WEBVTT 00:00:00.620 --> 00:00:03.379 Hey everybody, welcome back to the SoCap Improv 00:00:03.379 --> 00:00:08.419 Comedy Podcast. My name is Ralph. I'm the owner 00:00:08.419 --> 00:00:10.800 and artistic director at SoCap Improv Comedy 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:13.919 Theater at 154 Danforth Avenue. We do improv 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:16.480 classes, shows, corporate events, private bookings. 00:00:16.839 --> 00:00:20.019 And if you hear anything on this silly old thing 00:00:20.019 --> 00:00:22.239 that sparks your interest, come and take a class 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:26.760 with me at ralph at socap .ca. Um, you know, 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:29.100 I have like on Thursday, do a class for performance 00:00:29.100 --> 00:00:32.420 Friday, do a class for, you know, improv for 00:00:32.420 --> 00:00:36.320 life. Uh, like why, why the whole point of the 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:38.820 podcast or half point, half the point at least 00:00:38.820 --> 00:00:42.000 is why take an improv class. If you're not interested 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:44.979 in getting on stage, that's on Fridays. And then 00:00:44.979 --> 00:00:47.780 I do regular classes too. Right now I'm, uh, 00:00:47.859 --> 00:00:51.799 doing a class, uh, improv, uh, plays, creating 00:00:51.799 --> 00:00:56.299 plays from scratch. And, um, I can tell you that 00:00:56.299 --> 00:00:58.079 my students really like it. They're really having 00:00:58.079 --> 00:01:03.179 a good time. When people rarely miss classes, 00:01:03.340 --> 00:01:05.560 that's when you know, okay, everybody comes every 00:01:05.560 --> 00:01:08.540 week. Today, I just want to talk about a real 00:01:08.540 --> 00:01:13.959 -life example of improv, one of the tenets of 00:01:13.959 --> 00:01:20.260 improv in action. Just going into this theme 00:01:20.260 --> 00:01:24.500 of how improv is not just great to watch on stage. 00:01:25.159 --> 00:01:27.079 It is. I mean, when it's good, it's amazing. 00:01:27.180 --> 00:01:29.620 When it's bad, it's cringing and you want to 00:01:29.620 --> 00:01:32.659 gouge your eyeballs out. But when it's good, 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:37.439 you want to watch it. But it's also great in 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:40.060 the real world. I have said this many times, 00:01:40.140 --> 00:01:44.540 but I live my life by the principles of improv. 00:01:45.420 --> 00:01:48.599 It's like I live it. And this is one of these 00:01:48.599 --> 00:01:52.480 examples. So today we're going to look at status. 00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:55.879 I haven't done a full podcast on status. I love 00:01:55.879 --> 00:01:59.739 teaching status. It's difficult, but really rewarding. 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:04.000 My students either love it or hate it. Because 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:07.239 it is tough. It's very tough. But boy, oh boy, 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:11.719 it's a great tool. It's really good for dealing 00:02:11.719 --> 00:02:14.919 in the real world and on stage with conflict. 00:02:15.810 --> 00:02:19.689 It's with rudeness, makes you very flexible to 00:02:19.689 --> 00:02:25.090 handle different kinds of input. And in the real 00:02:25.090 --> 00:02:27.310 world, it's really great for people who are trying 00:02:27.310 --> 00:02:32.229 to manipulate people. But I don't mean manipulate 00:02:32.229 --> 00:02:35.729 necessarily in a negative way, because sometimes 00:02:35.729 --> 00:02:39.289 it's in a good way. So you can use high status 00:02:39.289 --> 00:02:43.490 to shut people down, or you can use low status 00:02:43.490 --> 00:02:46.979 to open people up. You can affect the behavior. 