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Saturday Night Live: The Benefits Of Improvisational Theatre

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In a world where daily stress and difficulty are commonplace, a convenient escape is in demand. To remedy this, people around the world have turned to comedic entertainment. A very popular field of this entertainment is improvisational theatre, often referred to as improv. Here, performers use quick wit, innovative thinking, and rapid response to draw out roaring laughter from the masses. It seems that this branch of comedic performance is only growing in popularity (Love 30). In fact, the long running television program, Saturday Night Live, boasts a cast that mostly all come from a background within improv. A surge in the popularity of improv comedy may also be attributed to the success of Whose Line Is It Anyway, an originally British television …show more content…

David Carbonell is one such psychologist who happens to specialize in anxiety studies. Chicago-based Carbonell runs a workshop specifically tailored to the needs of patients suffering with a fear of public speaking. Carbonell makes heavy use of improv techniques in this workshop. It helps that Carbonell is a member of a local improv troupe made up entirely of psychologists. Due to his studies, Carbonell believes that the strongest factor of this fear comes from the negative and self-critical thought of the speaker. To combat this, the workshop tasks one participant to give a speech while a second participant voices all of the negative criticisms they can muster spontaneously. Carbonell concludes that hearing this sometimes harsh critique from another person can subdue the power you give your own self-critical thoughts. Carbonell believes that he has seen great success with this method (Toohill). It combines both his passion and his profession into something beneficial for …show more content…

The games and exercises are further tailored to suit the analytical minds of the students (Hoffman, Utley, and Ciccarone 537). Good communication between doctors and patients naturally leads to a higher degree of satisfaction for both parties. Naturally, this would also decrease the chance of a malpractice lawsuit. Because of this, many medical school strive not only teach the science of medicine, but the art of communication. Just as in improv comedy, quick thinking is a valuable skill in the medical world. Applying the previously discussed abilities helps to promote

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