[Music]
[Applause]
[Applause]
thank you ladies and gentlemen from
Canada and I am doing prov which means
making stuff up in the spot but they
told me I needed to have slots so that’s
let’s look at the first slide ok
[Applause]
improvise comedy you might have seen
whose line is it anyway on a television
let’s see slide that slide – that’s it
that’s what I’ve been doing for 20 years
I originally began studying regular
acting when I did sketch comedy where
you had to memorize a script and then I
learned that improv meant I didn’t have
to memorize and so my own laziness led
to my career
thank you so is the message to kids
embrace your laziness slide number three
Oh No note to self fix slide order oh no
now the machine is reading my mind no I
am NOT machine I am NOT I am not having
no I am NOT I am NOT I am not thinking
about that folks I’m not thinking about
that okay now I am okay look okay let’s
just go back to the regular slides let’s
just get back on track with the slides
here thank you
okay that’s better
all right back on back on track ladies
and gentlemen thank you and good no no
oh okay here we go
all right we’ll start over ladies and
gentlemen I do improv comedy and this is
my my job and what it involves is the
audience I take audience suggestions and
then I turn it into comedy with my team
of improvisers right before people’s
very eyes which means that if the show
somehow sucks
it’s the audience’s fault
yeah alright so let me let me
demonstrate exactly how this works so on
the count of three I want everyone in
this audience this to shout out your
first name it’s very easy so you have to
think of anything just this step do it
all together on the count of three one
two three all right I heard Vijay okay
very good okay on the count of three now
a little more difficult everybody just
shout out the name of the person sitting
next to you okay if you don’t know them
this is a great moment for you to meet
the person sitting next to you and to
make new friends okay
now if you’re sitting between two people
this shout out the name of the better
looking of the two okay okay don’t worry
they already know who they are okay it’s
very obvious it’s very obvious alright
here we go on the count of three the
name of the better-looking person you
are sitting between three okay Vijay
again I just heard Vijay it’s all I
heard okay so that’s how it works and
then I would hear a name from the
audience I’m some kind of suggestion I
would say what’s your favorite fruit or
something you’d shout it out and then
bang we would make some scene up on the
spot so I’m not talking about let’s say
let’s demonstrate a little bit so I also
teach improv comedy to people and people
always say to me can you teach me how to
be funny and I say to them no no no
funny is something you’re born with you
either have it or you don’t
and if you’re not funny take a kind of
Buddhist approach and just accept your
suffering because nothing is going to
change it
nothing is gonna change it so what then
is the point of me teaching improv
comedy it’s how I make money it’s how I
make money but I can also teach people
how to do funny things
so the funniness that you have inside
you is at a different level we know the
class sounds and there’s some people
that are pretty dry but everybody’s got
a little bit of wit in them and I can
teach people how to bring that wit to
the surface and there’s three kind of
principles that I like to teach about
improv I’m going to tell you that now
and then we’re going to do a
demonstration the first one
and somebody talked about it earlier
today is being in the moment okay and on
stage and doing improv what that means
is not worrying about what you just said
and not worried worrying about what you
will say it’s not living in the moment
and not judging yourself if I say this
how’s it going to be responded how are
people gonna respond to it how is the
reception gonna be because that you’re
actually living in the future right you
want to be in the moment you want to
listen to what the other person said and
just respond to it naturally and then
once you’ve said that thing that you
never thought of and you didn’t plan
then you have to learn not to regret
what you’ve just said because you didn’t
do any planning that’s being in the
moment the second thing we talked about
is letting go of the need to be in
control because if you are the type of
person that is only comfortable when you
are in control you will never be
comfortable because you can never have
full control of a situation and that’s
true in life as well but especially on
stage with two improvisers two people
who are making stuff up I don’t know
what they’re gonna say they don’t know
what I’m gonna say I don’t know what I’m
gonna say so letting go with that need
to control and there’s some people for
whom that’s harder people who are a bit
of control freaks you know them you know
who they are right those are the people
that need to let go of control even more
than the rest of us normal people that’s
the beauty of it and the final thing
that I like to teach my students is the
idea of acceptance which is saying yes
to things first and then you say no
later if you want to but in life we do
the opposite if I were to say to you hey
tomorrow do you want to go naked
skydiving most people would go no what
is it what are you doing you’re naked
what what tell me so even though they’re
interested they’re instant responses to
say no because they want a little bit of
distance they want a little bit of time
to think about it but on stage you want
to see the person who says yes do you
