The Art of Making Sh!t Up

Chapter 24China Talk

I am very fortunate to travel around the world working with groups and giving talks about improv comedy and my experiences in creating not only shows but companies dedicated to the art of making shit up. Recently I had the amazing experience of working in Shanghai and Beijing. The following is a transcript of a talk and the Q and A session that I gave deep in the old city section of Beijing.

I want to tell you a little bit about who I am and my background. I'm Norm Laviolette. I'm a co‐owner and cofounder of a place called Improv Asylum in Boston. We founded the company in 1998. So we're on our 20th year, and I've been doing comedy for 20, 23, 25 years, something like that.

I'm very fortunate. I'm doing what I love to do. It's my day job, it's my night job. It pays the mortgage and provides for the kids and the wife. And yet for me, the basic premise of all that hasn't changed, which is why I started doing this way the hell back when I was far younger than all of the people in this room. And for me, what matters is the love of the work.

What I mean by the love of the work is that the stuff that you're doing to get better is really the thing. Of course we love the shows. That is why we do what we do. We love to play the game, right? We love the shows. Who wouldn't love doing the shows and have people tell you you're funny, but, oddly enough, that will not sustain you. Because probably for most of you, you're not doing shows five nights a week.

So to get to ...