MAKING THE FUNNY, ONE GAME AT A TIME: TIM MOLLEN’S IMPROV COMEDY WORKSHOP

Lately, I’ve been spending my Wednesday evenings letting people arrange my limbs to their liking, guide me around a room with my eyes closed, and trying my best to say “yes” to everything. I have been a servant, a queen, and a shoemaking prodigy who escaped from prison just in time to deliver her best friend’s baby. I have attended funeral services for superheroes who don’t exist, and I hosted a party full of unexpected guests. In other words, I have been taking an improv class - specifically, Tim Mollen’s Improv Comedy Workshop.

Every Wednesday in the Phelps Mansion ballroom, a motley crew of game locals abandon our egos in hopes of making something funny happen. Our fearless leader is Tim Mollen - director, actor, and writer, who, in addition to his steadfast commitment to local and regional theatre, has performed with various improv troupes and studied at Chicago’s Second City Improv Conservatory. For those who aren’t privy, Second City has served as an incubator for many of the greatest comedians of our time (Alan Alda, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Tina Fey…); it’s the place where Lorne Michaels goes to find talent, and it predates Saturday Night Live. Mollen also founded the improv comedy troupe the Shaun Cassidy Fan Club at SUNY Oswego, which continues to be a campus institution in its 26th season.

Basically, it’s like we’re learning how to perform a lobotomy from a surgeon, but skipping medical school. On a good night, no one gets hurt.

As I write this, we’re four classes deep and I feel like I’m getting to know my classmates, though we haven’t engaged in any deep conversation. Most of our interactions have taken place during improvisational games: the exercises that teach us how to listen, use our bodies, and stay in the scene. This is more than a class in improvisational comedy; it’s a practice of sensitivity and presence. And getting to know people this way isn’t so different from life outside the theatre: thrown together by chance, folks from different walks of life are forced to cooperate in a respectful and productive way.

But this class is way more fun than real life.

Improv can make you feel like a child playing make-believe, but a child who has an adult’s knowledge and experience to draw from. Many of the confines that we are assigned - the rules and premises of each game - are liberating, as they allow us to focus in and give all our energies to a particular idea or task. Also, the exercises in this class remind us that sometimes, not trying to be funny is the best way to get a laugh.

I remember the first time I saw live improv: I was at Chicago City Limits in New York City (I know that sounds confusing). My friends and I were laughing hysterically throughout the entire show. I was a teenager, and I recall being amazed by the way the players spun scenes from a word or two called out by an audience member. Granted, we were giving them some good material, throwing out gems like, “Boy George!” I was very eager to be that audience member whose suggestion got picked, but I’m even more excited about being one of the players.

And so, in accordance with the prophecy, there will be a “showcase performance” at the end of our eight-week class. In other words, we’re putting on an improv show! And, as great as it is to see professional comedians do their thing, it may be even more fun to see a BU professor, a local farm girl who is a human pun machine, and yours truly, perform with several other Binghamtonians. We’re an odd bunch; I don’t think I could adequately describe the group on paper. But we’re pretty damn funny, and we each bring something very different to the table. If you’ve never seen live improv, I strongly recommend you come check it out. And if you’ve been to an improv show in the past, then you already know how much fun it is. Plus, this show will get your laugh muscles warmed up for the Comedy Crawl, and you’ll get to yell stuff at us!

Tim Mollen’s Improv Comedy Workshop Showcase Performance will take place at 8pm on Friday, March 24th in the Phelps Mansion Ballroom, located at 191 Court Street in Binghamton. Tickets are $10 at the door. Come laugh at us.