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:50.280 Maybe affect is better than manipulate using 00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:56.259 status. When I'm talking about status, what I'm 00:02:56.259 --> 00:02:58.780 talking about in the comedic sense, not in the 00:02:58.780 --> 00:03:02.960 world sense. It has nothing to do with your job, 00:03:03.159 --> 00:03:06.759 your title, your age, your social rank, your 00:03:06.759 --> 00:03:09.240 gender, your ethnicity. It has nothing to do 00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:16.090 with that. It's to do with... A character's feeling 00:03:16.090 --> 00:03:19.229 of themselves in relation to other characters 00:03:19.229 --> 00:03:23.569 or the environment. And in comedy, status is 00:03:23.569 --> 00:03:29.550 used a lot. And when it is used, characters that 00:03:29.550 --> 00:03:31.870 have a lot of social status, like presidents, 00:03:32.169 --> 00:03:35.909 CEOs, army generals, the bosses, the owners, 00:03:36.030 --> 00:03:40.789 usually are low status and vice versa. So if 00:03:40.789 --> 00:03:43.229 you've ever seen the show M .A .S .H., I know 00:03:43.229 --> 00:03:46.520 it's... been off for a long time but that show 00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:50.340 first season was a classic status where the the 00:03:50.340 --> 00:03:56.879 um the commander of the mash unit uh blake colonel 00:03:56.879 --> 00:04:00.560 blake henry blake was very low status and sort 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:05.479 of the lowest ranking member of the um you know 00:04:05.479 --> 00:04:08.719 the the army the corporal radar was very high 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:10.759 status in fact he was so high status he could 00:04:10.759 --> 00:04:12.599 hear the helicopters before anybody else could 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:16.819 And a lot of comedy comes with high -status characters 00:04:16.819 --> 00:04:19.180 who are fools. There's the high -status fool. 00:04:20.040 --> 00:04:22.500 If you've ever seen Alistair Forbes, really great 00:04:22.500 --> 00:04:26.319 at playing that high -status fool. Anyway, so 00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:28.180 it's really good in comedy, but it's also really 00:04:28.180 --> 00:04:31.540 good, people use it in real world. And, you know, 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:34.259 status, you know, in improv, it can help you 00:04:34.259 --> 00:04:36.600 control situations, remain flexible, as I said. 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:39.600 And one thing it also can do is help you overcome 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:42.439 your own limitations that your own logic brings 00:04:42.439 --> 00:04:46.300 to situations. You know, we have default way 00:04:46.300 --> 00:04:49.160 of looking at things like, you know, X is always 00:04:49.160 --> 00:04:52.000 bad or X is always good. But status helps you 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:56.660 see other signs of these scenarios and, you know, 00:04:56.660 --> 00:05:00.339 open up your brain, expand your mind and develop 00:05:00.339 --> 00:05:03.199 empathy for different points of view. So, but 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:05.579 in real life, status can really help you shut 00:05:05.579 --> 00:05:08.519 people down. You know, if someone's being rude 00:05:08.519 --> 00:05:10.699 to you or, you know, stand -up comics do this 00:05:10.699 --> 00:05:12.540 with hecklers all the time. Use high status to 00:05:12.540 --> 00:05:14.980 shut them down. You can open people up by using 00:05:14.980 --> 00:05:17.259 low status. Make your status a little bit lower 00:05:17.259 --> 00:05:19.399 than theirs and they will feel more comfortable 00:05:19.399 --> 00:05:23.220 and will open up. And, you know, it also helps 00:05:23.220 --> 00:05:26.339 handle conflict without losing your cool. In 00:05:26.339 --> 00:05:30.079 fact, I grew up, I used to, when I was younger. 