Looking back on 1 year of improv. From shy bean to not giving a F!

The TL;DR

Despite a really crappy 2024 in my personal life, I managed to go from being a scared, shy cat who would be scared of making mistakes during improv workshops, to a performance machine who will improv in front of any audience, comfortable with many forms of the trade like musical, longform, shortform and narrative improv, and even participating in the first Rocky Horror Picture Show performance in VRChat history - all in less than a year!

How I found out about Skits ‘n Bits

Back in the summer of 2023, I decided, as usual, to log into VRChat. And there I saw it: PJKT 2023 - back then, I had zero idea of what that event was, but since it was promoted pretty heavily on the VRChat menus, I decided to take a look.

It described itself as a VR meetup where communities join together in the same world and, much like a local conference, show what they are about and to network with other people.

At a certain point, I saw it: Skits ‘n Bits Improv. I was intrigued by it, especially considering at that point I saw a lot of Game Changer on YouTube, making me really curious about this type of performance.

“And now you’re telling me I can learn that? In VRChat? I’m in!”

I thought.

I started going to a couple of classes in July, and there I was tutored (among others) by Sageidae and WalGesicht. Immediately, I understood I was in a welcoming community, as the first game we played, “Moving name” asked us to introduce ourselves, our pronouns, and to do a movement. All the other players will then replicate what was said and done (it’s possible to do variations!).

The point of the exercise is accepting what the other person is saying, and building on top of it.

This felt very different when I was flesh-tubing on Twitch and YouTube a year prior (both channels are now dead). Coming up with things to say, jokes, stories all by myself is not an easy task, especially if you want to write every single thing that is going to happen. It’s a lot of pressure on myself, and I found I didn’t really like that part of the process. Don’t get me wrong: there is a lot of value in set-in-stone scripts, it’s just not for me. Improv showed me a different way:

Be comfortable with not having every single thing planned out, if at all - accept what you are given by your audience, and scene partners coupled with your own intelligence will lead the way. Your scene partners have your back!

The move

Shortly after, however, I had to look for an apartment and get out of the single bedroom hole I found myself living in for 3 years at that point.

So, in 2023, after three or four workshops, I had to quit for a while. Soon after, I had to take a break from VRChat altogether to focus on moving to the new apartment.

Whoever moved out of a house into a new one, you know what this means: packing everything, dealing with lots of bureaucracy, and figuring yourself out as you move into a new place - it’s stressful, especially if you are doing it all by yourself.

Even more so when your family is against it. I won’t go into too much detail, but let’s just say my family wasn’t too happy about me moving to another city that is 1 hour by car from them (in all fairness, my father did help me to move my things, however unhappy he was about the whole thing). I had to do it, however, as the city I lived in at the time started getting extremely expensive (2025 update: it only got worse with time).

During December of 2023, I finished moving, and started being back to VRChat. I actually spent the New Year’s there, and it was a really cool event with a ball dropping and localized countdowns.

Maybe 2024 won’t be so bad.

Or so I thought.

Starting in January for real

Throughout the search for the apartment and the move, I had lots of thoughts about those workshops handled by those silly goobers at SnB.

Man, I am not going there and enjoying myself. But I have to get this move all prepped up.

Accompanied by:

Man, I can see those people are still going at it. But I’m too stressed to step in.

When I got back to VRC, and got done with catching up with all my friends there, I decided to go back to the workshops; there I met Sage again, and now a weird blue furry avatar dude called Hanns is there, showing up at every workshop.

Surely he won’t be important in the rest of this story.

The January show

Every month, SnB hosts a show. When I got there to watch, I was ecstatic at seeing all the crazy talent involved! I thought, “It would be cool to be there and make people laugh!”

However, a thought, in the back of my mind, flashed itself to me.

You are not at that level, you stumble on stage during workshops and you expect to go on a stage with THESE people? You can dream.

At the time, I felt it was the truth. Despite that, I still decided to go to the workshops to at least try and prove myself wrong.

However, that’s when me finally being comfortable in my apartment, after dealing with all the bureaucracy, and starting to enjoy myself in my well-deserved free time, it hit like a rock.

