Calling a fault on Fawlty

In the March 2014 edition of Harvard Business Review, Adi Ignatius interviews John Cleese, who became a comedy icon in the 1970s for his work on Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Fawlty Towers. Asked about improvisation, John responded:

Adi: As a scripted comedian, what do you think about the rise of improv?

  


John: The delights of improv have always rather escaped me. I don’t know why it’s considered a major art form. I don’t mean that it’s not interesting or skillful. But over the years all the comedians that I’ve respected—I could also say all the comic writers—are people who put words down on paper and went on working on them until they felt they couldn’t improve them anymore. That seems to me the most important and interesting part of comedy. The other is sort of a party trick, which I respect, but it doesn’t seem to me that it should be regarded at the same level. I got an Oscar nomination for the script of A Fish Called Wanda, which had been through 13 drafts, and by the end of it, I really felt I had brought it all together. That is not a feeling I have with improv. They don’t really build to any kind of dramatic climax or comedic climax.

Admittedly, John's comedic efforts rank as some of the best ever produced. Fawlty towers is my personal all-time favorite. Yet, as I read the paragraph above, I get the distinct feeling that John's remark about improv being a "sort of a party trick" seems to have come out twelve revisions too soon.

I have a lot of respect for John's great achievements in comedy. I also have a lot of respect for Improvisation, and so I accept his statement as an offer, and true to my improv roots, present an "in the moment, on the spot, and one hundred percent spontaneous" improvised response.

Improvisation's popularity lies in two key abilities that scripted comedy can hardly match

1) Audience engagement: The essential ingredient in an improv performance is that the audience and the actors work together to create theatre. Suggestions from the audience are used to shape the action that unfolds on stage. Spontaneity and unpredictability are the hallmarks of Improvisation, and make improv a unique and an inescapably delightful and exciting experience for the performers and the audience.

As someone who has watched, learned, and performed improv, I am always amazed at the level of audience engagement improv fosters. Audience participation can range from offering suggestions to actually joining the performers on the stage, as they work with you to perform a scene. You can see it in their faces - the exhilaration from participating, and shaping the scene, rather than just being passive observers.

2) Personal transformation: Improvisation has a few key principles that performers follow to create fun and comedy:

· Say "Yes" and build upon the previous action or conversation (offer)

· Be spontaneous

· Stay present

· Make your partners look good, and,

· Embrace failures.

These simple principles can also effect a profound personal transformation in the performer, foster teamwork, and build creativity.

In improvisation there is no script to guide the scene, and performers are dependent on each other to shape the scene. Improvisers learn quickly the value of spontaneity and being in the moment. Over time, they overcome their hesitation and fear that holds them back at the side of the stage, let go of their self-censure, their judgments, their notions of what the scene is, and begin to trust their spontaneity and jump onto the scene to carry it forward.

The impact of becoming spontaneous and in the moment grows over time. I recall many an occasion, where after a performance, I have been in a state of heightened awareness, without a thought going through my mind for a long period of time. Improvisation and meditation are perhaps only two activities that have the ability to foster spontaneity and "in the moment" alertness . And this ability to be in the present is a very powerful experience - quite possibly the greatest therapeutic remedy out there.

Additionally, performers become aware of how reality is socially constructed. As there is no script, there is no single reality out there that the performers are acting out. Instead, they have to work with each other’s notions of what the scene is, and actively construct a shared reality. Performers pay attention to their partners, and work with each other’s offers to move the scene forward, and in turn, act into a new reality.

This notion of ensemble, and the ability to develop a shared understanding and self-organization is finding value in the corporate world, and making its way into business schools. Improv has benefits that are well documented in literally hundreds of articles ranging from topics such as therapy for mental illnesses to fire fighters using Improv techniques for improved performance in high risk, uncertain situations. I personally have used it in business settings to improve team dynamics, and facilitate resolution of difficult problems in diverse groups. Participants are appreciative of the deeper insights and shared perspective they develop as a result of using improv.

Published without a second revision, with respect to John Cleese and Improvisation.