Just be honest – hilarity will ensue
The path to humour is through honesty.
In fact, forget all about humour. Just be honest. And listen well. If you do those two things, you’ll build something true and authentic – and that, believe it or not, will be funny. According to Peter Madore, this is the essence of improv comedy.
Madore is nuts about improv. Since stumbling onto it 10 years ago, when someone told him he was a funny guy who should be on TV, he says it has literally changed his life in several ways. After first taking classes at Toronto’s Second City, he followed his passion to Chicago, where he studied at the world-renowned IO Theater, the launching point for all kinds of famous comedians, from Mike Myers and Bill Murray to Gilda Radner and Tina Fey. Madore’s desire to be a television star faded, but his fascination for pure improv grew and grew. After returning home, he met his wife Tara McGee at one of the countless improv classes he attended and later taught at Toronto’s Impatient Theatre Company. Many, if not most, of his friends have some connection to the improv scene.
Madore and McGee moved to Creemore three months ago, after McGee accepted a position as a psychotherapist at Mulmur’s Pine River Institute. Creemore had long been “on the map” for the couple, as several friends were always raving about the place. So the prospect of moving their young children – Griffin, 3, and Lily, 1 – to the village was exciting for Madore and McGee, except for one small detail.
“I knew this is where I’d be homesick,” said Madore of the lack of improv in the area. So rather than go down that route, he’s decided to do something about it. Starting Thursday, September 5, Madore will offer an eight-week introductory course at the Station on the Green, the first step in a grand plan to turn us all into practising improv-aholics.
“I just feel so good about it – I love it so much. I want everyone to experience it, to feel empowered by it, to own it. And mostly, I want to build a community around it, right here in Creemore,” he said.
The empowerment thing is key – among other benefits, Madore says improv can provide its students with all kinds of insight, as well as a general comfort in their own skin. There’s also, of course, the pride that comes with building something out of nothing, using only your trust in those you’re working with and your commitment to being honest.
Peter Madore
Madore realizes newcomers will be scared, and said he has techniques to help people overcome their fears. The key, he said, is to make sure everyone in class treats everyone else like they’re briliant – “treat someone like a genius and they’ll find their genius,” is how he puts it.
The improv that Madore focuses on in his classes is the long-form, scene-setting variety. It begins with an idea, and all it takes is for someone else to react truthfully to that idea. The term used in improv circles is “Yes, and…” and according to Madore, that’s the only skill you need – to be able to listen to someone, to not shut them down, and to react truthfully with whatever thought their idea has planted in your head.
You don’t even have to be funny, says Madore. Although you are, even if you don’t know it.
“Ordinary people are actually really funny, though they tend to think that title is reserved for others,” he said. “There’s so much humour in people’s honesty and authenticity. In improv, truth is the comedy we’re striving for.”
Madore’s class will take place at Station on the Green at 7 pm on Thursdays, running from September 5 to October 24. The cost is $150 for all eight sessions. For more information or to sign up, call 705-994-3008 or visit facebook.com/manicimprov.
