The Benefits of a Comedy Show

On Saturday evening I took my son to see Brad Sherwood and Colin Mochrie of the television show “Whose Line Is It Anyway”. They are award winning improv actors and put on an extremely entertaining show.

There were three things I noticed during the two+ hour show:

1. They are quick witted and topical. Their comments were quick, funny, and included a wide variety of references from politics to Hollywood to literature.
   
2. They kept the language clean. With the exception of an occasional reference to a donkey-like animal that begins with an “a”, they were funny without resorting to inappropriate language.
   
3. They were master listeners. One of the skits involved Brad leaving the auditorium so Colin and the audience could develop a wild and wacky crime that Brad was to have committed. Ours involved Brad wearing a chastity belt, a lace monocle and dead fingers. His crime was stealing a possum van while drinking whiskey from an enema. The crime was committed in Wapakoneta in Al’s Nose Hair Supply and Ump a Loma Factory with a canoe.
   
   It was through a series of clues, references and comments that Brad was to glean this improbable crime. He not only listened with his ears but he listened and observed the body language of Colin and those in the audience that he could see.
   
   So I ask myself – what can I take away and use in my everyday life from this evening of fun and frivolity?
   
   

• Read – the more I know the more likely I’ll be able to provide some interesting fact or opinion
  
• Use vocabulary other than the famous “Seven Words You Can’t Say On Television” that George Carlin coined more than 30 years ago. You'll appear smarter and gain the respect of those you communicate with.
  
• Listen - it's amazing what you'll learn.
  
  If you haven’t seen “Whose Line”, is it on ABC Family – usually at 10pm EST. Check it out – it’s very funny.