The Ubiquitous Age of Improv – now is the best time to take an improv class

Most people join our improv classes because someone recommended it to them. Often, it’s a friend or family member who thinks it would be good for them or because they’d be good at it, especially if they’ve tried improv themselves. Other times, it’s a mentor, boss, motivational speaker or leader suggesting it – whether they’re familiar with improv or have just read about it in a leadership guide or newsletter. Therapists are also now recommending improv to improve personal development, and we have therapists themselves also come through our classes. But most who recommend it, haven’t actually done it, they’re just recommending it – if only they knew what they’re missing.

The “begin” times

When I started in improv, most improv students were actors, IT professionals, lawyers (drawn to the performative side of law), or aspiring comedians. Training was often shorter – maybe four to six months – and the curriculum assumed students already had some confidence, performance and comedy skills. This has now completely changed – we get everyone and anyone now taking our classes, and for most the performance side of it is not even a consideration. Accordingly the training itself is now very different – we start with a very different student baseline, and incorporate everything we’ve since learned about improvisation, both from scientific research and practical experience, that wasn’t known at the time.

The “now” times

Most of our students come to classes not knowing what improv is. It was recommended as personal development, they registered, and they had the courage to turn up. So now what? Theatresports is probably the most historically well known improv in Sydney, but is no longer the most practiced and most students have never heard of it. In many of our beginner classes, not a single person has heard of Theatresports. That’s a huge change from the early days in Sydney when people took a class mostly because they specifically wanted to do Theatresports. That’s not denigrating Theatresports, it’s just the nature of why people now want to do improv.

The benefits of improv come from both the learning and development of improv skills, and more importantly: using them in practice. When we improvise, the unconscious and the physical brain start to change and there’s real behavioural change – this is called neuroplasticity. But that only happens when you’re doing improv, not when just learning about it. The more we do, the more permanent the change. Some students come for a class and then walk away thinking they now know what improv is and that their life didn’t change, without realising that a few more weeks and they would have noticed real behavioural improvements – knowing what it is and how it works is important, but not as important as continuing to practice for permanence.

Why take an improv class? Like really, why?

The most common reason people take improv classes is confidence building, followed by being better able to respond in the moment or off the cuff – improv is great for learning all of this and more. For those who give presentations, are in leadership, or are nervous having to talk to people, improv helps them feel more comfortable speaking, interacting with others, and adapting on the fly. Many people freeze in high-pressure situations or just speaking in front of people, because their natural response is to panic and plan for the worst. Improv makes you more comfortable with the unknown and without having to plan for every eventuality, because as Mike Tyson once said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

Improv also makes you a better listener and with more of an eye – and ear – for detail. Why is that important? Because listening better makes you more informed, more able to respond in the moment to different circumstances, and makes you more confident due to just knowing and having trust in the circumstances and your abilities. Better listening helps you be better at problem solving, reading and understanding other people, as well as making you a better leader and mentor, not to mention having better control of the subtleties of language.

We often see people choosing between Toastmasters and improv classes, or doing both at the same time. We also get a lot of ex-Toastmaster people then joining our improv classes. We’ve even taught improv at Toastmasters events. Public speaking isn’t a writing or planning skill – it’s a performance skill. Presentations require more than confidence and sticking to a script or plan. They’re about reading your audience, responding in the moment, and adapting your delivery to keep your audience engaged. For example, if an audience seems distracted or disengaged, it’s up to the speaker to bring their attention back by adjusting their tone, energy, emotion or content. Pre-planning for every possible scenario isn’t practical because there are too many factors and outcomes to consider. Instead, the ability to think on your feet and adapt in the moment is crucial – and that’s where improv excels.

It’s all about play

We offer two participation streams for our students. Everyone is in our main improv stream, which is for life skills and all the other personal improvement stuff people get from doing improv. This is why people recommend improv – to learn it and practice it in order to get all the benefits, plus it’s always a fun class each week just playing with other people. All of our students are in this stream. But for those who’d like to go a little further, we have an additional performance stream which offers opportunities to perform improv for an audience. You can join a team and get more coaching, you can play in our shows, and there’s other opportunities if you have the interest. Everyone does the personal skills stream, and anyone can optionally add the performance opportunities stream.

Everything in improv has changed in recent years: actors and comedians in improv are now greatly outnumbered by people wanting better personal skills; improv training no longer assumes any previous skills and beginner classes really are for absolute beginners; and you can find an improv class in most capital cities around the world. Although still relatively unknown to some demographics, improv is now definitely in the popular mainstream. So what would we call this era, this age of improv? The Mainstream Age feels like it devalues and waters down the craft, as with most things as they enter mainstream popularity. In his Improv Obsession podcast from 2011-2013, L.A. improvisor Stephen Perlstein named his era the Golden Age of Improv, due to how easy it was to find classes, how much exploration and expansion of improv abilities and techniques happened until then, and how almost ubiquitous improv was in L.A. Searching for a name to call the current age, ruling out precious metals of increasing value and references to “post” anything, I’m calling this the Ubiquitous Age of Improv.

Come and take a class with us and find out why it’s so fun and life changing.