Back to School

Learning can be a way for an unemployed person to enjoy personal growth and feel like less of a failure.  That's why I went back to school.  I didn't go to a regular boring school though.  Instead I joined Second City, a place where the immature and silly people join forces.

When I arrived at the training center, I rode the escalator slowly past a giant wall.  My heart filled with excitement as I saw some of the famous graduates:  Norm from Cheers, Chris Farley, and Bill Murray, to name a few.   I wondered if I would meet people in my classes that would one day be displayed on the incredibly funny wall.  I imagine that the feelings that I felt as I slowly ascended towards the heavens were what it must be like for a nerd when he first walks through Harvard or a lonely person at a strip club.  I was nervous, scared, excited, and unfortunately still hungover from the night before.

For those who don't know, Second City is the place where many comedic greats have learned and practiced the craft of improv and humor.  With all of my extra free time, I decided to enroll in two classes: writing and improv.  

The writing class was first and I felt pretty comfortable going into it.  I have taken writing classes and am pretty comfortable hiding behind my desk and notebook. The class consisted of a few exercises (writing not physical) and some attempts at storytelling.  It was fun and I may have made a friend.

Then came my fear, improv.  Improv has scared me for a long time.  I am the type of person that likes to have (or at least think I have) control in my humor.  (I also enjoy bossing people around just to see if they will do some of the things I say.)  I have a fear of dying on stage. 

My fears turned to dust though as my skilled teacher coaxed me out of my shyness and embarrassment of pretending to be or do something that I am not.  By the end I was imagining that I was actually holding an egg or that I really was a woman from the 18th Century.  I certainly have a loooooooong way to go to be a good improviser and I am sad to say that I am not the funniest in the class although I got one laugh in the 2 and a half hours.

It was interesting to me the different types of people that were in each class.  In writing, the students seemed a little bit different or odd.  Some were artsy and some were afraid to be out in daylight and public.  I don't want to say socially awkward but perhaps misunderstood and thoughtful would apply.  On the other hand, we had the improvisers.  Most of them seemed more energetic and more social.  These were the people that thought they were funny, but there were also people that admitted they weren't funny and they were there to loosen up and become less serious.  If I had to say which category I fell into I would say I am probably closer to the writing side.  I was quieter than many of the improv folks and much more comfortable writing than acting.  Hopefully I will become balanced somewhere in between (but obviously keeping some extra awkwardness.)

Being at Second City is like being at a small college except everybody is funnier than you and they actually enjoy going to class.  Even though everyone there is funnier, everyone is also happier because this is exactly what they want to be doing.  It's not like when I had to take Intro to Botany to fulfill my science credit.  Classes are fun and the best part is we don't get grades.

I should have done this a long time ago.