Standup earns a standing ovation on life’s stage

I’ll never forget that late rainy evening at Middle School PTA, sitting across from my daughter’s Chumash teacher. “Your daughter is doing great in school and has friends,” she told me.

Then she uttered a sentence that made me glow with pride: “And even if they bring the class off-topic, I do love her one-liners.”

Ahh. The apex of mommy nachas. My progeny inheriting a sense of humor beats any certificate of academic excellence.

Growing up, I also cracked one-liners in class… except no one heard them because I didn’t say them out loud. In school, I was an introverted people watcher. I didn’t really talk to the peers in my grade, but I wasn’t miserable because I was constantly entertained by the running side commentary in my own head. I once even overheard my teacher telling the principal: “Even when she sits alone in a room, you can hear laughter from inside.”

When I was ten years old, I remember being asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” A practical girl, I answered, “A veterinarian.” But my inner voice whispered, “A stand-up comic.”

Fast forward a few years. My veterinarian career choice was abandoned (soon after I realized I’d have to touch kittens with flu and hamsters with gout), as was my dream of being a stand-up comedian (too impractical). I chose instead to be a teacher (does that count as being in the limelight?) and now my captive audience is privy to jokes between lessons on vocabulary and creative writing.

But it wasn’t enough for me — I needed another outlet for the steady stream of humor inside my mind. So I ended up taking a few improv classes. During COVID, I even took one online on Zoom. Finally, I’d found a way to get all my humor out (talk about comic relief).

What exactly is improv? Improvisational theater, as it’s officially known, began in 1963 with a small group of performers who thought it would be fun to create spontaneous scenes with zero prior rehearsal or script. This skill of unprepared acting became a vehicle that spawned some of the greatest comics around.

The improv classes I took taught me far more than how to cull my creativity. They taught me how to navigate our very uncertain lives.

Let’s pause for that serious line.

Awkward silence.

…And I’m back.

How did improv classes create such a crucial skill set for me? Glad you asked. Here are some improv foundations and the tenets of life they taught me.