00:05:30.750 --> 00:05:33.709 do anything to avoid conflict. I despised conflict 00:05:33.709 --> 00:05:38.949 and I couldn't handle it. But now, when conflict 00:05:38.949 --> 00:05:41.110 rears its ugly head, which it does occasionally, 00:05:42.149 --> 00:05:47.329 it's not that I love it, but I see it as an opportunity 00:05:47.329 --> 00:05:51.589 and I don't run from it. And one of the cool 00:05:51.589 --> 00:05:53.970 things about stat is, I forget the name of the 00:05:53.970 --> 00:05:57.350 effect, it's a bias. Once you are aware of it, 00:05:57.370 --> 00:06:01.029 you start seeing it everywhere. And it's like 00:06:01.029 --> 00:06:03.810 that. So you see it in couples and you can tell 00:06:03.810 --> 00:06:07.709 who has the status. Parents and kids, you know, 00:06:07.709 --> 00:06:09.610 sometimes kids have status over parents. Actually, 00:06:09.709 --> 00:06:13.569 more and more now, you know, young kids who throw 00:06:13.569 --> 00:06:16.110 tantrums have status over their parents. They 00:06:16.110 --> 00:06:19.550 can manipulate in the workplace, in social groups. 00:06:20.509 --> 00:06:22.350 So you see it everywhere. Okay, so I'm going 00:06:22.350 --> 00:06:25.069 to switch now and talk about this real life example 00:06:25.069 --> 00:06:29.879 because I find it fascinating. And I encourage 00:06:29.879 --> 00:06:34.639 you to go and look up the YouTube clip. So this 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:39.939 is from the 1960s. And it's two political commentators. 00:06:39.980 --> 00:06:42.980 There's a conservative guy called William F. 00:06:42.980 --> 00:06:46.639 Buckley Jr. And there was the liberal Gore Vidal. 00:06:47.100 --> 00:06:52.279 And these two gentlemen, I guess, started in 00:06:52.279 --> 00:06:55.240 the 60s. I think they became the prominence during 00:06:55.240 --> 00:07:00.709 the Kennedy -Nixon era. presidential run, they 00:07:00.709 --> 00:07:03.470 are now the template for what TV has become. 00:07:03.709 --> 00:07:05.949 You know, you get a guy from the one side and 00:07:05.949 --> 00:07:07.529 the guy from the other side, because there's 00:07:07.529 --> 00:07:10.250 only two sides, right? And you have them scream 00:07:10.250 --> 00:07:12.790 at each other and makes for a really interesting 00:07:12.790 --> 00:07:15.110 TV. And, you know, it does. I mean, I got to 00:07:15.110 --> 00:07:16.589 give it up to them. It makes for interesting 00:07:16.589 --> 00:07:19.870 TV. So overdone now, it's not interesting anymore 00:07:19.870 --> 00:07:24.310 to me, but it still works. So you had William 00:07:24.310 --> 00:07:26.850 F. Buckley. on the conservative, Gore Vidal on 00:07:26.850 --> 00:07:29.550 the liberal. And just a little aside, these two 00:07:29.550 --> 00:07:34.370 had way more in common than they had not in common. 00:07:34.550 --> 00:07:37.430 But they did hate each other. And they hated 00:07:37.430 --> 00:07:39.870 each other for one reason, I mean many reasons, 00:07:40.029 --> 00:07:44.810 but Buckley was openly hostile. He was a deeply 00:07:44.810 --> 00:07:47.910 conservative Christian, and he was deeply hostile 00:07:47.910 --> 00:07:52.430 towards homosexuality. And Vidal happened to 00:07:52.430 --> 00:07:55.810 be gay. But in this time, in the 60s, it was 00:07:55.810 --> 00:07:59.509 very, you couldn't say that you were gay, obviously. 