Myth One: Improvisation Is Comedy --误区一：即兴创作就是喜剧

Improvisation is in fact not comedy. Nor is it simply an approach to acting. Those are two specific types of improvisation, unique to the context in which the improvisation is taking place. There are many more contexts for improvisation, though. Improvisation is a key element of busy emergency rooms; it takes place on NBA basketball courts; it’s a part of the skill set for every policeman cruising the streets—all contexts in which comedy is certainly not intended to be part of the picture. The context dictates the style of improvisation required. The improvisation an emergency room doctor uses in performing a lifesaving operation is unique to that situation, and the kind of improvisation a starting point guard employs in facing an unexpected defensive strategy only makes sense on the basketball court.

即兴表演实际上不是喜剧。这也不只是一种行动的方法。这是即兴创作所处的环境所特有的两种即兴即兴类型。但是，还有更多的即兴创作环境。即兴创作是繁忙急诊室的关键要素。它发生在NBA篮球场上；对于每个在街上巡逻的警察来说，这都是技巧的一部分-当然，在所有情况下，喜剧都不是要成为画面的一部分。上下文指示所需的即兴创作风格。急诊室医生在执行救生操作时所使用的即兴创作是这种情况所特有的，而控球后卫在面对意外防御策略时所采用的即兴创作仅在篮球场上才有意义。

A fantastic example of high-level improvisation took place in 2011 when a team of highly trained U.S. Navy SEALs undertook Operation Neptune Spear—the deadly raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan. This mission had been meticulously planned; the SEALs trained for it over months and several contingency plans were developed and put into place. Still, when one of the navy’s Black Hawk helicopters crashed within the compound, a very specific kind of improvisation was required if the mission was to succeed under shifting circumstances.In this case improvisation had everything to do with adapting to changes within a strategy to achieve real, tangible outcomes.

高水平即兴表演的一个绝佳例子发生在2011年，当时一支训练有素的美国海豹突击队进行了海王星矛行动，这是对本·拉登在巴基斯坦大院的致命袭击。这个任务是经过精心计划的；海豹突击队接受了为期数月的培训，并制定了若干应急计划并付诸实施。但是，当海军的一架“黑鹰”直升机坠毁时，要想在不断变化的情况下成功完成任务，就需要一种非常特殊的即兴创作。在这种情况下，即兴创作与适应战略变化的一切有关。实现真实，切实的成果。

I certainly concede that the most common understanding of improvisation is as a form of comedy. Curb Your Enthusiasm, the aforementioned Whose Line Is It Anyway? and the films by Christopher Guest all showcase amazing comedic work that is based on improv. On a personal level I’ve been incredibly fortunate to spend an enormous part of my professional life on the great Chicago stages of The Second City, the Annoyance Theatre, and iO (where I was coached by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and performed alongside such notable folks as Jack McBrayer, Ike Barinholtz, Thomas Middleditch, Jordan Klepper,Jason Sudeikis, and Seth Meyers along with many other famous and less famous, equally brilliant comedic improvisers). In that context we were performing with the focused purpose of delivering comedy. The payoff we were after was audience laughter and a great show.

我当然承认，即兴创作最常见的理解是作为一种喜剧形式。遏制您的热情，前面提到的是谁的台词？Christopher Guest的电影都展示了基于即兴创作的惊人喜剧作品。就个人而言，我非常幸运地将自己的职业生涯中的很大一部分花在了第二城市，烦人的剧院和iO的出色芝加哥舞台上（在那里，我由Tina Fey和Amy Poehler指导，杰克·麦克布雷（Jack McBrayer），艾克·巴林霍尔茨（Ike Barinholtz），托马斯·米德迪奇（Thomas Middleditch），乔丹·克莱珀（Jordan Klepper），杰森·苏迪基斯（Jason Sudeikis）和塞思·迈耶斯（Seth Meyers），以及其他许多著名但同样不那么出色的喜剧即兴创作者。在这种情况下，我们的表演目的是提供喜剧。我们所追求的回报是观众的笑声和精彩的表演。

Laughter is not the payoff a surgeon, a jazz musician, or a SEAL team is after, though, and it’s certainly not the payoff a businessperson is looking for either. If you’re in front of the board of directors after a dip in fourth-quarter sales and you get thrown a hardball question, the challenge is not to quickly come up with a way you can use your necktie as a comedic prop to make the board laugh (lest that necktie become a noose with which you strangle your career). Instead you must react and adapt to the circumstances and communicate in an engaging and inspiring way.

不过，笑声并不是外科医生，爵士乐手或海豹突击队所追求的回报，当然也不是商人要寻找的回报。如果您在第四季度的销售额下降后在董事会中排行榜，并且遇到了一个强硬的问题，那么挑战就在于不要迅速想出一种可以将领带用作喜剧道具的方法，板笑（让那条领带成为绞尽脑汁的职业）。取而代之的是，您必须做出反应并适应环境，并以一种富有启发性的方式进行交流。

The takeaway here: improvisation as it applies to the business world is a specific type that works in the business context. The heart of this book is to explicitly demonstrate how the art of improvisation can be used as a serious means of getting serious results.(To be continued~)

这里的要点：即兴创作适用于商业世界是一种在商业环境中起作用的特定类型。本书的核心是明确展示即兴创作的技巧如何用作获得严肃结果的严肃手段。（未完待续~）