Written on June 5, 2012

“I was dreaming when I wrote this forgive me if it goes astray” – Prince, 1999

Last night I dreamed of performing improv comedy. I’m not sure if this is because I am in NYC or because I still think about taking comedy writing classes. Maybe it is simply because my newly minted blog mom, Adria Richards, said I should take an improv class. I don’t remember much about my dream performance, but I do remember trying to steer the dream so that I could get more detail about my comedic ability but I couldn’t. It seems dreams have their own agenda and you’re not supposed to mess with whatever they are trying to tell you.

Improv and Public Speaking
I am not keen on speaking in public. Back in college I dreaded taking my public speaking class. I remember my nervousness. Oh the horror! For whatever reason, I took a pen with me to the podium for one of my speeches and clicked and tapped it all throughout my 3 minute speech. I was always nervous before, during, AND after my presentations. The crazy part is that my teacher said it didn’t show! Don’t get me wrong, he did take off points for the clicking pen, that was the only way he knew I was nervous. Side note: that class taught me about filler words and phrases like “um” and “you know”, and I am now very aware of when I, and others, over use them when speaking.

If you follow me on twitter, you’ll notice my use of “uh”, “um”, “err…”, and “hmm”, but these are being used in a manner that will make the reader laugh. In person, I scowl, raise a single eyebrow, and use all other types of facial expressions to convey my thoughts on what is being said (and to elicit laughter without using words).

My current goal in life is to avoid general vocal conversation.

Maybe improv is different.
Maybe I’ll be more comfortable because it’s not formal, and I am not formal.
Maybe taking an improv class will help me to become a better BS’er.

Seriously, most likely it will help me to improve my small talk communication skills.