Attentiveness and the Improv4Humans Podcast

I've been reading Michael Foley's book The Age of Absurdity a philosophy book about 'why modern life makes it hard to be happy', the subtitle of the book. In the chapters The Atrophy of Experience and Loss of Transcendence, he touches on the importance of 'attentiveness'. He believes, as do I, that the constant engagement in entertainment is destroying our ability to sit still with our own thoughts for longer period than ten seconds. 'Constant exposure to entertainment has left many incapable of sustained interest, never mind transcendence' (Loss of Transcendence, pg. 144-145).

In The Atrophy of Experience, he argued that the lack of reading was responsible for a lot of the displeasure that we feel in our day to day habits. As that displeasure leads us to find meaning through fantasy lives on the internet, in video games or through movies and TV.  Each with it's own unique withdrawal symptoms when returning back to real life. Each one chipping away at our ability to pay attention, to observe, to be as mindful as the Buddhists.

But have to fear friends, Foley has the solution, 'deep reading creates attentiveness, [sic] heavy viewing destroys it' (The Atrophy of Experience, pg. 143). I would say that any reading is good reading, but Foley has a soft spot for literature. 'Literary reading revitalizes personal experience by revealing what appeared so drab and dreary was in fact  mysterious and extraordinary' (The Atrophy of Experience, pg. 137).

I relate this to the haunted house affect. After watching a scary movie or a TV program about a family fighting a demonic presence as in A Haunting or When Ghosts Attack, you creep slower than usual around the house, turning on all the lights, listening to every creak and squeak wondering, 'what's that?'. Reading can give me that feeling too. The stories of Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft in particular.

But what why do I need to be attentive? Why don't we just give into technology and become complacent in hating the daily routine, throwing on my favorite video game and losing myself in a world of fantasy? Go to an expensive concert and spend the whole time on my phone taking pictures of myself to show everyone I was there rather than experience it and lift myself into a higher emotional state?

Well for one, I don't play video games. Nothing against them just don't have the time. Although, I do like to play Wii golf and some DS games or Chess. The new Legend of Zelda game also looks pretty amazing. Otherwise I don't know how to find the time. I do watch a lot of movies, TV and podcasts.

One podcast I listen to a lot is Improv4Humans. Matt Besser gets the best comedic improvisers from the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) and do scenes based on Twitter suggestions, YouTube videos or listener questions. Each one launching into a hilarious improvised scene.

On a recent episode, number 241 with Matt, Alex Fernie, Stephanie Allynne and Will Hines, one scene wasn't going so well, how do I know, oh I pay attention. All those attentiveness problems I mentioned before, I don't have those, OK sometimes I do. But when you're learning improvisation, listening is key to finding agreement of the game. I've also been reading the UCB Comedy Improvisation Manual by Besser, Walsh and Roberts.

So what happened in the scene? Hines went somewhere off a suggestion and him and Allynne started to Yes, And each other creating the base reality of the who, what and where, but weren't finding the unusual thing, the one thing that breaks the Yes, And into the If, Then. After a ping pong match of back and forth, Besser stepped in and turned the scene on its head. How did he do that? Hine's character was the odd ball and Allynne's character was the straight man, but when Besser stepped in he turned Allynne's straight man into the odd ball and made the unusual thing her conformity to time structure.

A little more detail (Some of these may be wrong, I'm writing from memory, but it's close enough). Hines called Allynne to come drinking with her, but it was 9 AM. Allynne wanted to go play tennis instead of going to the bar. They decided to go to the bar then go play tennis after. Then Hines called again and wanted to play tennis at 3 AM before going to the bar at 9 AM. Allynne kept fighting him on the time and that normal people don't do those things at the time he wanted to do them. Then Besser came in and said, Stephanie we need to talk. You need to stop being so hung up on what time people are suppose to do things. That took the scene onto a whole new path by making her the unusual thing. The scene ended when Allynne was on a date with a new Besser character who was even more of a time snob who at 6:30 PM was wine time, 'it's 6:30, time for wine. 6:30 time for wine.'

It doesn't seem funny, but it is. And smart. Because we, most of us, are like Allynne's character. Wake up at 6, eat breakfast, 12 o'clock lunch time, 4 o'clock gym time, etc. So for me it hits on that level, because I know a lot of people who need that rigorous schedule to keep them going and give them the ability to judge the hell out anyone who doesn't follow the same routine. Now it's getting personal.

Attentiveness is important when connecting with the experience you're experiencing. At a concert, the movies, TV, in nature or wherever. In nature especially. Recently in India they have been having problems with people taking selfies on the Ganges. They slip in the water and the current drowns them. Nature doesn't care about the perfect shot or your profile picture. If you're not paying attention to your surroundings then it could be fatal. On a more relatable note, how many times have you been watching a movie or a TV show and the person you're with is always asking dumb questions; who's that guy? Where are they going? What did he say? etc., and you're thinking, 'pay attention and you would know'. Swearing omitted.

Without attentiveness I would be asking the same questions listening to Improv4humans. But I listened thus I learned, I laughed and experienced. Attentiveness is good for you. Knowing what's going on around you and for staying alive. Especially for staying alive. Not just selfies, but people are dying from distracting themselves with texting, web surfing, watching TV and all the other cool things you can do with your mobile these days. People in Asia fall off train platforms from staring at their phone. People in Europe fall down manholes from staring at their phone. People in America suffer all of these things and worse from staring at their phones.

Don't be like those people. Stay attentive and stay alive. Experience the world as it was meant to be experienced. Take photos and videos and make a record of your life, sure. I'm not saying that the internet isn't cool and that we should stop using it. I'm saying use it responsibly. Be attentive of the way you use the internet and where you use it. When walking down a crowded street, keep your head up and look at the people. That Gawker article isn't going to disappear. That YouTube video isn't going to disappear. Do what I do and plug in your headphones and listen to Improv4humans and listen for the magic. Otherwise you will find yourself stuck in a manhole shouting for help to people who can't help because their phones are more important than your life. Or worse they will stop, shoot a selfie and leave.