The differences between live stand-up comedy and live improv are great and varied for sure. It’s a discussion we’ve never had on Punchline Magazine, mainly because our passion and expertise lie in stand-up comedy and we don’t know much about improv.
So really, who are we to try to register a learned opinion on the subject? However, we couldn’t help but get sucked in to this post on Spark Minute, wherein former stand-up comedian and current radio and podcast host and owner of Spark Media Solutions, David Spark posits that improv is terrible; or in his words: “Improv is pure audience torture.”
We should note that the post was originally written for Spark’s personal site more than 12 years ago while he was living in Chicago, the unofficial home of improv comedy. Spark now lives in San Francisco and claims his opinions have softened a bit, which calls into question why he bothered reposting this now. He explained to us that on the site where the article was originally posted, no comments were allowed and therefore all the comments about the post were on external forums here, here and here. “Plus, all the discussion was on improv boards, not stand-up boards,” Spark says.
Among his claims on improv:
Improvites dislike stand up because they believe its preparation lacks challenge and stand ups hate improv because it’s not funny
Improv is the Shredded Wheat to stand up comedy’s Total. In other words, you’d have to watch 1,000 improv shows before you got the nutritional laughter equivalent of a single stand up comedy performance
Improv is the equivalent of watching people practice. It’s like charging admission to watch me type this article.
An improv class is an excellent choice for a release. Many class members don’t necessarily think they’re going to be hired for SNL or Second City. The same reason I take Kung Fu. I don’t think I’m going to be a grand master, but I enjoy taking the class. The difference though between taking a martial arts class and taking improv is that kung fu doesn’t require me to subject anybody to watching me perform.
To get the most out of this discussion, you should head on over to the original post. But we’d love to see your comments here. Let us know what you think!
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