Lessons in Improv and Authenticity: How Improv Comedy Taught Me to Be More (and Also Less) Serious

My heart was racing. My fists clenched. My armpits…gross. 

It was opening night for Herding Squirrels, our student improv group’s first real show - in front of actual, paying humans, several of whom we didn’t even know (!). Over the course of the evening, I played a range of characters: a midwestern old woman (somehow my go-to accent), a background cat, and Skittles in a vending machine.

Lest you think that this was a normal evening for me, let me take you back.

At that time I was a 30-something corporate social responsibility director at a large company, simply trying to get better at public speaking so that I could improve my work presentations. I was not a “creative type” or a “theater person.” I was a raging introvert - someone who would sweat through an improv show from the audience for fear they’d ask me for a suggestion. From my seat. Which is not on stage.

How Improv Comedy Taught Me About Authenticity

I took improv classes for a year to face this fear head-on. I was so terrified before my first class that I spent the night before googling “how to be prepared for improv,” fully aware of the blinding irony. I was a serious person, especially at work. Seriously concerned with how others viewed me. That seriousness showed up as nervous laughter, freezing up, and a wall around my fun, playful side. 

Slowly, over the year, with my improv classmates and teachers, that wall began to come down. I started to have actual fun. I leaned into the silly, even the ridiculous. One day I stepped into a character who embodied every female stereotype to the extreme. And. I. Loved. It. Comedy and social commentary? Yes, please! I mean: Yes And! 

Something else happened offstage, at work.

I made more jokes. I felt more comfortable being my real self. I connected more easily with others. I got better feedback. Somehow, recognizing that I could pretend to be an animal onstage and survive made presenting to senior leaders in the boardroom feel a little less terrifying. 

Ironically, taking myself less seriously led others to take me more seriously. 

I finally gave myself permission to be my authentic self at work; and it worked! My presentations improved dramatically. I got that promotion I had been seeking. And yes, my armpits also dried up...mostly.

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