pride to more than just the players onstage. Improv captures Carrboro’s spirit of inventiveness, originality and bold initiation; the fact that these are high school students performing further reflects our area’s cultural vitality.

An oft-ignored mine of captivating creativity and comedic cultivation, high school improv merits more support than it receives. An integral part of our town’s history, high school improv has far-reaching effects as Carrboro’s improv reputation continues to grow. Even more important are the applicable life skills that improv teaches.

I humbly entreat you to support teenage comedians by seeing a high school improv show. We’re not all Seinfelds, but we take “conversation” to hilarious heights.

Charlie Tyson is the director of Randomax Improv at East Chapel Hill High School.

Local high school students trying improv

1 thought on “Lessons in improv or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the jokes that bomb”

  1. Zach Ward says:
    December 4, 2009 at 9:25 am

    Awesome job Charlie. I’m glad to help.

    And did you know that Larry the Cable Guy just does a MULTI MILLION DOLLAR ACT – It’s an Act. Larry “the Cable Guy” is from Michigan.

    More High School Improv, http://bit.ly/8yy34I

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