Stand-up offers full creative control, improv offers collaboration

March 15, 2009 by vongsundara 

As a hardcore advocate for stand-up comedy, it took me a little while to warm up to the idea of improv comedy. If you’ve been reading this blog, you’ll know that I took the Level A class at Second City (which was great by the way).

I really enjoyed the class, and it made me want to look deeper into the world of improv. Despite this, I didn’t quite understand what it was about improv that appealed to me. At first, I thought improv would be a great outlet for me to help improve my stage presence and allow me to add extra dimensions (such as characters) to my stand-up act.

I still feel the same way for the most part, as stand-up comedy will always be my first love, but now I’m beginning to take improv comedy more seriously.

Thinking about it some more, I figured out why I so enjoyed my time with improv: creative collaboration. Now, this is somewhat contradictory for a stand-up comedian to believe, as the best part about stand-up comedy is the lack of collaboration. The entire stand-up piece is the comedian’s alone, no censors or network writers to get in the way. After getting over that initial mental hurdle, I came to realise that I rather enjoy collaborating with others.

I’ll always have my stand-up comedy as my primary form of expression, a place where I can express myself and my views on the world as a whole without dilution, but I must admit that I am going to have to make some room in my life for improv.

I’m still a ways off from forming an improv troupe or anything like that, but I am definitely going to work toward that goal. Stand-up comedy is necessarily a lonely process, but I’m happy to know that I can make some room in my life for some collaboration.

Related Posts
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  4. I’m not sure if this comedy is allowed, but I’m going to try it anyway
  5. The Improvisation Program, Level B with instructor Cary West at Second City Training Centre, Toronto, Improv Class
  6. Blogging With Kerry gives great updates on Calgary’s stand-up comedy community
  7. How To Stand-Up Comedy: Margaret Cho in I’m The One That I Want, Review and Analysis
  8. Ricky Gervais in HBO Out of England The Stand-Up Special, Review and Analysis
  9. Second City’s Level A improv class, week three, is all about environment
  10. My first new stand-up comedy routine in six months almost ready

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