Improv Queen: Tina Fey’s Soft, Sloppy Skills Explored

It wasn’t entirely clear whether Amy Poehler and Tina Fey were joking when they suggested they planned to wing it at tonight’s Golden Globe Awards. After all, the two Saturday Night Live alums have the chops to pull it off. 

Of all the awards shows, the Golden Globes is perhaps the most entertaining because it is the sloppiest of the bunch. Not only is it a boozy affair, it is also the least scripted. Or at least it is hard to tell which moments are scripted. “We kind of feel like our job is to keep things moving and also to help get the movie stars more liquored up so hopefully someone’s boob will fall out of a dress,” Fey joked. 

We’re excited to see Tina Fey’s performance tonight precisely because of how adept she would be in such a situation. The comedian attributes her success as an actress and producer to her training in improv. 

While the skills associated with improv can benefit anyone, they are also the hardest skills to acquire. 

Bob Kulhan, the improv coach who studied under Fey at Chicago’s ImprovOlympic theater, says these so-called “soft skills” are actually “hard skills” because “there’s not an equation to actually talk with somebody and communicate with somebody.” In other words, there’s no formula for expressing authenticity. In the video below, Kulhan explains “It has to come from you.”

Watch here:

Image courtesy of NBC