Don’t do Your best | Keith Johnstone | TEDxYYC

How to lead an improvised life by the inventor of Theatresports and world-renowned improvisational theatre instructor, Keith Johnstone.

Allowing ourselves to be open to change means we have to be willing to let go of what if and invest ourselves in what is.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Keith Johnstone: This is Dennis Cahill.

He's here to stop me wandering off.

(Laughter)

He is the director
of the Loose Moose Theatre,

improvisation theatre here.

(Applause)

Dennis Cahill: Keith,

perhaps you just begin
by explaining why I have a horn.

KJ: My brain is seriously deteriorating.

This stick is to stop me falling over.

It can happen to you guys, don't worry.

(Laughter)

My short-term memory is shot.

But I'm here, and it is quite a good sign.

(Applause)

I teach improvisation.

I was going to give it up

two years ago, maybe three.

But then I went in and thought
I'd do it for the last time -

a 10-day workshop.

And I told the students
that I would keep losing track

and that if they would mind
putting me back on track,

(Laughter)

it would be a great help.

I always think teachers should reveal
everything to their students,

especially when they don't know something.

All the teachers I ever had
always knew something,

which was really discouraging.

(Laughter)

They teach you that they choose
really good poems,

so then you think,
'I can never write one like that.'

DC: Sorry, you still haven't
explained the horn. Well...

KJ: Then, well, you should have
honked it then.

DC: I know.

KJ: Because I'm wandering off,
which I tend to do.

I can still see
what's in front of my nose,

so I'm still quite useful
as an improvisation teacher.

The bell - we have never done this before.

DC: It's improvised.

KJ: Improvisation is high risk.

It's not really like -

people think it's like show business.

It's much more like sport.

You do not want a great introduction

to improvisation,

because you may have
absolutely nothing to offer.

( Laughter)

I was told the first half
went really well.

(Laughter)

People from outside of improvisation

always think it's lovely
if the first half goes well.

Improvisers know there's nothing worse
than a great introduction.

(Laughter)

The problem is to have
the best stuff at the end

because the audience always think
you have something better lined up.

(Honk) But it's...

Okay. (Laughter)

DC: Keith, I'm sorry I have to stop.
KJ: No, you're right.

DC: Because we have
some slides here with quotes.

KJ: That's correct.

DC: And you're supposed to speak
to each of these quotes.

And there's 12 quotes,
and now there's less than 11 minutes.

KJ: That's alright.

(Laughter)

DC: So I'm just going
to suggest that maybe -

KJ: I never said that.

DC: Well, then, let's move on!

KJ: Okay. (Laughs)

(Laughter)

(Applause)

There was a TED Talk,

and it could not be squeezed
into 15 minutes.

And you can see why.

(Laughter)

I decided when I was
just before my ninth birthday

not to believe anything
the grown-ups said.

And the next day, I decided to always see
if the opposite could be true.

I think it changed my life.
I've been doing it ever since.

(Laughter)

And it taught me to be looking
for the obvious and not the clever.

The obvious is really your true self.

The clever is an imitation
of somebody else, really.

But let's forget that - I never said it.

Be average. That's right!

[Be average.]

This is terrible culture

in which everyone is taught
to do their best.

(Laughter)

I mean people who are bad improvisers
go on, they try to be good improvisers.

If anybody knows how to get better
by doing your best,

please -

I'd recommend a book
called 'Maximum Performance',

about athletes.

The book is about interviews
with athletes who've broke world records.

And it's almost always
when they weren't trying.

If they were really trying their best,
they're using too many muscles.

In fact, you learned at school
to tense yourself up that:

'Aha. I'll do better.
Give me another chance!'

You just fill yourself with tension,
and that causes fear.

And in my opinion, doing your best
is the same as stage fright.

But everybody says that.

So my recommendation is to be average

because then there's not stress.

DC: (Honk) Sorry, Keith,
we do have to move along.

KJ: 'Those who say' -
I think that's self-explanatory.

[Those who say 'yes' are rewarded
by the adventures they have...]

KJ: It does give...

well, it may give people
some insight into the fact -

well, there's the question
of what talent is.

