In improv, you always need a good “why.”

The trick is realizing that you often already know why, deep down, even when the things you’re doing happened instinctually. Don’t fix it to what you think the why SHOULD be.

Like you’re doing a two person scene and the other person says “I want to run with the bulls in Spain” and you have a gut reaction that makes you shake your head with a little bit of disgust and you say “Ugh, not that.”

You didn’t sit there and plan that out. You’re not in your head, you’re just reacting — which is good — but NOW you need to decide why you just did that.

The teacher stops the scene and asks you “I see you don’t like that idea, why not?”

And you feel guilty at first that you “said no,” so you hurriedly correct yourself: “I mean, I LOVE RUNNING WITH THE BULLS.”

And the teacher says “No, I didn’t want you to change your mind. It’s okay you didn’t like it. I just wanted to know why your character didn’t like it.”

And you think back and try to think of a logical explanation and glom it onto to the scene. “Maybe his father was killed by bulls?”

“No, ” says the teacher. “That’s not what they reason was. You HAD a reason — there’s something you didn’t like about the idea on a gut level, I’m just asking what that reason was. The one you already had.”

And you remember what it felt like when you had that reaction and realize the honest answer is something like “Because that’s something douchey frat jerks do?” or “Ugh, that’s what EVERYONE wants, let’s do something different” or “You’re just trying to show off, don’t be a jerk.”

That’s it. That’s the real reason. The one the audience could sense and the one they will laugh at when they see you able to realize it and articulate it.

I think when you have an instinctual visceral reaction to something — it’s probably the honest and true one. You have to be able to just say what you’re honest reaction is.

Being able to stop, hold and articulate your natural feelings is a hugely necessary skill in improv. There are many people out there who can’t do that. The moment you make them think about what they’re saying or feeling and ask them why —- all their awareness vanishes. Can you imagine your co-worker, after they say something like how they “hate French Vanilla coffee” being asked “why?” They’d look at you and just say “what do you mean WHY? I just DO.”

Not enough in improv. You must be an honest reporter of your natural unaffected feelings. Tricky. But it’s way more important than doing a great accent, or being able to think of 20 movies from the forties, or even being able to emote a huge range of feeling.

Don’t think about it, don’t fix it — just say what you felt.