want to go naked skydiving yes I do yes
I do
when are we going
that’s what you want to see and we
should try that in life to say yes first
you want to go naked skydiving yes
who’s going it’ll be you and me and your
grandparents no no I don’t want to go
see you can always say no later you can
always say no later all right so those
are the principles and if people follow
those principles they’re funniness
however lame and tiny it is could be
brought to the surface so let’s say
let’s do demonstration now I need a
volunteer volunteer to come up and help
me here how about how about this
gentleman right here and should you want
to come up and help what did I just say
about acceptance you haven’t learned
anything you yes come on up come on
applause for him man huh okay very nice
how about this come on up what’s your
name what’s your full name okay I’m
gonna call you volunteer one okay very
good very good very good thank you for
coming don’t worry you’re gonna have to
say anything and how about this our
lovely woman in the yellow dress wasn’t
you what happened to the acceptance come
on but you won’t have to stand how about
a big round of applause for her come on
come on or your friend beside you who’s
brought you on Oh Oh suddenly it’s all
different I saw her before going no come
on go go you’re gonna ruin the show go
me no no no no no all right you’re not
gonna have to say anything okay you’re
gonna just gonna help me out okay now
listen we’ve seen some some experts
today so I need I need you to tell me
just shout out something that wanted one
of the topics today that really grabbed
your interest one of the ones that you
really liked your personal level to
shout it out the tree the guy from the
tree said trays all right
mind visa ok mind v’s ok mind visa ok
and let’s say what is that what is an
item what is an item that you’ve
actually had to return to a store
something that you had to return nobody
returns anything here ok ok all right
what’s something you keep in your drawer
a pen ok
mind visa and pen ok so what’s gonna
happen is I’m now gonna do a TED talk on
pen mine visas ok I’m gonna make it up
right on the spot maybe I’ll use some of
the information today during watching
all the other amazing talks and you’re
gonna help me out ok Kyle I’m going to
do all the talking but you’re gonna
provide my arms for me alright so you’re
just gonna stand behind me are you gonna
stick your arms through here stick your
arms through wrap straight through right
there go alright and you’ll be all right
let me get I’ll just be an expert and
you’re just gonna be my arms got it
alright I just want to say hi I’ve got
my family here my mom is here
she’s right uh she’s where is she where
is she I don’t know I don’t know where
she is
where’s she gone ok guys you’re not here
ok doesn’t matter cuz today too right
now right now now right now I want to
talk about mind pens pens
and
not pants sometimes because of my accent
people think I said pants but I meant
had faith that you write with with your
minds all right so when I was a young
child I was very young I was about this
tall
I was I was tiny I was I was a tiny
child I was the size of his eye goats my
mother said to me come here she said
come here and I said mother what is it
and she said you’ve had a lot of
failures in childhood but failures or
goods add many failures let me count
I’ve had all of them I’ve had all the
failures you could have as a child I had
them as a child right here right now
what’s important is that you feel from
the heart from the heart right here in
my throats because that’s where the
heart is located one of my failures was
Anatomy I have failed Anatomy in school
anyway you have to stay angry
you have to stay angry have to stay
angry about all the diverse thoughts
that you can have see I’m against
diversity against diverse thoughts
diverse boots that diverse cattle
against I once tried to build a house in
my mind out of a tree because if you
can’t live in the forests
[Applause]
planta forests in your house but I got
evicted for planting a forest in my
house my landlord said you you you both
both of us before he point hit me twice
I don’t know why he said you you are not
allowed to plant a tree in your own
house look at the contract he showed he
pulled out the contract he pulled it out
it was huge it was a big plant it was
written on a platter and he said he
pointed to the point in the contract
that said you are not allowed to plant a
tree and I said yes but look underneath
look at the look it on and I showed him
the back of the page where I’d written
yes you can with my minds
ah you see so anyway he sent me made me
fly to blame I took a plane with a
floppy wing it was an adjustable wing
though it was adjustable the wing could
adjust I sometimes would go the left
sometimes I would go to the right but I
learned something about that moment
using my mind right here in my heads
it’s where it’s located well to outsmart
I landlord all our tea thank you very
much thank you
Wow fantastic what a great job good arms
on that guy all right folks I got to
tell you I’m just going to to to to end
the session here we have we saw some
great things here this is my first time
in India ever and this is yes
and at risk of sounding like one of your
commercials it’s incredible this is my
my first city that I came to and I don’t
want you to take this the wrong way but
to be honest I had never heard of it
before I’ve come claim but or I’d never
heard of it I had only heard like most
foreigners I had only heard of the two
largest cities in India Mumbai and
Bombay and I heard they’re very I heard