When I began to teach improvisation,

I was astounded at all the things
the improvisers did to wreck themselves.

Because they were so negative,

and they can -

if they lit a fire,
it would start to rain.

An example here.

From San Francisco, these people
were supposed to be on a boat.

They're going to go ashore.

Someone says,

'Let's light a fire on the boat.'

Why? Why?

Because he's trying to think
outside the box.

Because only a total idiot
will want to do that.

(Laughter)

You have to teach improvisers
to think inside the box

or you can't work with them.

I mean I wouldn't really want
Robin Williams in my theatre company.

He's had to be the star,

and you'd have to follow him at all times

because he was a comic genius, fantastic.

But I wouldn't want him
in my theatre company,

because he'd be outside the box
most of the time.

The audience think inside the box.

If the phone rings,
they think you're going to answer it.

The phone can ring
on an improvisation stage,

and somebody will hide behind the sofa

(Laughter)

because they're wanting to be original.

(Laughter)

DC: Sorry, Keith. (Honk)

We have many slides.

KJ: Next. We don't have to go
through all the slides.

DC: No, we don't, but...

(Laughter)

DC: It is my job!

KJ: (Laughs)

No, your job is if I start
meandering into nowhere.

(Laughter)

KJ: If you think
I'm not explaining something,

DC: Okay.

KJ: you have to give me a shit, okay?

(Laughter)

KJ: I chose Dennis because he's one
of the few people who's not afraid of me.

(Laughter)

But I'm having thoughts, I don't know.

(Laughter)

[Striving after originality
makes your work mediocre.]

KJ: Striving after originality
is trying to think outside the box.

And everyone's taught to do that.

If I put 15 of you up on the stage -
which I'd love to do -

I would say, 'Listen, it's a simple game.

Someone will shout out
something you can all do.'

And then you'll go 'yes!' and do it.

And we set that going, and first of all,
nobody will shout anything out,

because they don't know what to shout out.

In situation where you can
shout out anything,

people have problems
because they want a context to do it in.

But somebody will shout it out,
and they'll do it.

The strange thing
is the brain connects things.

Cat, bird, nest, tree,

grass, house, sun, smoke -

yeah, that's what the brain does.

It doesn't go sausage, Mrs Thatcher.

(Laughter)

That's much more difficult.

(Laughter)

People sweat and strain.

And they feel they're
giving themselves away

because they can't censor it.

Perhaps when I was a younger man,
perhaps I had a desire for Mrs Thatcher.

(Laughter)

DC: It's in my head now so... ahem!

KJ: So they shout out things like -
oh, they shout crazy things.

'Let's jump up and down'.

'Let's shake hands.'

'Let's sit on the floor.'

'Let's run in circles.'

They're sweating to find
something not connected.

And that's really bizarre.

Now, the audience connects things,

but the improvisers disconnect

because they've been taught
to be original.

If you're stared at -

if you're in the street
and a lot of people come out of a bar

and all stare at you,

it might be possible to clown.

But for almost everybody,
your response is to be unchanged.

You don't want to blush.
You don't want to look nervous.

You want to continue as before.

(Bell ringing)

DC: It's the one-minute bell,

as in one minute left.

KJ: You're kidding.

DC: Why would I kid
about something like that.

KJ: Alright! Alright!

Well, let me put people on the stage.

This is a special place

because this is where
people have paid money.

They got tickets, most of you.

And they can stare at you,
whatever happens.

So whatever embarrassment happens here,
they can stare at you forever.

It's just awful.

It's much worse than in the street.

So then the defense systems come in

in order not to be altered
when you're being looked at.

Because either you interpret it as love -

and that hardly worked
for the whole audience -

or as aggression,

which brings us back to...

what?

(Laughter)

DC: I'm afraid, Keith,
it brings us to the end.

KJ: No, not yet.

They can cut the tape somewhere.

(Laughter)

(Applause) (Cheers)

DC: I think we're being told to leave.

KJ: I know.

(Laughter)

KJ: While we're leaving,
they can still flash them on.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

Dennis!

(Applause) (Cheers)

Thank you.