Another year gone, but a decade gained...

I turn 26 this week. It's not really all that old, but it is funny to look back and realize that I've been doing Improv now since I was 16. That means I have "a decade of improv experience" - which seems to meaningful in a lot of circles.

Joe Bill often asks people how long they have been improvising and talks about folks in terms of it (i.e. "oh, yeah, guys who've *only* been improvising 5 years make that mistake ALL the time"). Keith Johnstone, who I've studied with a couple of times has talked with me about how he's been improvising for more than 50 years and doesn't feel he's gained a great deal more insight in a very long time. I see people on our own house teams or at CAGEMATCH shows who haven't been going nearly as long and are already brilliant on stage.

It all makes me wonder what "a decade of experience" is really worth on an improv stage. Sure, you will have a better sense of things like timing, when to edit, how to work with an audience who aren't into your show and all manner of more technical/behind the scenes type improv stuff. You'll be less likely to make "mistakes" - but also more likely to be able to deal with them, or even flat out ignore the RULES that class beat into you... but at the end of the night all that is really going to matter is were you able to make people laugh. For most people, although not all, this isn't really something that's taught. When a guy like Matt Holmes hits the stage you know he's going to be hilarious. But he's also never taken a class. When someone like John Buseman joins the House Teams almost immediately after completing Level 2 - and when the Level 1 immediately preceeding it had been his first class - it makes you appreciate the kind of natural charisma he has.

It's a dirty secret, but I've always considered myself a middling improviser. I'm a good business person, and I know how to keep things running, but this make 'em ups stuff isn't going to make me rich. Experience is good for getting people to trust you know what to do, for letting people reasonably assume you know how something should work... but it doesn't guarantee you can make it work great.

So, what does all that rambling mean? Don't worry too much about experience. You take a person and they have a certain aptitude for improv - not so much a talent as the right mindset and attitude - then you can refine it, hone it, temper it with experience. Ultimately it all comes back though to whether or not they "got it" early on. Thank god so many great people are around PHIT who did.