that they’re very similar one friend of
mine said have you been to Mumbai you’ve
seen Bombay so I’m I’m only gonna visit
one of them on this trip here but it’s
truly I’ve been wonderful you guys have
been great
Indian guys men I applaud your
conservation efforts and by that I mean
you guys are single-handedly keeping the
mustache from extinction and I applaud
you I applaud you I applaud you and
Indian women okay what is what is the
deal every Indian woman I’ve met is
gorgeous what is a whole nation and
every single one of you is beautiful how
is that possible
how’s that possible no wonder there’s a
billion Indians I want to help you make
more
oh and more with many of you with many
of you we have a book we have a book in
in the West called the cama Sutra I
don’t know if you’ve heard about it I
have it in my hotel room and so if
anybody needs any help room for 108 okay
for 108 alright so anyway I’ve had a
fantastic time here and I’ve heard some
words of wisdom I think we’ve all
learned a lot here today and I wrote
down some of the words of wisdom that I
I got from the different speakers and I
hope I got it right I’ll be honest with
you sometimes with the different accents
I hope you can understand my Canadian
accent so I’m not sure I got them all
right so hopefully I got them right but
let’s say the first one forever
for example was never give up right we
heard that from a couple speakers yes if
you have to give up have a back-up plan
like someone else to blame for why you
had to give up that’s that’s what I got
failure failure is important we were
told today because it helps us to
identify the losers so we can stay away
from those people right I also learned
today that technology is the future I
don’t know which way I don’t know which
way I’m going anymore which way I’m
going
future used to be here that’s mine
technology’s the future and we today are
building the technology that will
actually create the robot overlords that
will lead us into the dystopian future
so we’re doing that today so god bless
come on bless technology I also learned
today that we should support the Arts
because if we don’t support the arts
artists will become bankers and then
we’re all in trouble because they’re no
good at math that’s why they’re artists
95% of financial mismanagement is caused
by artists and I learned that here today
I learned that here today and I will
always remember that if you don’t know
the name of your great-great grandfather
it’s because he sank with a continent
about a million years ago so you you
can’t be blamed for that and then
finally I feel like I’ve overstayed the
visa of my mind and I’m being charged
200 stupid thoughts you know what I mean
and I hope you had a lot of fun and you
learn something thank you very much
so I think
[Music]
[Applause]
[Applause]
thank you ladies and gentlemen from
Canada and I am doing prov which means
making stuff up in the spot but they
told me I needed to have slots so that’s
let’s look at the first slide ok
[Applause]
improvise comedy you might have seen
whose line is it anyway on a television
let’s see slide that slide – that’s it
that’s what I’ve been doing for 20 years
I originally began studying regular
acting when I did sketch comedy where
you had to memorize a script and then I
learned that improv meant I didn’t have
to memorize and so my own laziness led
to my career
thank you so is the message to kids
embrace your laziness slide number three
Oh No note to self fix slide order oh no
now the machine is reading my mind no I
am NOT machine I am NOT I am not having
no I am NOT I am NOT I am not thinking
about that folks I’m not thinking about
that okay now I am okay look okay let’s
just go back to the regular slides let’s
just get back on track with the slides
here thank you
okay that’s better
all right back on back on track ladies
and gentlemen thank you and good no no
oh okay here we go
all right we’ll start over ladies and
gentlemen I do improv comedy and this is
my my job and what it involves is the
audience I take audience suggestions and
then I turn it into comedy with my team
of improvisers right before people’s
very eyes which means that if the show
somehow sucks
it’s the audience’s fault
yeah alright so let me let me
demonstrate exactly how this works so on
the count of three I want everyone in
this audience this to shout out your
first name it’s very easy so you have to
think of anything just this step do it
all together on the count of three one
two three all right I heard Vijay okay
very good okay on the count of three now
a little more difficult everybody just
shout out the name of the person sitting
next to you okay if you don’t know them
this is a great moment for you to meet
the person sitting next to you and to
make new friends okay
now if you’re sitting between two people
this shout out the name of the better
looking of the two okay okay don’t worry
they already know who they are okay it’s
very obvious it’s very obvious alright
here we go on the count of three the
name of the better-looking person you
are sitting between three okay Vijay
again I just heard Vijay it’s all I
heard okay so that’s how it works and
then I would hear a name from the
audience I’m some kind of suggestion I
would say what’s your favorite fruit or
something you’d shout it out and then
bang we would make some scene up on the
spot so I’m not talking about let’s say
let’s demonstrate a little bit so I also
teach improv comedy to people and people
always say to me can you teach me how to
be funny and I say to them no no no
funny is something you’re born with you
either have it or you don’t
