Improvisational Comedy and What The Heck Am I Going To Do About It?

This is kind of a follow up to my post yesterday.  Sort of.  What popped into my head after I wrote that blog post was this.  If you blog for long enough, one of the things blogging may reveal about a person is how much of a social butterfly they are (or are not).  I tend to be less of a social kind of guy and, as I am sure many who know me can attest, it is like pulling teeth to get me to go out.  But I also have an incredibly social streak in me.  The streak just requires the right triggers to set it off.  What are those streaks?  It normally involves a stage, lights, and a few other cool people who are as insane as I am.  What gets me "hot and bothered" is improv comedy.

Let me first go into a list of my improv comedy credentials:

• 1990 - Discovered improvisational comedy.
• 1991-1996 - Join Impromaniacs and perform a few months later.
• 1996-2000 - Join and perform with ACT! Improv in Victoria.
• 2002 - Attempt to get Ian Loves Bob off the ground.  Dies a quick death.

You see, there is a great difference between my life in Victoria and my life in Vancouver.  In Victoria, I was doing a regular improv show at least once a week.  It got my blood revving and was a central part of my life.  I did this for just over ten years and, from time to time, I was doing about four shows a week.  Then, I moved to Vancouver and my improvsational life died.  I tried out for a few groups but I kept running into the "doing improv to improve my acting skills" crowd.  And I loathe the "doing anything and not have any fun while doing it" kind of people.  They just turn me off in a huge way and it just sucks my energy away and I end up leaving early or just never returning to the organized groups.  Hell, I even helped out starting a group but it never went anywhere.  Too many things were going on in each of the people's lives and the energy wasn't there to make a go of it.

I then find myself here - locked in a cycle.  Every year or so, I bitch, whine, and moan about how I don't do improv any more.  I have been struggling the last couple of years with a lack of performing.  The people are great but the chemistry never seems to "ping" with the right, uh, "pingingness".

This is my annual bitching about a lack of venue for me to act like a goof.  If you have any leads, let me know.

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