An Interview With RSE Student JAMIE HONEY

THE FUNPRO

By Louise SaintOnge for MastersConnection LLC© 2009 All Rights Reserved

How often have you said to yourself  “I need more joy in my life, more laughter, more something.…”
Well then STEP OUT OF YOUR BOX AND LIGHTEN UP!!!

Spend an outrageous evening with Jamie Honey,
The Fun Pro, and reap the benefits of a belly full of laughter while discovering how joyful, spontaneous, and multi-faceted you really are.

With over 20 years of experience in acting, stunt work, writing, directing and many other creative endeavors, Jamie Honey brings a rich and diverse background to his Friday evening improvisation classes. Each time I’ve participated I have marveled at how masterfully he facilitates a group of potentially ‘off the wall’ adults who have been given permission to be creative, spontaneous and humorous.

I so appreciate the gifts Jamie brings to our community and wanted to do an interview with him so that others could find out about how beneficial improvisation can be. I, for one, always walk away from his classes feeling younger, freer, and more alive. Now that’s worth writing about!

Photo Credit: John Wyatt Hansell©

Louise: What is your definition of improvisation?

Jamie: My definition of improvisation is to create something out of the moment. In the improv classes you’re creating experience out of the moment of the space that you have right there in an interchange with other people, most likely comedy, joy, laughter. But you’re not trying to do that. It comes out by just playing. In improvisation you’re just playing, you’re creating; then you let that go and create something new. So improvisation is creating a solution in the moment.

Louise: How about giving an example of what goes on in the improv classes.

Jamie: Well, actually there are exercises I facilitate which teach you different elements and abilities that can be used either for games or within everyday life. There are warm-ups to get your mind thinking, get your blood flowing, to get you aware and present, and then there are games.

Louise: Give a description of one of the games or exercises that you do and some responses that come from participants.

Jamie: One of the exercises is "What are you doing?" This is where someone is physically miming an action, and the next person comes up and says "What are you doing?" They have to maintain the physical action that they are miming, say it may be fishing, so they are miming fishing and they have to say something completely different to what they are physically doing, so they might say, "I'm skydiving”. So, the person who just asked, "What are you doing?” now has to mime that they are skydiving, and then the next person comes in and says [to the ‘skydiver’] "What are you doing?" and it goes on from there. So it makes you think in two parts of your mind. It's like patting your tummy and rubbing your head.

Louise: It's very challenging. I remember doing that exercise, to be present in the moment while you are doing the action of shoveling, say, and then someone asks, "What are you doing?" and you have to say something that doesn't have any resemblance to shoveling while you continue to shovel. It has to be a completely different thing. It really throws you off, because we are used to putting together certain words with actions, and this makes you break those molds, those typical connections. I see she’s shoveling, but she’s saying she’s climbing a beanstalk, for example.

Jamie: It allows you to be spontaneous. The best thing about improv is that creative thought, that spontaneous moment. When you think and then edit like, "Oh, maybe that's inappropriate right now" or "maybe that won't work" or all these maybes that restrict you from living your life fully; Improv says, "Forget about that. There's no wrong. There's only right.” There are multiple opportunities of right that may be different than the one you chose, but there's no wrong. So that spontaneous moment, that thought, right now, go with it. Be creative. Allow that to have life and flow.

Louise: It is very lighthearted. My experience allows me to, like you say, be spontaneous and try on different ways of being in the world without having any consequence, because it's a safe environment, and I get to just step outside of the known way that I do things, or the way that I think things, and I get to try it on and be totally free and lighthearted about it.

Jamie: Absolutely, and the benefits of laughter, the health benefits, they're fabulous. In the improv class you are having a revitalizing three or four hours of laughter, if nothing else, but you're also teaching yourself, your brain, to have a thought and go with it, to allow something else; and to be present, patient, and focused with somebody who is also playing that game with you, because you've got to respond to whatever they have given you.

Louise: When you say, "present, patient, and focused there obviously are parallels with your particular background and what we learn at RSE. When you first came to the school it must have given a different perspective to your understanding of what improv is all about and how you were using your mind. It must have given it a whole other language and a context to understand why what you're doing is so beneficial.

