Improv Comedy for Stoicism

Improv isn’t just for comedians. It’s for anyone who wants the ability to live life in the moment. Just like Stoicism isn’t just for Roman emperors.

The English definition of “stoic” is “the unemotional endurance of pain.” But even a modest scan of any modern texts on Stoicism reveal more interesting, more important definitions. Put simply, stoicism is both how to live and how to die.

For this piece I drew mostly off the work of former Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations as well as Ryan Holiday’s Lives of the Stoics. I’m eternally grateful to the latter for his work on making this ancient philosophy more accessible. One day I will appear on his podcast discussing Stoicism and improv comedy.

While “how to live” can seem too broad, it’s where we are going to start. Because even just one improv class at a decent improv comedy school can give you a life-changing blueprint. It’s the concept of accepting the reality of the situation you’re in and then building from there. Also known as “Yes, and” — though that seems far too simple for my goal here.

We use “Yes, And” to keep the dialogue in scenes moving, but when we let this basic improv philosophy bleed over into real life, we discover new levels of Stoic communication. The levels that Marcus Aurelius discusses in Meditations, most notably the ability to adapt to whatever life throws at you.

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Other flagship ideas that Stoicism and improv comedy share are

“Stop asking for the third thing.” — in life, don’t always seek out the credit for good deeds. Knowing you did the right thing should suffice. In improv, when the performer tries too hard to get a laugh, something even worse than silence often occurs: your teammates saw you seeking outside approval and may lose trust in your abilities.

“Strict with yourself, tolerant of others.” — in life, continue training hard to be the best person you can be. But don’t judge what others are doing. In improv, it’s vital to not only be tolerant of others’ ideas, but to accept them with all you’ve got…because that’s exactly what the artform is. All you have is each other in an improv scene so you’d better get on board with whatever the other person on stage is offering.

“Waste no more time talking about what a good man is like. Be one.” — in life, it’s obnoxious to constantly bombard people with your accomplishments. It’s fine to be proud about your new healthy habits, but eventually talking about it too much replaces doing it. In improv, I coach my students to BE, for example, the cocky, overconfident chef and not TALK ABOUT being this character. Audiences laugh at the actions, not the explanations.

A man named Zeno is credited with starting Stoicism after he lost everything in a shipwreck sometime around 300 B.C.. His resiliency was the foundation for a philosophy of self-discipline as well as “indifference to suffering and misfortune” (Lives of the Stoics). Zeno is credited with originating the phrase that went something like “we have two ears and one mouth for a reason” (yes, sorry, your Uncle Rob didn’t come up with that on his own)

Even back then people needed reminders on the importance of listening. An improv scene that doesn’t prioritize listening is like eavesdropping on a dull fight between people who don’t like each other.

From Right Thing, Right Now by Ryan Holiday: “The Stoics would say that we were put here to work with other people — that the ability to collaborate and connect and compromise is in fact one of the things that makes us human.”

Collaborate, connect, and compromise are three things that every single good improv scene in history have in common. There’s a fourth C-word that’s important to throw in here: comedy. It’s easier to get laughs from the crowd when the performers are on the same page, agreeing to build off each other’s ideas.

The Stoics also say that life is built step by step, action by action. That’s the exact same way a good conversation is built. The same way a great improv scene is built. It’s not one person bursting down the door with their brilliant idea and then other people mindlessly going along with it. It’s one person, with half of an idea, combined with the half idea of someone else. Brick by brick. We get somewhere interesting, together. Collaboratively.

Improv comedy isn’t a skill that is reserved for performers. It’s for anyone who wants the ability to connect with another person. Just like Stoicism isn’t just for Roman emperors. Turns out, improv (like Stoicism) is for humans.

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