Improv Tip: Relieve Creative Pressure by Starting Boring

Quick: Be funny!

 

That’s hard, right?

 

Quick: Be boring!

 

Easier, right?

 

In improv, when you get a suggestion from the audience, there is a temptation to try to immediately launch into a funny, clever, over-the-top scene. You want the audience to laugh right, so why not start with that?

 

It’s a natural thought-process, but one that leads to struggle and bad improv. 

 

Why?

 

Because the approach of “coming up with something funny” creates a tremendous amount of creative pressure. If you have seen my video on the relation between having a calm mind and accessing creativity, you know that this kind stress and pressure will make it much harder to generate any decent ideas (If you haven’t, you can watch it by joining my free “Motivational Improv” Facebook Group – it’s pinned at the top!).

 

However, starting “boring” is easy. If you get the suggestion of sweeping the floor, just start a story or scene about a person sweeping a floor.

 

Funny? No. Easy? Absolutely.

 

Then, once you have established the foundation (or “platform”) of the scene, you can introduce a tilt, twist, or complication that makes the story funny and/or interesting. This is easier because you are using the low-pressure platform of the boring scene to serve as the “pebbles in your pond” to create the tilt. (If you don’t know what I mean by “pebbles in your pond,” join the Facebook group and watch the video pinned to the top).

 

This makes it so much easier and less stressful to improvise, tell stories, and be creative than jumping right-in to the funny.

 

Off-Stage Application:

 

You can also apply this idea off-stage. When you are trying to apply your creativity in any way – brainstorming, writing, speaking, etc. – you can make your life a lot easier by starting boring. Take the pressure off your creative mind by being willing to explore basic ideas, keep it simple, and be wrong. Let your mind flow with ideas that aren’t brilliant and let those serve as the pebbles in your pond to lead to the more creative and innovative ideas.

 

The idea of relieving pressure is just one reason to “start boring.” To learn two more, join the Motivational Improv Facebook Group and watch the video I posted there on 10/2/2020.