I have my improv training to thank for that one. Unfortunately, firing off a quick zinger is often the biggest benefit most get from improv, because there isn’t a lot of cash in it – unless “SNL” comes calling.
This is the premise behind Don’t Think Twice. A popular improv troupe in New York – so tightly knit, they even live together – faces the beginning of the end because of the ambition of one of its members.
Comedian Mike Birbiglia wrote, directed and stars in this movie, and did a beautiful job. I saw it with my friend John Kapelos, who was a very big Second City performer in Chicago back in the day (he has video of him performing on stage with Dan Aykroyd) before making the leap into a super successful acting career. John loved the film as much as me.
But you don’t have to be in showbiz to appreciate it – many of the issues the characters confront are common to all kinds of workplace,s or situations in which you and your friends work in the same competitive field: the jealousy and bitterness, the unavoidable implosion. The moment you realize that great time in your life, and your comfort zone, is over.
Don’t Think Twice has a 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It earned it. See it.
