Yes (by Brett)

"yes is a world
& in this world of
yes live
(skilfully curled)
all worlds"

That's part of a poem from E. E. Cummings. He also said "I imagine that 'yes' is the only living thing".

Guess what? Michael Pizza just realized that we say "no" a lot in our improv. That sucks. When you realize that you are bad at something and you have been doing it, in front of audiences, for a while... that sucks. I'm not against explicitly saying "no" in a scene but there are times when you can say "no" but imply "yes". Here's what I mean...

Michael Pizza has been taught to always support each other in scenes. Somehow that manifests itself into always trying to be friendly. So, if Ben tells me that we're roommates and he's tired of me always being a dick and leaving my towels on the floor, I always end up saying "I'm sorry, I'll quit leaving towels on the floor". I said "yes" to the scene but, in a different sense, I just said "no" to a huge gift he just gave me. I'm a dick. I don't care about towels on the floor. At very least, I'm an oblivious roommate who will never pick up my towels. The second I start picking up towels and saying "I love you," I've denied the thing he just told me. I'm a dick roommate.

It probably sounds pretty obvious. And I like to consider myself a pretty savvy improviser, but these little gifts always seem to slip past me. So that is what I'm working on right now. Accepting and playing with the gifts that Ben, Eric and Josh give me.

I'll leave you with one last quote, because that's what I do. My ex-girlfriend always wanted to be a singer but she never had any clue where to begin. I tried and tried to help her but she was always too scared to take any step until she was completely sure of a course of action. So she never went anywhere. Anyway, here's a quote I like about that...

"The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something." -FDR