Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Building a Comedic Mystery

I am now a member of the Cult of Improv.

It's hard to pinpoint when that actually happens. Some say it's when you start classes, some say its when you perform regularly in groups or at jams.

Another friend explained that improv comedy is 90% attendance, so it may go back further than the seven months of classes to when I started going to shows all the time. The improv scene is like a Pez dispenser of entertainment. Or a a bag of nachos - crunch all you like, we'll make more!


Responsibilities of the Improv Cultist:
  • Perform long form improv comedy. With a team or at mixers and jams.
  • See lots of other people's improv shows.
  • Send out lots of Facebook invites to improv shows.
  • Start lots of teams and practice groups that don't work out.
  • Start a few teams and practice groups that do work out.
  • Name drop all of your teachers.
  • Start a Tumblr blog.
  • Hang out at the bar whenever you're not on a stage.
  • Smoke like a chimney.*
  • Drink like a fish.*
  • Live in Astoria, Morningside Heights, Harlem, or the trendier parts of Brooklyn.**

*I am a bad cultists for not participating here, but I think I make up for it by taking tons of show photos and telling fortunes for other cultists. Or maybe you can't be a real improviser until you get cirrhosis or a respiratory disease? Does asthma count?

**I bought property in Queens before I knew the Cult of Improv existed. They have not yet told me to sell it and give all the profits to the cult, but I'm sure that talk is coming...

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