00:07:59.709 --> 00:08:01.250 I mean, I don't know if it's obvious anymore, 00:08:01.350 --> 00:08:04.750 but, you know, if he'd been outed as gay, it 00:08:04.750 --> 00:08:08.170 would have ended his career. And, you know, in 00:08:08.170 --> 00:08:10.430 that inner circle, like everybody knew that Gore 00:08:10.430 --> 00:08:13.290 Vidal was gay, but no one said it publicly. They 00:08:13.290 --> 00:08:18.189 kept it quiet. So in this one particular debate, 00:08:18.509 --> 00:08:20.470 and it's on YouTube, I would recommend you go 00:08:20.470 --> 00:08:24.449 see it. Just do Gore Vidal and William Buckley 00:08:24.449 --> 00:08:30.529 on the Vietnam War, where Buckley loses it. So 00:08:30.529 --> 00:08:36.970 they're debating the Vietnam War. And Buckley 00:08:36.970 --> 00:08:41.269 mentions the word fascism. And Vidal, Gore Vidal 00:08:41.269 --> 00:08:42.710 just smiles at him and says, well, if anyone 00:08:42.710 --> 00:08:47.070 here is a crypto fascist, it's you. And Buckley 00:08:47.070 --> 00:08:50.649 got really mad at that comment and he fired back 00:08:50.649 --> 00:08:53.309 and he said, you call me a fascist again, you 00:08:53.309 --> 00:08:56.389 queer, and I'll sock you. Queer being, you know, 00:08:56.409 --> 00:09:07.340 a pejorative for a gay man. And this. happened 00:09:07.340 --> 00:09:10.139 on live TV, could not be edited, so it went out. 00:09:10.820 --> 00:09:14.820 And after that happens, the camera pans over 00:09:14.820 --> 00:09:19.120 to Gore Vidal, who's got a big smile on his face. 00:09:19.659 --> 00:09:25.220 Huge smile. He won. You know, he sits there, 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:29.179 he's smiling, and he's really calm. And that's 00:09:29.179 --> 00:09:32.620 what he wanted. He wanted to get Buckley off 00:09:32.620 --> 00:09:36.100 his, upset him, and get him to react, which he 00:09:36.100 --> 00:09:39.799 did. And even though it cost him the potential 00:09:39.799 --> 00:09:44.580 of being outed, he didn't care. What he cared 00:09:44.580 --> 00:09:49.179 about was winning. So that's the lesson for improv 00:09:49.179 --> 00:09:53.340 characters is that, you know, what matters in 00:09:53.340 --> 00:10:02.820 status is maintaining your status. And to do 00:10:02.820 --> 00:10:06.240 that means that you have to lose in other ways, 00:10:06.299 --> 00:10:09.779 potentially. So, you know, how do you play a 00:10:09.779 --> 00:10:13.440 high status character who is homeless or eats 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:15.820 out of dumpsters, right? How do you play a high 00:10:15.820 --> 00:10:17.820 status character who seems to have everything 00:10:17.820 --> 00:10:23.320 perfect in their lives? And again, once you see 00:10:23.320 --> 00:10:25.960 it, you see examples of real people who are like 00:10:25.960 --> 00:10:27.840 this. You know, the person who seemingly has 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:34.139 nothing but... has is so full of joy that they 00:10:34.139 --> 00:10:36.639 almost make you mad or vice versa the person 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:41.220 who seems to have everything and is miserable 00:10:41.220 --> 00:10:45.620 and it helps you for the non -performers get 00:10:45.620 --> 00:10:48.240 into that mindset but for the performance it's 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:53.620 uh it's a very fun um insight into human behavior 00:10:53.620 --> 00:10:59.179 and um And very, very, very funny to watch too. 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:04.519 And again, it's such a great tool. So today I'll 00:11:04.519 --> 00:11:07.340 be talking about status and conflict. High status 00:11:07.340 --> 00:11:11.320 is, because when it's taught, sometimes it's 00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:13.399 taught or you can think of it as, well, a high 00:11:13.399 --> 00:11:15.899 status character would be like a real jerk. You 00:11:15.899 --> 00:11:17.539 just tell everybody to shut up and do everything. 