Photo Credit: John Wyatt Hansell©

Jamie: I didn't realize how much I was working my mind, like being lighthearted. I was training myself to be lighthearted in any moment. It doesn't always happen, but I'm still training. And then the benefit of that is also challenging the brain to be in the moment with something that is completely bizarre, and to relate to it and to work through it. It's challenging the mind. You've got the baby neurons going, you’ve got neuroplasticity, the challenge to feed those baby neurons…

I can see the benefit for everybody, no matter in what walk of life they’re from, to have the experience to create something, to play with it, and then to let it go. So you're not attached to the emotions or the thoughts or the forms that just happened. You did it, and you let it go. You had fun with it. So, no matter what happens, oh! I choose to be lighthearted. I choose to have fun. I choose to be happy in this moment.

Louise: Has your improv work helped with your disciplines at the school?

Jamie: It has helped me to bring up an image, a thought, that hologram, to hold an image, because in improv I'm training myself to be involved in an environment that may be the Sahara Desert, it may be a jungle, it may be outer space, it may be a sale at Macy's. It may be anything, and I'm holding that image while I play with that with somebody else. I'm also holding the thought of who I am, the character I am - maybe I'm a 60-year-old, maybe I'm a 5-year-old…

Louise: So in improv you can play with different scenarios, and get comfortable doing that. You can let go of your known identity, if you will, and step outside of that and try on these other possibilities and realms. That’s a very freeing thing!

Jamie: You learn to be open to the signals and the information that's coming to you. Being open to that allows you to be able to do something with it, and anything is possible. There is no limitation. You train yourself that there is no limitation on any thought that you wish to have.

Louise: What I've noticed in the few times that I've participated is the different kinds of people that come and how surprising it is to see what comes out of them. In improv class you just can’t ‘judge a book by its cover’. You have your initial impressions of someone and then you get blown away by the stuff that comes out of them. It is so inspiring and spontaneous and quite creative and beautiful. In an environment like this you get to see different parts of a person that you never would have seen before.

Jamie: And that's the great thing. Everybody has something creative, has some creative input to add to whatever is happening. Everybody! There isn't anybody that doesn't have something to offer, and that's the great thing. Improv is telling you, "No matter who you are, what you are, where you're from, or what you've done, you have something to offer." And improv says, "Let's support that”. Whatever you have to offer, yes, and we'll support it and add to it. We learn to take what there is and make it different.
________________

Photo Credit: John Wyatt Hansell©

Louise: I’d like to ask some of the participants why they come and what they personally get out of it. Let’s go over to
Joel here.
... You come to Jamie’s improv class every week. Why? What are you getting out of this? What is your experience?

Joel: It started last fall when Jamie did an improv class at our house with a few of our friends, and it was the biggest hoot I ever had. It was a tremendous stress reliever; it was really funny; I enjoyed it a lot and everybody had a ball. I look forward to it every week.

It’s a great way to spend a Friday night. It’s a great stress relief just to laugh and I get to be somebody else. During the course of the week I have to be a salesman. Here at improv I get to be someone completely different because it’s all creative, on the fly. My wife Nancy comes too. We do a little improv in our relationship now. It’s just lighthearted and fun. I feel that the benefit for me is a lightness of being.
I’d come a few times a week if I could.
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14 Year Old:

Louise: Let’s talk to this guy over here. (Young male, maybe 14 or 15 year old)
So you’ve come to improv class a few times. What is it you like about it?

14 year old: I love being at improv. I don’t exactly know why. I’m the only kid, but I still love to get up and be somebody else and act, to be able to laugh and to see other people laugh.

Louise: What is it like being around so many older people? Most kids your age wouldn’t be interested.

14 year old: I don’t know. It’s just that whenever I come here, they’re not old anymore; they’re just people expressing themselves and having fun and laughing. Laughing changes everything.
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Louise: Hi, Lisa. Why do you come to Jamie’s improv classes? What are you getting out of it?

Lisa: Well, the first thing is, one morning I was focusing and creating my day, and I decided spontaneously that I needed more laughter in my life. I live alone, work alone, and just felt like I don't laugh as much as I want to.
And then I saw on the MastersConnection web site that Jamie Honey was teaching an improvisation class that evening, so I went, and I laughed, and laughed, and laughed, and loved the things that I was learning.
I was learning how to be spontaneous by being present in a situation and allowing a new situation to come in that I could have fun with.

Louise: You’re a regular at Jamie’s improv classes. There must be something that feeds you on an ongoing basis. You seem like such a light hearted person; you always have a smile on your face when you're here, and you’re very spontaneous.
How has as it affected your life?

