Yes Man: Review

I rented Yes Man, the Jim Carrey movie. The story follows a familiar improv premise:

A guy challenges himself to say “yes” to everything for an entire year.

The moral of the story is refreshing: saying “yes” to everything makes your life more interesting, but once you’ve learned how “yes” opens you up to all kinds of new opportunities, you are allowed to break the rule and say “no” if you really want to.

Naturally, the movie is very far-fetched and rather terrible, but you know that going in.

Perhaps more entertaining that the actual movie is pointing out all the points at which Jim Carrey blocks other people non-verbally. (He didn’t say no!)

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Once you know the rule, break the rule–it’s good advice, son. Here are some things you can do when you want to say “No” but it feels like it’s going against your improv jedi training:

• “No, And”: a well-placed no can lay some important groundwork or increase the tension in a scene. It’s only blocking if the other player feels blocked

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• Yes Means No: go along with it, but make it clear to the audience that your character is not happy about it one bit. This way, you can advance the story without forsaking your character’s principles.

There and Back Again

LtoR: Gil, Nick, Vinny, Sean, Marc

Made it home from Toronto safe and sound. Other than giving the rental car a few accidental love taps, the trip was a fantastic voyage through improv.

We had a second show added to the Fest, this time at the Bad Dog Theatre and it went even better than the first. Everyone brought their ‘A’ game and we all had a ton of fun (always a good recipe). I didn’t get to see everything I wanted to at the Fest but I did manage to catch quite a few shows. I want to highlight three shows that really stood out to me:

1) Zach Ward from North Carolina and Rene Duquesnoy from Chicago put on an excellent two-person show that was playful and whimsical while featuring great timing, knowing when to end a scene and strong character work.

2) I had heard a lot about Epione’s tragic improv from Gil for a while now and I finally got a chance to see it in Toronto. It’s some of the most intense improv I’ve seen– no, it is THE most intense improv I’ve seen. These guys and gals commit to their characters as their characters commit terrible acts against one another. It’s improv that puts some very damaged people on display with no punches pulled.

3) Another stunning two-person show was ¡ATTENÇION!. Jason and Micah from Chicago put on a clinic on how to listen to your partner and finding the heart of their scenes. These guys chased every game to a satisfying end and didn’t stop pulling surprises out of their pockets from start to finish.

Toronto Improv Festival

Our show last night was the first of the evening. Marc, Sean, Nick and I got the evening under way at 9pm at the newly renovated Comedy Bar.

Aside: It’s still not complete but you can see it’s going to be a nice place to play. One of the Sketchersons owns it and it’ll be their new home.

We started pretty slowly with an admittedly sloppy few scenes. But by the second half everyone had found their groove and we finished pretty well culminating with a slapping scene. Those clown classes we took may have gone to our heads.

We saw a few other troupes but I’ll save that for another post. So far we’re having a good time and enjoying the improv party.

Without Annette @ Toronto Improv Festival

So we can finally pass on some details on our upcoming improv party…

Thursday, August 14 @ 8:30pm
The Comedy Bar
945B Bloor St. West

The whole fest runs from Thursday to Saturday. It looks like there are going to be a wide variety of troupes. I’ll be gathering material from the shows and posting them here once it’s done.

The Guest Room: Marcel St. Pierre

Our guest is Marcel St. Pierre, the Artistic Director of Toronto’s Bad Dog Theatre. He’s studied and performed with The Second City [Toronto] and The Groundlings [LA] (among many). He has written and produced for The Comedy Network, YTV and the CBC. Marcel is also gluten-free so you can safely digest him if you have allergies.

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A TORONTONIAN’S THOUGHTS ON THE MONTREAL IMPROV SCENE

Ah, improv. That beast with 1,000 offers that has kept me in it’s warm embrace for nearly… 17 years now. I added the “…” to illustrate the point that when people ask me how long I’ve been improvising now, I need to actually think and count.

This is for several reasons. One, I’m bad at math. And two – holy crap! It’s been a long time! And three… holy crap, has it really been 17 years? Yes, it has. So how does somebody go from tinkering with improv for fun to discovering it has become their life’s work?

In my case: I blinked and it just happened. There really was no other choice I wanted to make.

The year was 1991. I had just returned from a trip to Europe to ‘find myself’. I wasn’t there, so I came back. I moved out to Toronto from New Brunswick with a teaching degree, ostensibly to find a job teaching (duh!). Instead, I opted to take an extra year to again ‘find myself’, and do stand-up in the big city. I chanced upon an ad for free ‘Theatresports Toronto’ classes and took them because:

a) I had no money and
b) I figured improv would help me write better stand-up material
c) see reason (a).

And nearly two decades later, I’m still at it… and somehow, magically, I’m lucky enough to be the Artistic Director of an improv company that I run with many of my friends. But these days I sometimes shake my head and ask, “How did I get here?”

At many points in my life I have given anywhere from 1 to 3 to 5 to 7 nights a week to the artform. (Yes, improv is art!) And like some art, I sometimes make money from it. Mostly, I don’t… but I still do it. I still teach it. And I still take classes. I’ve taken classes and seen improv from all over North America – Toronto, Chicago, Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles – and met improvisors from all over the world. And I know improvisors – my mentors, and possibly some of yours – who have been doing this thing for 25 years and more.

So what does all this have to do with you?

Well, if you’re reading this blog, you’re at least somewhat interested in improv. And probably from Montreal. I’ve lived through an explosion in the Toronto improv scene that is still growing and I think I’m seeing the same thing beginning to happen in Montreal, and I’m excited about it.

So here’s a few words and thoughts for the Montreal improv scene. If you’re already doing these things, DON’T STOP!

a) In the spirit of improv, work together, even if you’re from different troupes. Support each other’s shows. Cross-promote.

b) You’ve hopefully figured out now (or you should start figuring out) that free workshops are great to get you going, but advanced classes you pay for with seasoned improvisors and instructors are even better. This keeps great improvisors employed, and able to keep honing their craft and teaching you better and better skills. It’s a ‘trickle-down’ culture that each and every one of us helps keep alive and get better by supporting it financially. If good improvisors are broke, sometimes they have to quit improv. So continue to give/take free classes, to get people interested and initiated, but don’t be shy about charging/paying for them, especially if you want the state of improv in your city to get better and better.

c) Import/export improv ideas, teachers, formats and games. Travel outside your borders. Go to festivals in other cities.

d) Workshop often. Play even MORE often. Even if it’s just for each other. The audiences will come.

e) GROW improv in Montreal by teaching more improvisors. By creating more improvisors, you will create more audiences. And these audiences will create more improvisors. And so on and on.

f) If at all possible, involve a dolphin.

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Previous Guests: Charna Halpern, Jill Bernard

No Sleep ’til Toronto

Due to a clerical error, an astral alignment, a series of injuries, a comic abuse of power, three midnight sacrifices and our lucky rocket underpants, Without Annette is off to the Teedot. The Toronto Improv Festival is close to our hearts because Toronto is close to Montreal and that’s where our hearts and livers and Broca’s Areas live. Ok, I’ll be serious for a moment and say how much we’re looking forward to the fest, probably more to see all the other troupes and talk improv for a week than to actually perform.

Bonus: Huzzah to Epione for getting in as well (featuring former member and a daily source of awesome, Gil Browdy).