Improv Nonsense

Congrats to all the new UCBT Harold Members! You are all awesome. Thank you for caring about improv and for investing your time and energy in the UCBT improv world.

Some unsolicited advice (thx to Erik Tanouye and some others for help with this)

When people tell you they liked your show, say “Thanks” even if you don’t believe them. ESPECIALLY if you don’t believe them.

Don’t try to make this group into something it’s not. If you’re looking to do a show with your eight best friends, call them and put a show together. These people MIGHT turn out to be your best friends, but you can’t force that and it has less to do with how good your improv will be than you might think.

No one will remember your first show or first entrance music in a few months. If you do a few shows and get great, everyone will remember you as a great team, so don’t put too much pressure on the “first” anything. Five years from now, no one will say “Elastic Police was a great team that did amazing Harolds, but at their first show, they came out to a RUN DMC song which I didn’t like.”

You’re not getting paid enough to have a bad time.

Don’t blame the Harold night host or the audience if you have a bad show.

You are not a better or worse person than you were one week ago.

Dress well until you’ve earned the right to look like a slob.

Watch other teams.

Take your picture soon. You can always take a different one later.

When you feel bad after a show, pick one specific thing to improve on and forgive yourself for everything else.

Compliment your teammates honestly but generously.

Know what warm-ups / openings / coaches you like and bring them up. But be cool with trying other people’s stuff. And know that whatever opening you pick, one person will hate it and that person might be you.

Instead of “Guys, I really hate this opening. It’s really putting me in my head.” try “When the time is right, I’d love to try a different opening.”

Most funny people are at least partly crazy, and you have to enjoy / tolerate / embrace that craziness to a certain degree.

The name of your team will be the one that no one hates, not the one that any one loves.