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*this essay was first written several years ago, just after Chris Farley's death. Some of particulars may have changed but I still feel the same way.
The Culture of Improv
"Alright, who's going drinking?"
"This class needs to bond, to become a team. Everyone should go out drinking together."
"Class is over. The drinking will commence in 15 minutes."
All of the above quotes are from improv teachers. Two are from the Second City and one is from the ImprovOlympic. Just for the record, as sort of a disclaimer, I personally do not drink. I had one glass of champagne back in 1987. The reasons for this are not medical and I am not a recovering alcoholic; I choose not to drink. By this time, I imagine, you can surmise where this is all leading.
The subculture of improvisation in Chicago is mired in an alcohol obsessive atmosphere fostered by years of mainstream cultural programming. It is not an accident that the Second City and the Annoyance Theater have very successful bars directly across the street from their front doors. It is not by coincidence that the ImprovOlympic has, not one, but two bars. Drinking, in general, and, particularly drinking to excess are not only accepted and seen almost as "badges of honor", but both are encouraged by the teaching faculties of both the Second City and the ImprovOlympic (while I have never taken classes at the Annoyance Theater I have had several of their teachers as coaches or teachers at other facilities, but that does not qualify me to make any kind of statement about their training center.) Some of the teachers I have had at both training centers are no longer employed there but most are.
Improvisation is a game for the young. Most beginning improvisers are in their very early twenties, give or take a few years. Most have come straight from college, either graduating or not, to Chicago to learn the art of improv. What then do they learn when they first come? To work together, to bond with each other, and the most recommended way of bonding....visit the nearest bar.
Why is this the most recommended way? Well, most bars are great meeting places, there are tables and friends all about. Drinking loosens you up, makes it easier to just hang out. There's nothing wrong with any of these reasons. Problems arise when it is recommended to drink, when it is a joke when someone drinks to excess, when we encourage or ignore someones excessive bingeing, when the very culture we have voluntarily submersed ourselves in turns out to be a frat party that happens to have a stage. Rarely have I heard anyone returning from one of the various Improv Fests bragging about how much they learned or how much they enjoyed playing in a different forum or teaching other students first; no, what comes first is how much they partied. This is a problem. Not for these people in that this is their choice and it all comes down to choice.
"Do as thou wilt, but do no harm."
Everyone should have the freedom of choice. The freedom to feel that even if they don't drink they will be accepted. The freedom to feel that even if they don't "party" they can be a team player. The freedom to choose to drink instead of having your teacher, your classmates, your teammates, "force" you to drink.† You want to be cool? Drink. You want to hang out with the cool / senior improvisers? Drink. Want cool stories to tell about yourself and your tour/team mates? Drink. That's what we tell ourselves and that's what we tell newcomers to the improv community. IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY. No matter what I say or do I will never be able to stop people from drinking, nor would I want to, this is all a matter of choice. I want to destroy the myth, the culture of excessiveness that the mass corporate media has foisted upon us and that we ourselves perpetuate every single night. I cannot tell you how much it hurts me to see these young/new improvisers start drinking (among other things) because they see the "seniors" doing it. "Oh, that must be the way...." they think, and not only do we tell them this by example it is sometimes even told to them in that many words. It's wrong. It's that simple. A culture that fosters self-abusive excessiveness is wrong. A culture that laughs at or ignores this problem is wrong. We, improvisers or comedians or actors, or whatever we wish to call ourselves this week, should recognize this problem in America and address it, not duplicate it within our own ranks.
A lot of people will read this and disagree. "It's not a problem.," they might say. They may even take offense at some of the things I have stated. Well, if you think I'm off base, if you think I'm exaggerating, if you think there's nothing you can do...take a good hard look at last week's newspapers and then you tell me that I'm wrong. Everyone said it was going to happen, that it wasn't really a surprise. If that last sentence itself doesn't make you sad and angry then this rambling won't either. So what now? Do we just wait to bury another of our own? Do we just sit around and wait to say, "We should have done something?" Maybe we can't change people. Maybe the person needs to want help before we can offer it. Why let it get to that at all? Why not change this culture of excessiveness before it claims one of us again? I have no desire to shed tears for, or to see others shed tears for, one of our brethren again. I'll be fascinated by all the people who shed tears or claimed sadness this past
week and their behavior this New Year's Eve. Have we learned nothing? Will anything change? I pray so. Not for me, but for the community I am a part of and that I love.
Everything changes when someone realizes, and then believes, and then says aloud, "It doesn't have to be this way."