00:09there's an internet meme that I really
00:13like it's a picture of Miles Davis and
00:16there's a quote that's attributed to
00:18Miles the quote is it's not the note you
00:22play that's the wrong note it's a note
00:26you play after that makes that note
00:28right or wrong now this being a quote
00:32off the internet I have no idea if Miles
00:34Davis ever actually said that but Herbie
00:39Hancock tells a story that I think
00:41supports this quote see her be played
00:44and Miles his band back in the early 60s
00:47and one night at a gig in Germany they
00:51were playing the song so what and in the
00:54middle of the song Herbie played the
00:57wrong chord he said it was so bad he
01:01picked his hands up off the keyboards
01:03and he put him over his ears Myles pause
01:08for just a breath and he played this
01:11fill of notes that made that chord right
01:15and I like this story even better than
01:17the quote because it illustrates the
01:20relationship between Herbie and miles in
01:22between miles and the music see Herbie
01:25was really really young just starting
01:28out his career Miles was well
01:30established Miles was already a legend
01:31Miles could have done anything he wanted
01:34to do he could have stopped the
01:36performance said hey take it from the
01:40top let's get it right this time
01:41I could have humiliated Herbie maybe
01:44even wrecked his early early budding
01:46career miles didn't do that miles could
01:49have just kept playing the song as it
01:52was supposed to be played as Miles had
01:55written the song to be played but the
01:58audience knew something was wrong the
02:00band certainly did Miles didn't do that
02:04Miles took what Herbie played not as a
02:07mistake but as an opportunity to create
02:10something new and different and that is
02:14the mark of a master of improvisation we
02:20all improvised all of you
02:23every day none of us wake up with a
02:25script each day that tells us exactly
02:27what we're going to say exactly what
02:30we're going to do who were going to meet
02:32where we're going to go and yet every
02:36day my brain tries to write that script
02:39constantly and I do improv I've been
02:47doing live improv performances since
02:492011 I got my start I went to a workshop
02:53and we did these games and exercises and
02:56I had a blast and I thought if I could
03:00learn how to do improv then I could be
03:03funny it was quickly disabused of this
03:08notion you see improv is not about being
03:12funny improv is about listening it's
03:16about being present it's about accepting
03:19and if I can do these things if I can
03:22listen be present and accept then I can
03:25help my scene partner create a scene and
03:28that scene will be funny usually now
03:37there are rules to improv how weird is
03:40how can it be rules to something you
03:42just make up on the fly but there are
03:45don't deny make your scene partner look
03:49avoid asking questions use details
03:55create of physical environments and play
03:59within it and for God's sake don't try
04:03now I'm not up here to give you a class
04:06in improvisational acting although I
04:08recommend you take one I'm here to talk
04:11about the first rule of improv yes and
04:15so yes and is the core of improv and at
04:19its most basic it means that as an
04:21improviser my job is to yes agree to
04:25what was just said or done on stage then
04:27and add more information to the scene
04:30for instance it's a grandma's 97th
04:34birthday this weekend
04:35yes and I got her the pony she's always
04:38wanted most beginning improvisers are so
04:44trained including me when I first
04:46started out we are so trained to respond
04:49with yes and that we will literally say
04:51the words before every line it makes for
04:54some really stilted scene conversations
04:56but more importantly if all we're doing
04:59is parroting then we're not really
05:02grasping the meaning of yes and see the
05:05yes of yes and is not just dumb blind
05:09acceptance or excuse me
05:12not just dumb blind agreement it's
05:13acceptance y'all accept me right good it
05:21is it's acceptance it's the acceptance
05:24of the reality of a scene as it's being
05:26created on stage if my partner refers to
05:29me as their father then I am their
05:32father if they refer to me as their
05:34mother then why yes I'm their mother
05:36it's my responsibility to take that now
05:39truth of the scene and move it forward
05:43and not deny because if I deny that
05:46reality I leave my scene partner out to
05:49hang they now have to struggle to figure
05:53out what comes next in a scene that's
05:55already broken if I deny the reality of
06:01someone offstage in real life I'm
06:05creating a situation that has one of two
06:07I either forced them to reframe their
06:12reality to one that I see fit that one I
06:15deem appropriate or conflict the former
06:20forcing that reframing that's
06:23dehumanizing it's a power-play it's
06:26saying your reality doesn't matter at
06:29least not as much as mine does the
06:33latter conflict well it results in the
06:36loss of understanding even the potential
06:38for understanding if all we're doing is
06:41shouting each other's points of view our
06:43own realities to the other we're not in
06:46debate we're not a dialogue we're just