Lisa: Yeah, for one thing, I so enjoy the laughter and how I feel afterwards, and of course I understand how it is beneficial for my health. But I also find that it is so helpful in relationships.
It helps me connect with my son in ways I didn’t before. I've become really creative in ways that I respond to him that can diffuse tension or help him open up more, because maybe I surprise him in a fun way.

Louise: He sees another side of you that you may not have revealed before.

Lisa: Yes, and then I use it in work, too, in communication. One of the improv games we play is "Yes, and …" and I remember that exercise; sometimes when I'm in dialogue or even e-mailing with somebody who seems to be accusative or bringing up an issue, I'll just come back with a "Yes, and here's what we might do," and to me I like it because it is acknowledging what they just said, and it's positive, it's providing a new direction.
I also learn a lot about relationships. It's a fun, lighthearted way to observe the dynamics of relationships and appreciate other people and how they relate. It just helps me connect with people on a different level.
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Back to Jamie…

Louise: There are also some changes that occur in people from participating in this. I'd love you to share a couple of examples that you were talking about before we started this interview.

Photo Credit: John Wyatt Hansell©

Jamie: There's a mother and daughter that are in this class; they’re regulars. One night they came into the class and they were laughing about what had happened the week before, and they were making jokes.
Apparently, all that week they had been making jokes back and forth. So their relationship grew from being in the class together because they had the opportunity to recall a joyous moment and just keep relating and playing with that; they're actually playing in their home life, between the classes.
.
Another student who had come to her first class and was a little like "Uhhhh…I'm not sure I want to do this," did the class and said, "Wow, I love this. I see how this can benefit my life.” She wanted to work on being more creative. She was actually working with a small child with composite cards where you put words together to make another word like "foot-ball” or "black-berry," and the child wanted to put "foot-black" together.
Normally she would have stopped the child and said, "No, no, no, that word doesn't go together" but because of improv she says, "Well, I'll just play with this. Let's just see what happens.” So they started to play, and had a lot more fun, and she found that they had a breakthrough in that moment, for herself and for the child, and then the child turned around, "Well, let's put the words together the way they should go together," so then the child actually was allowed the space to come back to doing what the task was originally designed for.
She had the opportunity to grow through that, and she was so excited about it because she just took what she’d learned in improv like yes..and [the exercise/game] and allow, and move, and create, and great stuff came out of that.

There was one moment in a class where we were all lying on the floor for 15 minutes laughing, because something so funny happened, and after a while, I'm like, "Oh! I'm on the floor; I'm laughing! Oops, I'm the teacher! I need to get up!" So I started to bring myself back to awareness of the room.
Weeks later we’d [Amy and I] be out somewhere, and laugh again about it. So just to have a moment to remember that would make you laugh again- the chemical change that happens in the body reduces stress, boosts your immune system; even when you think about laughing, think about a mirthful moment, your immune system is boosted. There’s a complete change physiologically that happens in your body by laughing.

Louise: I read something very interesting on your web site, thefunpro.com. It was a study about communication done at UCLA by Dr. Albert Mehrabian. He found that “when verbal, vocal, and visual signals are inconsistent, the content counts for a mere 7% of the overall message.”
The study found, and I quote, “most of what we say is sent by our facial expressions and body language - about 55%; but 38% depends on the quality of our voices-pitch, tone, volume, and inflection. Only 7% is what you say, and if anything about your voice is flat or distracting, annoying or boring, you could be reducing your effectiveness by 38%.”

Photo Credit: John Wyatt Hansell©

So, in other words, it doesn't matter what we are saying. It's how we say what we say. We could have the most profound commentary or wisdom to share, but if our body language or voice doesn’t ‘match’ that message can be lost.

Jamie: That's right.

Louise: You know, we have a teacher who’s got it all..

Jamie: (laughing) Oh, yeah.

Louise: He's got the message and the delivery system par excellence…

Jamie: Yeah, absolutely.

Louise: Is there anything else you’d like to say before we end this interview?

Jamie: My improv is not just about having fun. It's about learning about yourself and learning to communicate, because I truly believe if everybody communicated better there would be a lot less problems in the world. If we really communicated, if we really listened to what other people said, if we really said what we meant, if we communicated truly, honestly, and mindfully, the world would be a greater place. And that is sweet.

Jamie Honey teaches improvisation classes for adults every Friday evening at The Center for the Creative Arts in Rainier.
His classes for children began October, on Friday afternoons.
Visit Jamie’s website at TheFunPro.com for more details.

Interview Transcribed by Eileen Messer