The Keys to Comedy are Contrast & Repetition.

My improv students are amazed when the Keys to Comedy show up in the REAL world.

I get jazzed when it happens. It reinforces the meaning of the work we do on stage and opens people up to improvisation not only as a writing tool and live performance art but as a philosophy of play in our everyday life. I call what we do mental gymnastics. It is a sport that works our most important muscle, our brain.

Recent message from a Former DSI Student (and Doctor of Physical Therapy) —

It occurred to me that the principles of comedy are the same as the principles of neuro rehab, especially following brain trauma and stroke. You work toward a movement, and then repeat, repeat, repeat to work on the neural pathways… Then, you add contrast. Without the repetition it isn’t perfected and without the contrast of new environments, situations, etc there isn’t any true incorporation or new learning. Brilliant. What else is based on ‘repetition and contrast?’

My question: What IN THE WORLD isn’t based on Contrast & Repetition?

I knew that improv and comedy would be my life’s work when I started seeing connections everywhere.

My interactions with students, my audience, my family, my partner, and how I communicated with and motivated myself ALL revealed very basic patterns — negative and positive patterns that were always similar and in most cases Exactly the same as other people in different situations. And once I saw these patterns I could adjust my actions to change the bad or heighten my actions to reinforce the good.

I started to see how understanding Contrast & Repetition and simple pattern recognition could help Active Listening, Networking, Building Relationships, Handling Difficult Situations, Brainstorming, Problem Solving, Reading Non-Verbal Communication, Exploiting Positivity… And now add Physical Therapy to the list.

Where do you see Contrast & Repetition?