Hot Crowd!

Greetings fair citizen! I hope this entry finds you happy and healthy. The writing continues today. Need to be effective as it is a busy day. Seeing patients in the morning, presenting at a conference, probably back to seeing patients, then getting kids to soccer practice. I actually do better with a full schedule compared to an open schedule (there is a balance that is the ideal) because I procrastinate less. Geez, between this and yesterday’s entry’s main points, I should change this to “How I force myself to do adult things despite not feeling like an adult who is very much in an adult world”. I will workshop that name update but only after we take on the Heartland Justice Services Association this afternoon!

Let’s chat about crowds. An essential part of any improv show. Depending upon your comfort level and where you are at in your improv journey, the crowd starts off the show as largely unknown people. I have been in shows where half the audience was people I knew. I have been in shows where the audience was two people that I didn’t know. Both of those caused me to be nervous. I know there are people who used to bring lots of friends to shows but they have been doing improv long enough that the friends have stopped coming. Many of my friends when they ask about coming to my show say something to the effect that they are going to come and heckle me. My official position is that I will tell them when my shows are if they ask but I won’t invite them. I try to make it their choice. Now, the class shows for classes that I have coached, I promoted those quite aggressively. So now that we have the people in the audience, every crowd has a different feel and laughs at strange things. There have been times when I couldn’t control myself laughing while on stage and the audience looks and sounds like they just got out of bed, yawns and all. I have also heard the crowd absolutely destroyed by a passing comment that someone on stage made with no intention of creating humor. Then there have been whole shows with both the “laugh at nothing” audience and ones with the “laugh at everything” audience and everything in between. Both sides of that spectrum provide benefits and downfalls. I think both scenarios have helped me to focus less on the crowd and focus more on the scenes. That is very different than ignoring the crowd. The crowd is a part of the show and they (usually) paid money to be there. Focusing on the scene and making it the best it can be (which may involve taking cues from the crowd) is the only way the performance can be great. That focus is never at the exclusion of the crowd; they are part of the show, especially in improv performances. At the same time, the crowd does not define you, both if they don’t laugh at all or if they laugh like hyenas for 45 minutes. If they don’t laugh at all, it presents a problem to be solved by the people who were on stage. Either we weren’t funny, or we lacked clarity. If after every show, I find myself blaming the crowd, then I have an opportunity for growth that is awaiting my acceptance. In improv, the crowds are necessary to have a show, can play an integral role in feedback, but do not determine my worth as an improvisor

Now related to healthcare. Just sub out “crowds” for “patients” and sub “improv” with “healthcare” in the above paragraph. Also, sub “laughter” with “connection”. The patients that I connect with the easiest make me feel good. The patients that I have a difficult time connecting with probably need that sense of connection more than ever. If I am not connecting with patients, then either I didn’t help them, or I lacked clarity on what our healthcare team was doing for them. Patients certainly have challenging situations that make it difficult for me to connect with them, but if I find myself blaming patients on me not being able to connect with them, then I NEED to grow to accomplish that goal. If I focus on making the medical care the best I can (which definitely involves taking cues from the patient) is the only way for me to be a great physician

OK, off to be a physician, physician who is also an improvisor, physician again, and then Dad. I’m very excited for all the crowds I get to meet today!