Improv Basics: Yes, And…

This week, I took my first improv class, and I want to share what I learned because it was both fun and insightful to the art of conversation. I still have a lot to learn, so consider this an initial impression rather than a complete explanation.

Improv is all about understanding and accepting reality. Our first lesson focused on this idea, starting with a simple exercise: rant about anything. Standing in front of the class, we talked about things we strongly believed in or cared about—like a love for sailing. Since we were drawing from our own perspectives, it made it very easy to talk nonstop.

Next, we moved on to group exercises where we were given a shared reality. Each group was told a prompt about who we were and how we knew each other, then we had to talk about it. For example, we were pirates on a boat. Even though it was a made-up reality, we all knew exactly what the context was, which made it easy to accept it and react naturally and cohesively as a group.

Then, we learned how to create our own shared reality with an explicit framework. In pairs, we had to decide who we were, where we were, what we were doing, and how we felt—then perform a scene. For example, we could decide to be angry pirates on a ship running out of food. By creating and agreeing on these details together, we established a clear context and guidelines for how we would react with each other.

Finally, we practiced creating a shared reality naturally. Again in pairs, we were given a single word as a prompt and had to develop a reality and scene at the same time. This was much harder because we had to constantly make decisions while agreeing on the evolving reality. For instance, one person might say, “The ocean waves look eerie tonight,” pretending to steer a ship, establishing a location, an action, and a role. The other person could respond, “Captain, we have a problem with the rudder,” confirming the other’s role, conveying their own feelings and action. Not having an explicit framework requires you to truly listen and strategically respond to others in a way that bilaterally agrees with what they say while also continuing to develop context. Although it was significantly harder to work cohesively—since you must build and accept the reality in real-time—drawing on the foundations of the previous exercises made it feel more manageable.

At the core of all these exercises is the foundational improv principle of “Yes, And.” This does not mean blindly agreeing with what question is being asked; it is about agreeing to the shared reality someone else is creating so you can build on it yourself. It's saying, “Yes, I see you are a pirate, but no, I will not let you take my ship.” Rejecting people's proposed reality only stalls progress since you have no conversational foundation to build upon.

I hope sharing this fun experience through this short explanation helped you think a little more about improv and inspired you to also want to learn a little more about the art of conversation. Thanks for reading, cheers.