Perfect Imperfection

The Heart of Improv, part I.

This article is part of a series about improv. Start at the beginning here

Improv IS always and forever (perfectly) imperfect

Improv is always, always, ALWAYS, about letting your a&# hang out (I’m lifting this way of putting it from the wonderful Kristen Schier), and doing it with your team who has your back, and doing it in front of an audience. That's what it is.

We show up to shine our light, we do our best, we fail at perfection, to a wonderfully, humanly gigantic extent.

But having the courage to attempt it at all, we bring something touching, human, and wholly original into this world. Something that's never been seen before by anyone, and will never be seen again. Our folly to try at all IS the source of our brilliance.

It is not your job to make perfect improv. There is no such thing. If someone, somewhere, creates perfect improv, I don't even want to see it.

What's interesting is people TRYING to do improv. That's where the humor, the humanity, and the tenderness is, and where the SURPRISE is. The best things in improv are emergent. To get to the surprises, however, we must be doing it in the first place.

Read the next post in this Improv series here. Start from the beginning here.

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Thumbnail image respectfully borrowed from The Wonderful Things You Will Be, by Emily Winfield Martin.