Can You Learn Improv by Yourself?

For this reason it can be challenging for alone actor to get valuable practice and experience. Challenging, but not impossible for the motivated improviser. You can learn improv by yourself.

We will first direct you to our answer to this question: How Do I Get Better At Improv? , as it covers some of our main strategies for learning improv on your own.

Second, we recommend going to see as much improv as you can. Groups often have student pricing, pay-what-you-can nights, or are simply free to the public. Keep in mind that, as with all artforms, not everything you will see will be positive examples. It’s important to be able to observe and learn not only what to do, but what not to do.

Finally, many improv exercises can be played with one person, as long as you have no problem playing two or more characters at once. To get you started, here are two sites with a number of good solo exercises:

• Improvisational Comedy
• The Thirty Minute Solo

I know we mention this in many of our other answers, but it bears repeating here: read, read, and when you think you’ve read everything, read some more. Stay tuned for recommended reading ideas!

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