and if you’re not funny take a kind of
Buddhist approach and just accept your
suffering because nothing is going to
change it
nothing is gonna change it so what then
is the point of me teaching improv
comedy it’s how I make money it’s how I
make money but I can also teach people
how to do funny things
so the funniness that you have inside
you is at a different level we know the
class sounds and there’s some people
that are pretty dry but everybody’s got
a little bit of wit in them and I can
teach people how to bring that wit to
the surface and there’s three kind of
principles that I like to teach about
improv I’m going to tell you that now
and then we’re going to do a
demonstration the first one
and somebody talked about it earlier
today is being in the moment okay and on
stage and doing improv what that means
is not worrying about what you just said
and not worried worrying about what you
will say it’s not living in the moment
and not judging yourself if I say this
how’s it going to be responded how are
people gonna respond to it how is the
reception gonna be because that you’re
actually living in the future right you
want to be in the moment you want to
listen to what the other person said and
just respond to it naturally and then
once you’ve said that thing that you
never thought of and you didn’t plan
then you have to learn not to regret
what you’ve just said because you didn’t
do any planning that’s being in the
moment the second thing we talked about
is letting go of the need to be in
control because if you are the type of
person that is only comfortable when you
are in control you will never be
comfortable because you can never have
full control of a situation and that’s
true in life as well but especially on
stage with two improvisers two people
who are making stuff up I don’t know
what they’re gonna say they don’t know
what I’m gonna say I don’t know what I’m
gonna say so letting go with that need
to control and there’s some people for
whom that’s harder people who are a bit
of control freaks you know them you know
who they are right those are the people
that need to let go of control even more
than the rest of us normal people that’s
the beauty of it and the final thing
that I like to teach my students is the
idea of acceptance which is saying yes
to things first and then you say no
later if you want to but in life we do
the opposite if I were to say to you hey
tomorrow do you want to go naked
skydiving most people would go no what
is it what are you doing you’re naked
what what tell me so even though they’re
interested they’re instant responses to
say no because they want a little bit of
distance they want a little bit of time
to think about it but on stage you want
to see the person who says yes do you
want to go naked skydiving yes I do yes
I do
when are we going
that’s what you want to see and we
should try that in life to say yes first
you want to go naked skydiving yes
who’s going it’ll be you and me and your
grandparents no no I don’t want to go
see you can always say no later you can
always say no later all right so those
are the principles and if people follow
those principles they’re funniness
however lame and tiny it is could be
brought to the surface so let’s say
let’s do demonstration now I need a
volunteer volunteer to come up and help
me here how about how about this
gentleman right here and should you want
to come up and help what did I just say
about acceptance you haven’t learned
anything you yes come on up come on
applause for him man huh okay very nice
how about this come on up what’s your
name what’s your full name okay I’m
gonna call you volunteer one okay very
good very good very good thank you for
coming don’t worry you’re gonna have to
say anything and how about this our
lovely woman in the yellow dress wasn’t
you what happened to the acceptance come
on but you won’t have to stand how about
a big round of applause for her come on
come on or your friend beside you who’s
brought you on Oh Oh suddenly it’s all
different I saw her before going no come
on go go you’re gonna ruin the show go
me no no no no no all right you’re not
gonna have to say anything okay you’re
gonna just gonna help me out okay now
listen we’ve seen some some experts
today so I need I need you to tell me
just shout out something that wanted one
of the topics today that really grabbed
your interest one of the ones that you
really liked your personal level to
shout it out the tree the guy from the
tree said trays all right
mind visa ok mind v’s ok mind visa ok
and let’s say what is that what is an
item what is an item that you’ve
actually had to return to a store
something that you had to return nobody
returns anything here ok ok all right
what’s something you keep in your drawer
a pen ok
mind visa and pen ok so what’s gonna
happen is I’m now gonna do a TED talk on
pen mine visas ok I’m gonna make it up
right on the spot maybe I’ll use some of
the information today during watching
all the other amazing talks and you’re
gonna help me out ok Kyle I’m going to
do all the talking but you’re gonna
provide my arms for me alright so you’re
just gonna stand behind me are you gonna
stick your arms through here stick your
arms through wrap straight through right
there go alright and you’ll be all right
let me get I’ll just be an expert and
you’re just gonna be my arms got it
alright I just want to say hi I’ve got
my family here my mom is here
she’s right uh she’s where is she where
is she I don’t know I don’t know where
she is
where’s she gone ok guys you’re not here
ok doesn’t matter cuz today too right