00:11:17.659 --> 00:11:19.480 But to me, that's a very low status character 00:11:19.480 --> 00:11:22.200 because they have a lot of concern about the 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:24.639 way people see them. To me, a high status character 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:27.240 is like, the buddha or jesus you can't really 00:11:27.240 --> 00:11:31.759 get them um anyway when when when someone insults 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:35.019 you uh and you're the the worst thing that you 00:11:35.019 --> 00:11:41.259 want to do is uh is get upset right is uh because 00:11:41.259 --> 00:11:44.279 then they've won right the the moment you react 00:11:44.279 --> 00:11:47.559 emotionally like buckley did the other person 00:11:47.559 --> 00:11:51.019 wins so when someone says something like that 00:11:51.019 --> 00:11:55.379 seems rude uh and you get upset They've won. 00:11:56.940 --> 00:12:00.460 And that's why you never see stand -ups, the 00:12:00.460 --> 00:12:04.139 good ones, let hecklers win. They always win. 00:12:04.860 --> 00:12:10.759 So how do we do that? How do we handle an insult 00:12:10.759 --> 00:12:16.659 and stay calm and collected? Well, the first 00:12:16.659 --> 00:12:20.620 thing that we do is we smile. And we own the 00:12:20.620 --> 00:12:24.269 insult. And we treat it like what they just said 00:12:24.269 --> 00:12:26.529 was a compliment or was the perfect thing to 00:12:26.529 --> 00:12:30.029 say. So, for example, this happens to me. And 00:12:30.029 --> 00:12:35.970 I've had this or worse thing said to me. And 00:12:35.970 --> 00:12:42.370 I've responded exactly this way. Someone says 00:12:42.370 --> 00:12:45.629 to me, Ralph, you're an idiot. My high status 00:12:45.629 --> 00:12:49.509 reply is, well, sir, you have an excellent eye 00:12:49.509 --> 00:12:52.279 for character. Right. Or I would say like an 00:12:52.279 --> 00:12:54.200 idiot. Oh, you've got that completely wrong. 00:12:54.340 --> 00:12:57.159 I'm an actual I'm way worse than that. I'm a 00:12:57.159 --> 00:13:00.240 congenital moron. You know, when you because 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:02.120 when you say yes to the insult, it takes away 00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:04.720 all of its sting. And when the sting is gone, 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:09.259 that person who's insulted you has basically 00:13:09.259 --> 00:13:11.840 given you the best shot. And they they they didn't 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:15.320 even dent your armor. And people have no idea 00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:17.159 what to do with that. And they just kind of get. 00:13:17.639 --> 00:13:21.240 They're a little weird and they leave. But the 00:13:21.240 --> 00:13:24.679 last thing they really tried to do is, and it's 00:13:24.679 --> 00:13:27.039 only ever happened to me once, where someone 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:31.159 has tried it again. And boy, oh boy, that was 00:13:31.159 --> 00:13:35.200 one of my most fond memories of someone trying 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:39.360 to double down on insulting me and backfired 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:43.210 both times on this guy big time. So it's the 00:13:43.210 --> 00:13:45.370 same tool on stage in the real world. Like I 00:13:45.370 --> 00:13:49.789 said, I live by these things, you know, real 00:13:49.789 --> 00:13:51.470 quick. And I'm sure I've shared this story before 00:13:51.470 --> 00:13:54.610 where one time I came out and two guys were trying 00:13:54.610 --> 00:13:58.070 to steal my bike. And, you know, rather than 00:13:58.070 --> 00:13:59.809 freaking out, and I don't recommend you do this 00:13:59.809 --> 00:14:01.090 because it might not have been safe, although 00:14:01.090 --> 00:14:03.090 there were thousands of people around not doing 00:14:03.090 --> 00:14:05.350 anything to save my bike. You know, I just walked 00:14:05.350 --> 00:14:07.230 up to these two guys, smiled in their face and 00:14:07.230 --> 00:14:11.419 said, hey, that's my bike. And guys, oh, it's 00:14:11.419 --> 00:14:13.200 a good bike. I'm like, I know. I'd like to keep 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:15.220 it. But I was smiling and having a good time. 00:14:15.240 --> 00:14:19.960 No threat. And they got out of there so fast. 