Hiya!  

The best thing about comedy is that they let anyone try it. Blew my mind!

I'd been curious about Improv comedy for years but was busy living my life and figured it was only available to "other people." In a series of happy coincidences, I discovered Improv that could be explored, drop-in style, for $20, six blocks from my house! What?? 

Trying Improv the first time hurt my brain but in a good way. I couldn't remember the last time I had looked so many people in the face. And I don't think I've ever done an activity where I had to be so present the whole time. Sure, we all talk about the importance of "being in the moment" but yoga and meditation got nothing on Improv! You literally have to stay in the moment or you miss what's going on. No time or place to get into your head about mistakes - you're on the the next thing... somehow creating laughs together... Out Of Thin Air!!??? What? This was some kind of magic trick!

From there, encouraged by the neat people I met and just how much fun it was to physically laugh regularly, I tried Stand up Comedy... What a different beast with its own attraction. You mean, they hand you a mic and people LISTEN to you? For 4 WHOLE MINUTES??? Consecutively? Are you kidding? Where else in life does that happen? Not in the wild, that's for sure. I'm in! Now I just need to fill that time with something funny... Hmmm...

That's where it got tricky. 

I was funny, sure. People around me were always laughing. But the thing was, they didn't necessarily laugh when or where I thought they would. I seemed to get my laughs by accident. 

How do you be funny on purpose? How do you get your funny to show up during 4 specific minutes when you want it to?  

What a relief to discover, that's the art of becoming a comedian. How to get better at that part.

And what fun that part is! 

As one comedy teacher (an experienced sought-after comedian herself) put it, "Comedy is one of the last places left where we truly need people. We don't know for sure what is funny until we hear their laughter. We need people."