06:48shouting when I'm able to accept another
06:55person's reality then I can learn then I
07:00can communicate I don't have to agree
07:04with them it's my job to open myself up
07:08to become vulnerable and accept that
07:13point of view I've learned through
07:18improv to pause to breathe when I'm
07:21confronted by a point of view I
07:23reflexively wants to deny I allow myself
07:27the space and the grace to accept to
07:33consider and if I can do that and it's
07:37scary then I can form a bond with that
07:40person and we do that enough then we
07:45form a community one of the things I've
07:50really struggled with when I was first
07:52starting out was coming to the stage
07:58coming into a scene I already have in
08:02the entire scene I just based on the
08:07audience's excuse me the audience
08:08suggestion or a random thought I had on
08:11the way to the theater that day I would
08:13have scripted this entire thing and it's
08:17going to be hilarious it never worked
08:22you know why my theme partner was too
08:27dumb to read my mind and understand what
08:33they were supposed to do to make all of
08:34this stuff work it was extraordinarily
08:38frustrating over the years I have
08:42learned I've had to learn how to empty
08:46my mind before and during a scene
08:49instead of coming to the stage with a
08:51preconceived pre deceived notion of what
08:56a scene should be I simply be present I
09:00listen to that opening
09:02suggestion or line I look at my scene
09:05partner to see how they're standing what
09:08is their body language telling me I
09:09reach out to the audience to know what
09:14what are you responding to I delve into
09:18myself to understand the emotions and
09:21the energy that I am bringing to the
09:23stage I strive to be as present as
09:28possible when I can empty myself out
09:32the scene flows it flows through me I
09:35don't have to work when my scene partner
09:38does it to it's incredible when that
09:42happens I can't explain it and in improv
09:46we call it group mind when it happens
09:49it's magic nothing can go wrong it's
09:54it's egoless it's incredible to watch
09:58and it is more incredible to perform
10:03what I'm able to empty myself in life
10:06life flows there are tragedies there are
10:12celebrations there are good things there
10:14are bad things if I attach expectations
10:17to those things it's frustrating if I
10:21can release those and let life flow
10:23through me I have contentment and peace
10:28in Christian theology there's the
10:31concept of canosa's which is the
10:34emptying of the self to allow the Holy
10:36Spirit to come in in Sufism they have
10:40Fanaa which is to die before one dies in
10:44Leo Shu shins book the three body
10:47problem he quotes a Buddhist Abbot
10:49saying emptiness is not nothingness
10:52emptiness is a type of existence you
10:56must use this existential emptiness to
10:59fill yourself and this this is the kind
11:03of emptiness I'm talking about it's not
11:05a denial of self it's a release of the
11:09ego it's a release of the expectation
11:15and when I can do this when I can empty
11:19myself and it is hard then then I can
11:27say yes the end of yes and is action one
11:36thing I still struggle with all these
11:38years later is I want to respond to an
11:43offer with the best response I can come
11:47up with an offer is one of those lines
11:49that an improviser throws out that's
11:51just begging to be picked up and run
11:53with right so if my scene partner said
11:57that's the last time I run a marathon
12:00backwards there's a lot for me to work
12:05with there I mean how many times have
12:08they run a marathon do they always run
12:10it backwards or was it just this one
12:11time were they the only one running
12:13backwards or was everybody else running
12:15why is this the last time they're gonna
12:17run it backwards what happened today
12:19that made it bad did they hurt
12:21themselves whether I supposed to be
12:27which one of those responses is the best
12:31it doesn't matter it doesn't matter as
12:36long as I have accepted as long as I
12:38have yest it doesn't matter as long as I
12:42act think back to the story about miles
12:46and Herbie if miles had simply accepted
12:49what Herbie had played that's nice and
12:51all but without miles acting playing
12:56that fill of notes that made that wrong
12:58chord right well then Herbie's mistake
13:01would have always had forevermore been a
13:03mistake it's wonderful when we are able
13:10to be fully present and actively listen
13:14to someone's struggles to someone's pain
13:17it's supportive it's healing it's
13:20bonding when we can be with that person
13:24and sometimes that's all that's needed
13:29sometimes it's not sometimes there needs
13:33to be action so I want each of you to
13:39pick a day in the next month and make it
13:42your personal yes and day I want you to
13:47intentionally yes and every interaction
13:53now remember remember yes and does not
13:56mean you just agree to everything that's
13:58asked of you otherwise the kids are
13:59gonna ask for a bob to borrow the car
14:01and have a raging party don't do that
14:04no listen be wholly present in the
14:10drop those expectations except that
14:14point of view that you struggle with and