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:22.320 It wasn't even funny. Although it was funny. 00:14:22.980 --> 00:14:24.700 And I've talked about high status. But low status 00:14:24.700 --> 00:14:28.220 also works very, very well too. You got to give 00:14:28.220 --> 00:14:30.539 a talk in front of a thousand people. And you're 00:14:30.539 --> 00:14:34.259 nervous. Open with a bit of low status self -deprecation. 00:14:34.700 --> 00:14:36.879 And people will instantly like you. Because when 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:38.440 you walk on the stage, everybody's like, okay, 00:14:38.460 --> 00:14:39.840 who's this person? What do they got to tell me? 00:14:40.220 --> 00:14:42.740 And the minute you humanize yourself with a little 00:14:42.740 --> 00:14:45.539 low status, they go, oh, you're not a threat. 00:14:45.620 --> 00:14:50.000 And they like you. So Al Gore, former vice president 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:52.799 of the U .S., when he was on the speaking tour 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:56.960 in the early part of the century, he used to 00:14:56.960 --> 00:14:59.620 open up his talks by saying, hello, my name is 00:14:59.620 --> 00:15:02.259 Al Gore. I used to be the president of the United 00:15:02.259 --> 00:15:05.669 States. And that is a reference to his the infamous 00:15:05.669 --> 00:15:10.750 or famous 2000 election where he won the popular 00:15:10.750 --> 00:15:13.169 vote. But then it went to the, you know, went 00:15:13.169 --> 00:15:15.990 to the Supreme Court and eventually they elected 00:15:15.990 --> 00:15:19.149 George Bush was called the president after Al 00:15:19.149 --> 00:15:24.830 Gore conceded. OK, so in closing, I just want 00:15:24.830 --> 00:15:29.009 to recommend status. It may be something you've 00:15:29.009 --> 00:15:32.080 never heard of or never considered. Or have been 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:35.220 taught and may have been taught it in a way that's 00:15:35.220 --> 00:15:40.320 not helpful. Because, you know, for me, status 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:43.740 has to be fun. Right? It's got to be fun and 00:15:43.740 --> 00:15:47.360 playful. It can't be strident or pathetic. Like 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:49.960 it's got to be joyous. Even low status too. Low 00:15:49.960 --> 00:15:53.580 status is joyous. High status is joyous. It's 00:15:53.580 --> 00:15:57.379 not, it's not, low status is not pathetic. And 00:15:57.379 --> 00:16:00.460 high status is not strident. Right. Those are 00:16:00.460 --> 00:16:03.299 different views. You know, like the myth of the 00:16:03.299 --> 00:16:05.779 alpha male. To me, an alpha male, like someone 00:16:05.779 --> 00:16:07.559 who's got to be like, you know, Donald Trump, 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:10.299 whether you like him or not or hate him, you 00:16:10.299 --> 00:16:14.120 know, he's full of bravado and he's boisterous 00:16:14.120 --> 00:16:17.179 and, you know, and bullies are the same way. 00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:18.820 They're not high status. They're low status. 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:21.320 They're very broken on the inside and they cover 00:16:21.320 --> 00:16:23.440 it up with a lot of false bravado. That's low 00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:26.440 status to me. That's not a fun kind of low status. 00:16:27.129 --> 00:16:30.309 It's just a sad, kind of low status. Anyway, 00:16:30.409 --> 00:16:33.070 that's my time. My name has been Ralph. Come 00:16:33.070 --> 00:16:36.269 visit us at socap .ca. Come take a class. See 00:16:36.269 --> 00:16:38.330 a show. Drop me a line. Thanks for listening. 00:16:38.470 --> 00:16:39.769 See you next time. Bye.