Favorite Improv Quotes

craigy · Post by **craigy** » March 30th, 2009, 12:42 am

"Whether you think you can or think you can't... you're right." - Henry Ford

"You don't need to be sick to be better." - Anonymous

"There is no traffic jam on the extra mile." - Anonymous

scook · Post by **scook** » April 7th, 2009, 5:46 pm

"We got the suggestion of chess. Instead of doing scenes about chess, we could have done a light scene, then a dark scene, then a light scene..."

-Del Close

TexasImprovMassacre · Post by **TexasImprovMassacre** » April 9th, 2009, 6:37 pm

Student: There's a discussion going on right now among some improvisers on a forum online, and I was wondering what you thought wasn't possible in improv, or what's something that improv couldn't do?

Joe Bill: Change the world.

valetoile · Post by **valetoile** » April 15th, 2009, 11:45 pm

"In the final count, story is just another affliction,
the illusion the grand scheme is within our ken. "

-R. T. Smith

TexasImprovMassacre · April 16th, 2009, 12:12 am

"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us."
-Joseph Campbell

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there."
Lewis Carroll, "Alice in Wonderland"

"The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain."
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"The true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing."
- Isaac Asimov

scook · Post by **scook** » May 15th, 2009, 9:53 pm

"What had always been more interesting to me was improvisation because I was more interested in being funny with other people, and as it turns out, when you're doing a volume business like the Late Night show, there's such a large amount of it that's improvisational, and that was huge for me. Doing all those years of improv really helped, and learning to listen, and learning to react, and learning to let things happen. I don't pretend that I've learned the true craft of improv, but what I did learn is that people respond to something that happened in the moment much more than they will respond to the most brilliant thing that was thought of ahead of time and prepared. There's something in us, and they'll find it someday, it's like a tiny piece of zinc in our cerebral cortex, they're gonna find out what it is. But when we see something that unfolds naturally and is real, people love it. The biggest laughs I've ever had in my life are something going off the rails, something going wrong, something happening that wasn't supposed to happen. And improv teaches you not to fear those moments; that's where the gold is."

-Conan O'Brien

"The harder we press on a violin string, the less we can feel it. The louder we play, the less we hear. The more relaxed and ready the muscles are, the more different ways they can move. The method is to free up the hands, arms, shoulders, every part of the body, making them strong, soft, and supple so that inspiration can pass unimpeded down the nerve-muscle-mind channels. Unimpeded by what? By involuntary contractions of the voluntary muscles, by spasms of will. Our fears, doubts, and rigidities are manifested physiologically, as excessive muscular tension, or what Wilhelm Reich called 'body armor.' If I 'try' to play, I fail; if I force the play, I crush it; if I race, I trip. Any time I stiffen or brace myself against some error or problem, the very act of bracing would cause the problem to occur. The only road to strength is vulnerability."

-Stephen Nachmanovitch

York99 · Post by **York99** » May 16th, 2009, 3:52 pm

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." - Walt Disney

"Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious."
- Brendan Gill

"Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth." - Mike Tyson

"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you
will make one." - Elbert Hubbard

"A good scare is worth more to a man than good advice." - Edgar Watson Howe

"Learn to listen. Opportunity could be knocking at your door very slowly." -
Frank Tyger

jose · Post by **jose** » May 18th, 2009, 10:56 am

There are a million great improv quotes that I love, but this is my newest, favorite from Bob Fisher (who actually sold the "how you do what you do is who you are" quote to JB for a quarter!):

"If you think a little bit about science, medicine, shame, sexuality, mortality, fear, power, and God, then "proctologist" can be a pretty good suggestion for an improvised scene."

ratliff · Post by **ratliff** » May 18th, 2009, 11:13 am

jose wrote:There are a million great improv quotes that I love, but this is my newest, favorite from Bob Fisher (who actually sold the "how you do what you do is who you are" quote to JB for a quarter!):

"If you think a little bit about science, medicine, shame, sexuality, mortality, fear, power, and God, then "proctologist" can be a pretty good suggestion for an improvised scene."

WINNER

Dave · Post by **Dave** » May 19th, 2009, 12:23 pm

The only thing we can control in an improv scene is how we react.
-Mark Sutton, Motherload workshop 5/17/09

patdaniels · Post by **patdaniels** » May 21st, 2009, 11:46 am

"Do you want to come out and play?" - Ali Alvarez's little neighbor

"Then indecision brings its own delays,
And days are lost lamenting over lost days.
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute;
What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it;
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." - Goethe

TexasImprovMassacre · August 24th, 2009, 10:56 pm

Life is what happens while you were making other plans
-John Lennon

sara farr · Post by **sara farr** » August 25th, 2009, 12:34 am

An improvisers best friends are logic and oxygen. ~ Rafe Chase

TexasImprovMassacre · September 29th, 2009, 1:07 am

Plot can go fuck itself
-me

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell · October 3rd, 2009, 6:35 am

"We have done the impossible. And that makes us mighty."

-Joss Whedon