Bossypants.

I just finished this book, and just looking at this cover makes me smile!  I mean WHOSE arms are those?   I can't seem to take my eyes off them because they are just so out of place!

This woman is funny, at least I think so, thus it was only natural that I found her book to be as highly entertaining as she is.  

I mean she is quick witted and her comments and thoughts are truly priceless.  Have you seen the movie Date Night?  Well it is hilarious, and one my absolute favorite scenes is when her and Steve Carell are on their typical date night and they are sitting at the table simply making up conversations that the surrounding couples are having.  I mean who does that??  Who can improvise like that?  I know I can't, but I sure would love to!

Thus, it only made sense that one of my favorite parts in the book is when she talks about the rules of 

improvisations.

"The first rule of improvisation is AGREE.  Always agree and SAY YES when you're improvising, this means you are required to agree with whatever your partner has created.  So if we're improvising and I say, "Freeze, I have a gun," and you say, "That's not a gun.  It's your finger.  You're pointing your finger at me," our improvised scene has ground to a halt.  But if I say "Freeze, I have a gun!" and you say, "The gun I gave you for Christmas!  You bastard!"  then we have started a scene because we have AGREED that my finger is in fact a Christmas gun...

The second rule of improvisation is not only to say yes, but YES, AND.  You are supposed to agree and then add something of your own.  If I start a scene with "I can't believe it's so hot in here," and you just say, "Yeah..." we're kind of at a standstill.  But if I say, "I can't believe it's so hot in here, and you say, "What did you expect?  We're in hell."...now we are getting somewhere...

The next rule is MAKE STATEMENTS.  This is a positive way of saying "Don't ask questions all the time."  If we're in a scene and I say, "Who are you?  Where are we?  What are we doing here?  What's in that box?"  I'm putting pressure on you to come up with all the answers.  In other words: whatever the problem, be part of the solution.  Instead of saying "Where are we?" make a statement like "Here we are in Spain, Dracula."  Okay, "Here we are in Spain, Dracula" may seem like a terrible start to a scene, but this leads us to the best rule:

Three are NO MISTAKES, only opportunities.  If I start a scene as what I think is very clearly a cop riding a bicycle, but you think I am a hamster in a hamster wheel, guess what?  Now I'm a hamster in a hamster wheel.  I'm not going to stop everything to explain that it was really supposed to be a bike.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll end up being a police hamster whose been put on "hamster wheel" duty because I'm "too much of a loose cannon" in the field.  In improv there are no mistakes, only beautiful happy accidents.  And many of the world's greatest discoveries have been by accident.  I mean, look at the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, or Botox."

So there you have it folks...Bossypants by Tina Fey and the rules of improvisations.

I must say after reading this bit, I attempted to enlighten Peter with my new improv wisdom.  However, the husband was not all that amused and he kindly informed me that he learned all this stuff back in his elementary school days in his speech and drama class.  Well that was the first I had heard of any speech and drama class - I suppose that explains why the man is so funny!