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Several years ago, I attended Tom Isbell’s Improv Class, and it was weird. Most people who attend improv classes are actors; and actors are not like comedians.
They’re happy people.
I would walk in and they would be all socializing and happily talking to one another. I would just stand in the corner, cross my arms, and stare.
Yet, I learned so much in that semester. These guys were remarkable! I even learned how to do “serious improv”, which I didn’t even know existed. It was incredibly hard for me to be dramatic the whole time and not pop off with some comedy. In fact, during one of the midterms, you would actually be marked down on the exam if you made people laugh at all.
I should have failed.
During my midterm, three people literally hit the floor, they were laughing so hard. So, I just threw my instructor a sheepish grin and he was frowning at his grade book.
But it was a weird exercise to begin with. I didn’t know what the scene was at all, I just had to play along and keep it serious.
So, I’m on stage with this phenomenal actor named Scott and he’s saying things like, “I’m so looking forward to getting married this summer.”
So, I reply, “Yeah! That’s great. You sure do love her, dontchya?”
Scott then said, “I’m thinking about having Brad be one of the guys standing up with me.”
I responded, “Great idea! Brad’s a good guy. He’s a great guy. You’re lucky to have him as your friend.”
This nonsense went on for a few minutes before I finally caught on and said, “Well… I’m still the best man, right?”
That’s when Scott put it into a whole ‘nother gear. This actor began acting. Tears – real tears – started streaming down his face. And he hugged me. And he said, “Dude, I’m so sorry, but Brad is my new best man. It’s nothing against you. I love you and care about you, but Cheri and I were thinking that there needs to be a change and this is the way it has to be!”
He had all the women in the audience absolutely bawling. Even a third of the guys sitting there were crying their eyes out.
I was in total shock at this entire scene playing out before me. Apparently my shock was so apparent that it added to the scene and everyone started crying even more. They all thought I was wonderfully acting, when actually I just couldn’t believe I was even in the midst of all this.
The only thing I kept in mind was the golden rule of improv: “Yes… and…”
In any type of improv, you’re not supposed to deny your partners where they are taking the scene. You’re supposed to simply go with it. So, even afterward, when they were patting me on the back and congratulating me… I just went with it.
Next, my good friend, Bone Hampton, calls into the show to get a few things off his chest. He’s trying to get his film career up and running, discovering that it’s a whole lot easier to make a bunch of people laugh by performing in front of a single camera than traveling all over the country and doing the same thing in front of club audiences each and every night. His latest project is called “Woodlawn”, produced by the Erwin brothers – the same guys that did “October Baby” and “Mom’s Night Out”. It’s about a high school football team, which is right up Bone’s alley since he was quite the football star in high school (and very mediocre in college). But, for this film, he didn’t get to take the field. Instead, he plays the part of “The Rowdy Fan”. Now, the film is set in 1974, so Bone got to sport an incredibly fat… I’m talking PHAT afro for the shoot. It was so fat, it needed to go on a no-carb diet before it just toppled over.
But that’s not why Bone called in.
He has a five-year-old son who he has been raising to be a Godly man. But, the older the boy gets, the more detailed his questions are becoming. For instance, his son recently asked, “Daddy, can we see God?”
In Bone’s mind, he immediately went to possibly telling his son about God appearing to Moses as a burning bush. Then, he quickly envisioned himself trying to explain to the fire department how his son was simply trying to see God, which is what started the giant brush fire of 2015. “My son’s not an arsonist! He was just trying to see God!!” Bone realized that what may have started as a simple Bible lesson could quickly turn into an episode of Law & Order.
It all boils down to Bone loving his little man. His five-year-old is his buddy, his friend. But those words have different meanings than what they used to. Some parents want their kids to be their friends, while others think that this type of parenting crosses lines that shouldn’t be crossed. What Bone discovered is that the people who typically say, “I want to be my kid’s friend, not their overbearing parent” are really just interested in having their kids like them and have fun with them. Therefore, they don’t tell their kids the hard truths in life. This might get in the way of their “friendship”. But, as Bone says, “If that’s the way you perceive friendship, I don’t want you as my friend. I mean, if I have mustard on my face, and you’re my friend, you’re supposed to tell me. Don’t let me walk around with junk on my face just so you can ‘be my friend’! That’s not friendship! My enemies would let me walk around with mustard on my face. My friends would holler at me and wipe that crusty crud off, no matter how bad it hurt.”
Finally, author, TV and film veteran, and good friend Tom Isbell joins the show. According to Tom, he became an author recently simply because they kept kicking him out of whatever business he had previously doing. Whether it was acting, directing, writing, even teaching – he keeps getting moved along. As I mentioned, I took Tom’s improv class, which also included stage combat. He remembers my dramatic sword fight… to the theme from Star Wars. The life-lesson learned is that now, if I’m at a club doing my stand-up routine and a fight breaks out on stage, I am prepared and know hot to handle myself… so long as I have a light saber near by.
Tom’s latest effort is a dystopian novel, similar in theme to The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner and Divergent. Now, Tom is a young adult at heart, so writing to this particular audience wasn’t too far of a stretch. But, one thing that Tom loved about the process of writing this book is that he could completely redefine the social and relational rules as he wrote about his future dystopian society. The freedom was incredible!