A goat.

Improv. It's a thing that lots of people think that they do well. It's a thing that not as many people as think they do it well, do well. Now that the cumbersome sentence is out of the way, let's dive right in. I don't have a ton of experience with improv sketch comedy (I have three experiences viewing it, zero participating in it before a live television studio audience), but there is one thing I've noticed that I would imagine is uniform among all live improv sketch comedy settings, save the very highest-caliber.

What I've noticed is that there is no place for subtlety in dialogue. At least in the live setting. Because what you have is a bunch of nerds (comics) running around on stage trying to keep the energy going, which means they have to have a symbiotic flow going with the audience. And from what I can tell, the industry-standard way to maintain the energy is to be noisy. The three times I went to improv sketch comedy performances (if it's improvised is it a performance? Or just like an accident on a stage?), the comics who scored the biggest laughs were the ones who forced a punchline by yelling. "A...GOAT!" is one exclamation I recall was quite popular with the crowd. That kid was killing that night. Killing.

I think that's too bad. Because most of the humor in life is derived from attention to small details. Like what a very overweight CEO does with his hands during a deposition. Or the way a cat tries to get something out of a cardboard box. Or all of the filler words and pauses a person uses when they're trying to give you an answer to a tough question they know nothing about (today I was on a phone call with a guy who said "for sure" like 37 times). Stuff like that can be very funny. But in a live setting, there isn't enough quiet space or audience attention span to work with that medium. So it turns into a Jim Carrey movie situation: it's funnier if you're a little drunk. The problem for me? I am never drunk. That's why it's sometimes hard for me to sit through Jim Carrey movies (especially "Ace Ventura". Especially that.)