A laugh of derision Something unkind To be wielded as a weapon Against people with less power It’s not cheap It’s not desperate It’s hardly ever about wordplay Or puns (god, it’s never about puns) You rarely get a laugh for being clever Or trying to be funny The more you want that The less you get it Audiences don’t like to be begged
Freely given A moment of communion Where the players And the audience All realise together What the scene is about It’s recognising a shared humanity An unconscious response To not feeling quite so alone That the people on stage are just people But there are a million tiny strands Connecting you Vibrating at the same frequency For one suspended second of wonder Collapsing into laughter
<aside> 💡 Hey, my name’s Chris Mead. I write an article about improv almost every week. You can get the latest in your inbox by subscribing to my newsletter. Or check out the archive.
</aside>