First we were schooled on how to interact in social situations. Then came Twitter, Facebook, blogs, et al. and it was all about proper “online engagement.” Gen Y, borne amidst the rise of instant communication technologies, are known for being “peer-oriented,” yet I’m continually struck by how uncomfortable people still are IRL situations. As Richard Laermer discusses in How to Fame, people become so used to interacting by email, IRL meetings have fallen by the wayside. “Getting to know someone in person inevitably adds a new dimension to the relationship – not only do you find out more about the other, but they get to know you … the real you.”
Shawn Westfall, Senior Copywriter with Proof Integrated Communications, but better known as the exclusive teacher of improv at the DC Improv for the past seven years, believes improvisational comedy can help to “break the ice” and make people feel more engaged in person. Having taken Shawn’s class, I experienced, first-hand the benefits of improv – both in my personal and professional life - and like Shawn, I, too, feel that improv “indulges our capacity for play” and opens us up to new experiences that can only be enjoyed in real life. Earlier this month, Shawn and his two-person improv troupe partner, Mikael Johnson, won the first annual Harrisburg Comedy Improv Throwdown, and after indulging in his trophy filled with Hershey’s Kisses™ he spent some time sharing his thoughts on making the most of our interaction with others.
Interview with Shawn Westfall
How many years have you been involved with Improv? How long have you been teaching?
I’ve been doing improv in an official capacity (i.e., as a member of improv troupes) for the last 16 years. Unofficially, I’ve been doing it practically all my life. I don’t think of improv as being anything other than indulging our capacity for play. It’s something we don’t have to be taught to do as children, but, strangely, it is something we have to be reminded we’re capable of as adults, sometimes constantly.
Do you think it’s easier for people to interact online versus face-to-face?
Depends on the topic. I must say that I find Twitter especially disappointing when it comes to the kinds of conversations I really want to have: debates about literature and improv and aesthetics in general. Let’s face it: the nuances of some things simply cannot be parsed in 140 characters. I’m also very interested in the outcome of a local neighborhood political race and follow a number of people on Twitter who are either directly involved or as equally invested in its outcome. Political discourse is fruitless and a waste of time on Twitter (or on the Internet in general, it could be argued), though some attempt it. It’s much better to have these discussions elsewhere or better yet, in person. It helps to see the person on the other side of the issue as a human being when it comes to arriving at a nuanced understanding of ones own views.
But otherwise, online discourse provides a distance and an anonymity that allows those with public fears or reservations to have a voice, as well as feel less isolated. Let’s not forget how important both of those things are.
How can taking an Improv class help someone that doesn’t feel comfortable meeting people “in real life?”
Doing improv successfully means acknowledging the contextual or emotional truth of what’s happening at that very moment. Improv students often begin scenes for the first time afraid about not knowing what’s happening, or what’s going to happen. It’s the fear of failure, from a perceived negative outcome even before the scene or game has begun. And yet, improv teaches you that that everyone involved in the scene has that same fear and that by working together, you can effortlessly find comedy where none existed before, resulting in an outcome completely different from the one you originally feared.
You can apply this to social situations as well: Why do you think the person you approach and say hello to is going to reject you in some way, simply because you approached? Especially since, in most social situations that fear gripping you is the same one gripping the other person? What if we believed something good would come from the encounter and faced down our fears? Improv classes are object lessons in that very dynamic. Real life encounters can be the same…
Some say people have become more social because of all their online “friends,” yet many are inhibited when interacting in person. Has your class/coaching changed over the past several years due to people’s online interactions?
To be honest, online social interactions haven’t really altered the way I teach all that much. But I do make connections regarding “persona” on stage and “persona” online. I emphasize how both are creations, highly situated and contextual, that the “rules” for an online interaction are remarkably similar to the “rules” for a contextualized scene.
