Audience Participation

(Pictured are members of 'Choke Comedy')

Listen, I'm not here to knock improv. I think improvisational comedy is a great way to practice thinking on your feet as well as outside the box, and it's also a great team-building exercise for corporations looking to synergize employees' input.

But the issue that I take with improv is that its audience is often either clueless, abrasive, obnoxious, or in general just very, very, limited. I know you're thinking "Whose Line is it Anyway is my grandmother's favorite televison show, you asshole." I like Whose Line. But I'm not deluding myself into thinking that what I'm watching is an example of improv at its finest. What I'm watching is an example of actors who have great chemistry saying exactly what an audience of college students and the elderly wants them to hear. In other words, penis jokes, homo-eroticism, and cracks about Drew Carey's weight.

What about live improv? Well, that's my point exactly. When was the last time you saw an incredible improv show live? Probably once or twice in your life, and that's probably if you had the privilege of seeing Upright Citizens Brigade or Second City.

So is it that we all suck at improv? Probably not. I think the problem, as it so often is, is the audience. I'm in college. I've seen my fair share of improv shows. And as an audience member, I know that being asked to come up with a verb, or a noun, or a place, or a relationship on the spot feels almost as stressful as performing. There's a pressure to be just as funny as the performers, which, of course, you will not be. The inevitable happens: Someone shouts out 'SEX!" or 'PENIS!' or 'Gynecologist's Office!" or 'Gay male lovers!' and for the next ten minutes you watch the poor comedians try and struggle to come up with an original, quirky scene. And you laugh at the slightest hint of a joke simply because you feel bad for the performers, and because it's 12 AM on a Friday and there's a good chance you're wasted.

This brings me to my ultimate criticism of improv, and why I think it differs in a negative way from stand-up comedy. Improv is a phallic sport. No matter how badly the group is sucking, throw in a dick joke or a gay joke and you have the audience rolling around on the floor. Women are marginalized, as they are in most comedy, but the difference is that watching two faux-lesbians or hearing a vagina joke failing to go over as well as bawdy, masculine 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours' grandstanding is worse than a female stand-up comedian having to work harder than her male counterparts.

We all know the audience controls the comedy in both settings, so why is it worse for women in improv? It's because in improv the audience gets to have a say. It's because frankly improv's standards are lower. A woman performing stand-up gets to say whatever the hell she wants, and the audience may find it funny in spite of their prejudices. But a woman performing improv as a member of a co-ed troupe is limited to what the audience hands her. And the audience is going to hand her a dick joke.

The truth is, improv is the poor man's stand up. How many famous comedians got their start in improv? Tons. How many continue to do improv today? Hmm. Whereas for stand-up comedy, the numbers are apt to make me much more optimistic. In conclusion, I suggest we comb audience members for the slightest hint of bigotry or stupidity and muzzle them for the duration of the improv show.