Improvisation Course for Stand Up Comedians

I recently did an improvisation course for stand up comedians which was led by the incredible ball of energy that is Rob Broderick. I’ve done character stand up for a while but have in the past felt a bit nervous about interacting and improvising with the audience, so I though it would be good to do. I did actually used to do a lot of impro but hadn’t done any for about four years (and even then the venues I played weren’t a lot better than Walthamstow flats and houses for rent) so I was definitely in need of a refresher! The course was made up of a mixture of people. Most were straight stand up comedians, I was the only character stand up (in my group) and there was another person from a sketch group. At first it was very daunting but Rob is a great teacher so instantly had us up diving in to stuff and "riffing"on numerous different subjects. The thing that makes this course different to most is that there is a certain amount of improvising alone as opposed to in groups or pairs. That was the scariest part but as a group most people were really supportive and we were a good audience for each other. I think the most important lesson I learned was that the audience become in effect your impro partner and it’s a good idea to encourage them and take what you can from them without making them feel too pressured. In the midst of the course (which ran at weekends) I had a gig and I did fell that the course really helped in my moments of interaction. Most importantly I enjoyed those bits more than usual and therefore the audience did too. I would really recommend this course if you’re a fan of impro. For those of you that haven’t come across Rob before he is an improvisational stand up and has recently found success with Abandonman, a comedy hip hop impro group. I’d say that they’re well worth seeing and it’s well worth doing the course if you do stand up comedy.