now right now now right now I want to
talk about mind pens pens
and
not pants sometimes because of my accent
people think I said pants but I meant
had faith that you write with with your
minds all right so when I was a young
child I was very young I was about this
tall
I was I was tiny I was I was a tiny
child I was the size of his eye goats my
mother said to me come here she said
come here and I said mother what is it
and she said you’ve had a lot of
failures in childhood but failures or
goods add many failures let me count
I’ve had all of them I’ve had all the
failures you could have as a child I had
them as a child right here right now
what’s important is that you feel from
the heart from the heart right here in
my throats because that’s where the
heart is located one of my failures was
Anatomy I have failed Anatomy in school
anyway you have to stay angry
you have to stay angry have to stay
angry about all the diverse thoughts
that you can have see I’m against
diversity against diverse thoughts
diverse boots that diverse cattle
against I once tried to build a house in
my mind out of a tree because if you
can’t live in the forests
[Applause]
planta forests in your house but I got
evicted for planting a forest in my
house my landlord said you you you both
both of us before he point hit me twice
I don’t know why he said you you are not
allowed to plant a tree in your own
house look at the contract he showed he
pulled out the contract he pulled it out
it was huge it was a big plant it was
written on a platter and he said he
pointed to the point in the contract
that said you are not allowed to plant a
tree and I said yes but look underneath
look at the look it on and I showed him
the back of the page where I’d written
yes you can with my minds
ah you see so anyway he sent me made me
fly to blame I took a plane with a
floppy wing it was an adjustable wing
though it was adjustable the wing could
adjust I sometimes would go the left
sometimes I would go to the right but I
learned something about that moment
using my mind right here in my heads
it’s where it’s located well to outsmart
I landlord all our tea thank you very
much thank you
Wow fantastic what a great job good arms
on that guy all right folks I got to
tell you I’m just going to to to to end
the session here we have we saw some
great things here this is my first time
in India ever and this is yes
and at risk of sounding like one of your
commercials it’s incredible this is my
my first city that I came to and I don’t
want you to take this the wrong way but
to be honest I had never heard of it
before I’ve come claim but or I’d never
heard of it I had only heard like most
foreigners I had only heard of the two
largest cities in India Mumbai and
Bombay and I heard they’re very I heard
that they’re very similar one friend of
mine said have you been to Mumbai you’ve
seen Bombay so I’m I’m only gonna visit
one of them on this trip here but it’s
truly I’ve been wonderful you guys have
been great
Indian guys men I applaud your
conservation efforts and by that I mean
you guys are single-handedly keeping the
mustache from extinction and I applaud
you I applaud you I applaud you and
Indian women okay what is what is the
deal every Indian woman I’ve met is
gorgeous what is a whole nation and
every single one of you is beautiful how
is that possible
how’s that possible no wonder there’s a
billion Indians I want to help you make
more
oh and more with many of you with many
of you we have a book we have a book in
in the West called the cama Sutra I
don’t know if you’ve heard about it I
have it in my hotel room and so if
anybody needs any help room for 108 okay
for 108 alright so anyway I’ve had a
fantastic time here and I’ve heard some
words of wisdom I think we’ve all
learned a lot here today and I wrote
down some of the words of wisdom that I
I got from the different speakers and I
hope I got it right I’ll be honest with
you sometimes with the different accents
I hope you can understand my Canadian
accent so I’m not sure I got them all
right so hopefully I got them right but
let’s say the first one forever
for example was never give up right we
heard that from a couple speakers yes if
you have to give up have a back-up plan
like someone else to blame for why you
had to give up that’s that’s what I got
failure failure is important we were
told today because it helps us to
identify the losers so we can stay away
from those people right I also learned
today that technology is the future I
don’t know which way I don’t know which
way I’m going anymore which way I’m
going
future used to be here that’s mine
technology’s the future and we today are
building the technology that will
actually create the robot overlords that
will lead us into the dystopian future
so we’re doing that today so god bless
come on bless technology I also learned
today that we should support the Arts
because if we don’t support the arts
artists will become bankers and then
we’re all in trouble because they’re no
good at math that’s why they’re artists
95% of financial mismanagement is caused
by artists and I learned that here today
I learned that here today and I will
always remember that if you don’t know
the name of your great-great grandfather
it’s because he sank with a continent
about a million years ago so you you
can’t be blamed for that and then
finally I feel like I’ve overstayed the
visa of my mind and I’m being charged
200 stupid thoughts you know what I mean
and I hope you had a lot of fun and you
learn something thank you very much
so I think
[Music]
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