My friend, Dorian Lenz, is the owner of the
Phoenix National Comedy Theater. Dorian both auditioned for the San Diego National Comedy Theater in 2001 and both of us made the team. I will say that I was the first in our class to actually perform in a show. But that's just me bragging.
This past weekend, Phoenix NCT held another round of auditions for their team, so I decided to book a trip to Phoenix for auditions. My goal was to watch the audition and simulate what I would do during my actual auditions.
The past...
When I first joined NCT San Diego, I was pretty excited to observe the actual operations of an improv theater. When the next round of auditions took place after mine, I made it a point to spend the weekend in San Diego and watch. I attended three auditions in a row and I'll tell you the experience was horrible.
There's nothing more horrifying to me than bad improv. Auditions (and high school league) are a constant barrage of bad improv comedy.
Here are the types of people who show up to improv auditions:
Momma's Little Improvisor - There was this guy who decided to come to the audition wearing a "Nom Nom Nom" shirt. I think he woke up that morning and decided he'd nail the audition with that shirt. Also, I think years ago, his mom told him that he was her little Robin Williams. He stood there on stage, striking the comedy pose. He would make funny sounds and odd remarks. But he was standing on the stage alone and was unable to interact with the three other performers.
The Stand Up - Stand Up comedians tend to show up at improv auditions as well. You can spot the stand up because they start doing their routines during the scenes. Very funny but again, they tend not to be team players.
One Trick Ponies - These performers basically have one really funny piece of shtick and a part from that they don't have anything. I've seen a performer come out nail an awesome accents. Get great laughs and after that...nothing. They shot their wad and had nothing else in their bag of tricks.
The Stage Novice - My favorites are they performers who have never been on stage in their life. How do I know? Because their entire audition they have their back to the audience. Nice ass buddy!
The Upstager - This is the person I hate the most. It's a shame too. This person has improv experience and a lot of it. Their resume shows thousands of dollars in training and they bounce from group to group. The problem is that they learned some real bad habits performing improv. They have great energy, so much so they overwhelm the other performers. They command attention because they don't trust the other performs and they're not funny, because they're making it up as they go along. They love to perform, but they are just not good at it.
There's something in common that all of these performers have. It's the inability to perform as a team. Most auditioners feel that they have to stand out as being funny. The truth is we're not usually looking for funny but we're looking for people who can listen, observe and work as a team.
When I auditioned in San Diego, I had a very specific goal. I really had to stand out because I was this aging asian. My good looks would not help me out.
During my drive down to San Diego, I assumed that everyone I performed a scene with would not know anything about improv comedy. Rather than start a scene and hope that my fellow performers would follow my lead, I decided to sit back and see what my three fellow performers were doing. Once I saw that, I then needed to figure out what was the most logical person to be and then try and build conflict that made sense.
My time came to show my stuff. I was called on the stage with three others. The game was Changing Emotions. The suggestion was photo shoot. Two step forward and start the standard I'll pose and the other will take pictures. The third joined in as a second model. Basically nothing was going on except a photo shoot. I decided to come on as the shoot producer and began asking why nothing was being done. Why people were wasting time?
Voila, I nailed the audition and the rest is history.
Just an update. I'll know in the next two weeks whether I begin building a team now or a few months from now. Cheers.
