Late Night Wisdom

Conan O'Brien was a recent guest on one of my favorite TV programs, Inside the Actors Studio. The host, James Lipton, interviews actors, directors, musicians and comedians in front of an audience filled with students enrolled in the Actors Studio program in New York. After the interview the students have a Q&A "classroom" session when they get to ask their own questions. I love this show because it provides a view into what makes these artists who they are - their background, education, family and cultural influences, experiences, challenges, opportunities, beliefs, insights and passions - instead of the usual superficial celebrity coverage.

With its 12:30am air time, I have never seen the Conan O'Brien show, so my only expectation was that he would be kind of funny. Those expectations were dramatically exceeded by how intelligent, articulate and, not funny, but hilarious he is. I learned he is a Harvard graduate who was president of the famed "Harvard Lampoon" and became a writer for shows such as Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons. Before having his own show, he spent years working with an Improv group which taught him to "listen, react and let things happen." He said:

"Such a large amount of comedy is improvisational. I learned that people respond to something that happened in the moment much more than they will respond to the most brilliant thing that was thought of ahead of time and prepared. There is something in us - and someday they will find out what it is - when we see something that unfolds naturally and is real - people love it. Improv teaches you not to fear those moments, that's where the gold is."

Improv - real world training for how to be. The direction or topic is set, but what happens next is invented in the moment. Without prescribing or rehearsing the routine you allow for something entirely new and fresh to be created. The best comedy is not the result of jokes that are written, edited and re-worked. The "gold" is found by responding to what is happening without the need to anticipate and control, to play with it like a game, confident you will know the right thing to say, the perfect thing to do. It is not haphazard or passive, there are skills involved, skills that can be developed with practice. It makes me want to take an improv class. Could I be brave enough to trust in the aliveness, the cleverness, the perfect timing of now?

After 16 years the Conan O'Brien Show aired for the last time on Friday night. Conan will replace Jay Leno on The Tonight Show starting June 1st.