I love improv

I've been taking classes and performing in improv shows for a little over a year now. And I love it. It's lots of fun, making both ourselves and the audience laugh. And I realized last night that there are lots of brilliant moments that I may actually want to remember, even though we made it up on the spot.

Last Sunday, we were improvising a scene where we knew we'd have to make up a song based on the lines we said. I was playing an 8 year old child learning to bartend in his grandmother's Irish Pub, and 2 other players were the liquor control commission shutting us down. After 2 other songs, the final scene began. The cops broke down the door, declaring we were closed. I said, "You can't shut down O'Flanahanahannity's!" Whistle.

The audience knew the ref was going to tell me to sing that line as a song. But she was laughing so hard she couldn't get the words out. The suspense was awesome. Then I finally got to sing a song, doing fairly well at remembering the name I had just made up. The song rhymed and everything. It was awesome.

Then, last night, I played the game Story like I've never played before. I was listening really well, picking up in the middle of words from others, cutting off in the middle of words very smoothly. I played hard. And after I got eliminated for making up the town of Billings, Wyoming, I got to play to the last round of a game where we were making up the manual for the XJ-9 toothbrush. The whole game was awesome, making up the features of a ridiculously powerful and dangerous device that takes two people to lift, 17 batteries, summons demons, and has to be stored in a lead-lined locker.

But for me the best moment was when Alan, the other player, gave the part number for the battery or something. The part number was a random lengthy sequence. AQN/13-F8. The story switched to me, and I quickly reincorporated the serial number, nailing it. The audience was amazed. I don't remember clearly if they laughed or gasped. They were impressed. Ultimately I was eliminated for choking on a word, but it was a good call, and a great game.

I like improv. I look forward to much more.