I emphasize that the self-consciousness (and I mean “self-consciousness” in the sense of knowing oneself, not in the sense of being “made to feel ‘self-conscious’”) necessary to successfully navigating the online world is analogous to the self-consciousness necessary to being a good performer: you have to understand how you appear in public, how you really act and think and behave, in order to digress from this and create other personas/characters, etc. Good actors are highly self-conscious people --- they know their own physical mannerisms and verbal tics. But they have to know these in order to transform or nullify them when it comes to the physical mannerisms and verbal tics of characters markedly different from themselves.
When someone takes your class, what do you hope they will learn (i.e. top three take-aways)?
1. Life is ad hoc, not systemic. Whether you realize it or not, you’re already an expert improviser. From the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep - from birth to death - you are making it up as you go along. You do it as a matter of course, without a script, with no idea what’s going to happen next.
2. The “trick” to being funny in improv is to *not* try to be funny. Truly funny Improv is effortless. The humor arises organically from the context of the scene you’re in, not from what you think is the verbally clever things you think an audience might react to. The minute you start attempting to tell jokes or “be funny” in a willfully clever way, the minute the scene you’re in starts going off the rails. Jokes set up the expectation on the part of both actor and audience to be funny. And when they fall flat, the audience stops believing that what they’re watching is a scene in which the stakes are high for the character. And when a joke falls flat, the actor who “made it” starts worrying and sweating about how unfunny he or she appears to be, and—this is so important—not paying attention to what’s happening in the very scene he or she is in. This means that he or she is not paying attention to the reality of the scene; they lost their moment.
3. Character = plot. Make a strong (again, not necessarily funny or wacky) character choice, and you won’t have to worry about the rest of the scene. It will unfold effortlessly before you.
I’ve heard you use the term “find the funny” – what do you mean?
I often describe Improv as “found comedy.” It’s what I love most about it. “Big C” Comedy (the kind of stuff Hollywood produces) tends to travel heavily trafficked, often clichéd, hackneyed routes. What I love about improv is that anything -- especially things seemingly banal and not willfully “wacky” at all -- can appear out of nowhere and end up being the comic hook upon which the entire scene hangs it hat. It’s the context that matters. And, making choices that provide a lot of context (strong, broad character choices) will help you and your scene partner(s) find what’s funny.
What is one piece of advice you would offer to someone that does not feel comfortable in social situations (e.g. interacting at a conference, social gathering, etc) where they don’t know anyone?
One of the most fascinating on-the-job insights came from a friend of mine who also does Improv. We worked together at an ad agency where the principal and owner of the shop was extraordinarily difficult to work for (his “method” for “motivating” his subordinates involved a lot of humiliation, berating them for ignorance or perceived incompetence.) He was a bully, pure and simple.
One time I happened to be outside of this bully’s office when my friend was inside, and I overheard the awful and shattering way my friend was being berated. Afterward, I approached him and asked how he managed to keep cool and not react in the face of what was clearly abuse. His answer was unforgettable: “Simple,” he said. “When I walk into his office, I pretend like I’m walking onto the set of a movie.” This was a stunning, insightful revelation: my friend’s strategy was simply to objectify the situation, not take it personally, to play a character whose role was to be berated and move on.
There are two lessons here. First, don’t accept abuse like that from a boss (both of us left that shop after very short tenures there). Second (and perhaps, most importantly), think of social situations like this in the same way… as something in which you aren’t implicated; as in being on a movie set. Then take it one step further…. Think of yourself as a character or a persona, a fearless, more fun-loving person than you actually are. Have this persona in mind when you go up and approach another “character.” Acknowledge the truth of your situation, of what’s happening around you: “I’m having a great time, I just wish the wine would come a little faster. Don’t you?” Or “man, that keynote wasn’t all that great, but I am looking forward to the breakout sessions. How about you?”
Again, like improv scenes, you might be surprised by how rewarding the outcome is, how positive the reaction is, and how easily and swiftly you end up making connections.
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