It was, in a way, the worst birthday present imaginable – akin buying someone with a paralysing fear of heights a ride in a glass-bottomed hot air balloon or giving someone with a peanut allergy membership to the Satay Chicken Appreciation Club.
To be fair, it was a present I had agreed to in advance. I knew I had a problem and I had feeling that – although it was going to be uncomfortable, maybe even excruciating – this gift was going to help. So… for my 50th birthday, my wife bought me a six-week Improv course.
The reason I agreed to it is because I have struggled with social anxiety all my life. This maybe isn’t a huge deal if it only manifests as awkward pauses during small talk at the school gate, but it was also effecting my work. Much of what I do is delivering training and, despite having a lot of experience, I’ve never been able to shake off powerful feelings of anxiety. Sometimes the dread of delivering training keeps me up the night before – or leaves me in preoccupied silence at the family breakfast table. I felt like I either had to change my job or change myself. I also had an inkling that it was bigger even that that. Shyness or social anxiety holds you back in every aspect of your life. It closes off friendships, opportunities, experiences and – apologies for the cliché – prevents you reaching your full potential. So, with some trepidation, I decided to see if Improv could help.
When walking to my first class – run by AndAlso Improv – I was remarkably blasé. In retrospect I was a little like a cow at an abattoir – only relaxed because I didn’t understand what was about to happen. Once in the room, sitting in a circle with a group of complete strangers, I had to supress a rising panic. The panic rose further when told to say ‘There’s a snake in my boot’ like a tobacco-chewing cowboy. Further still when we started making up situations, lines and characters on the spot. Seven classes later the panic hasn’t entirely subsided. However I have no regrets about accepting my wife’s gift. Far from it, I’m becoming more and more convinced that Improv can be a powerful tool for personal change.
For starters, I’ve found that I’m simply calmer and less anxious in my day to day life – and not just out of a cow-like ignorance. Improv pushes the boundaries of what you’re comfortable doing – you have to make things up on the spot in front of other people that are hopefully funny and entertaining. Compared to this, every day interactions are inevitably less daunting.
It also just enhances your basic social skills. One of the principles of Improv is ‘Yes And’. In other words, to make good improv you should not close down or block the story, character or world your scene partners are creating. This gets you nowhere. Instead you should agree to what they’re ‘offering’ and build on it. This golden rule of improv is also what constructs good conversations, and relationships, in the wider world. There are limits though. ‘Yes And’ might not be the best approach if you’re talking to a flat earther, or if your colleague confesses to stealing from the store cupboard.
On top of honing skills, improv can have the ability to alter someone’s general outlook. In Improv you are very naked and exposed. You have to say something and not only is there no script, there is often no pre-agreed role – like the kind you have at work – to guide you. After performing in these scenes, I think you are more willing to be naked in the real world (figuratively ideally). You become more willing to look people in the eye and show your whole self. This is liberating and is also the basis for better and more fulfilling relationships.
Lastly, there are self-esteem benefits too. If you can navigate your way to the end of an improv scene – making up characters, lines and places on the spot – then that is a real achievement. If people laugh a couple of times (and one of those times you actually wanted them to) even better. It makes you feel good. It is a minor triumph that carries over into your life outside of class.
So those are some of the changes I’ve noticed I’ve noticed after six improv classes – and It’s not just me. My experience is backed-up by a growing body of research. Peer-reviewed papers including – Krueger et al. (2019), Felsman et al. (2023), Hu et al. (2024) and Berkemeyer et al. (2025) – have found that improv classes lead to reduced social anxiety, improved self-esteem and reduced intolerance of uncertainty.
For my part, I still have a long way to go. I still get nervous before classes and I haven’t shaken my tendency use over preparation as a way of coping with social situations. I think of scene ideas in advance and I’ve even felt like I’m cheating by rehashing characters I’ve played before in games with the kids. Despite these things though, I’ve decided to sign up for another six classes. Three months after my wife asked if I would like an Improv course for my birthday, I can say with certainty that I’m glad I said Yes and…