The job

I get called into a plenary meeting from my day job, and I receive the news: out of 15 people in the company, 5 were fired just after their welfare expired. All of this was a consequence of poor choices of clients from my managers, as well as poor handling of resources.

Of course, you can imagine the amount of stress I felt in a job that I felt was secure, with people I felt they at least acted human. No such thing, since the managers would talk back about lots of the people who were fired.

More disgustingly, they spewed awful insults to women who would quit in the past, as well as the one woman who was fired in this case, all behind their backs. Even more disgustingly, one of these managers is a woman, and was perfectly fine with it.

I decided, then, to search for another job, hoping to find something better. That sadly didn’t happen; you see, in 2024 the job market requires you to have 700 years of experience, and to receive a junior-level pay at the same time.

For context, I have worked for almost 10 years at this point. For the most part, I was just ghosted by companies or received lowball offers. I still am job hunting, and personally I don’t see 2025 getting any easier. But that’s a story for another time.

The decision

You might be wondering, then, why I mentioned all of this depressing stuff about the job. This post was supposed to be about my improv journey, after all.

The reason why I did, is because the old Timber, the one who didn’t enjoy herself during the move, would have stopped yet again to go and learn about improv theatre, and being involved in a community, all to maybe find a job that may be less shitty than the one she currently has.

However, something changed. I felt it was finally time for me to live.

I won’t let this stop me from enjoying myself. I did that mistake in 2023, and I have no intentions of doing that again. I will be better at improv, and maybe I’ll have to wait for 6 months or a year before I feel “ready” to join a show, but no matter what it takes, I will do it, and prove my anxiety wrong.

That was a complete 180 from the old me. I guess that I was just fed up with everyone and everything, and felt it was my time to move on and learn a new skill.

The workshops

So here I found myself in February enjoying myself in the weekly workshops and making new acquaintances in VR.

During this time, I kept feeling really scared of going on stage during workshops.

I don’t really know why, but despite being in a welcoming environment, and being in a workshop, where you are supposed to make “mistakes”, I felt fear in being the first to try a game, even ones I had seen beforehand.

Perhaps I feared that, exactly like in my earliest workshops, I would come up with nothing to say, only to leave with an embarrassed “I’m sorry, I… I can’t.”

If this happens to you on stage, do not be worried, because I can assure you it happens to everyone. And when it did happen to me, your team lead is there to support you! I know this for a fact because it was the case for me.

The time I committed (one of) the biggest sin(s) in improv

“There are no mistakes in improv” - This is a sentence that I find really helpful in making beginners feeling comfortable in taking part in the games.

After all, you really want to encourage people to go on workshops, and you don’t want them to be scared.

There are, however, sins you can commit when doing a scene:

1. Not listening to/Denying your partner(s). - It’s at best, bad for the scene because your scene partner is establishing something and you outright ignore that, making the scene confusing; at worst, it’s disrespectful to your scene partner.
2. Lack of commitment. - Commitment in improv is a huge topic that is far too long to discuss in one blog post.
3. Starting with a conflict. - Conflict comes up naturally in improv, but don’t start with it, because the tension rises, the conflict gets resolved as soon as it gets brought up, and then the scene falls flat.

I committed sin number 2 (Lack of commitment) during a workshop, but before we delve into that tale, let me first give you some of the definitions of Commitment from my personal notes:

• Commitment is [also] about being confident in the choices that you make. Avoid “Unintentional detachment” at all costs, don’t think in terms of “What if this is dumb?”, but in terms of “This is the reality my character is in, and it’s OK, let me cook.”
• Remember: good commitment is what keeps good comedy separated from “haha Family Guy snarky funneh”.

With that out of the way, I remember doing two scenes in a fateful workshop night about Character Work, where Nithia09 was Team Leader of my Team.

In the first scene, I recall being a makeup artist of sorts, and Rydia was a student trying to get better at makeup to absolutely destroy her rival (fun fact: in the reality we established, clown makeup was all the rage). In the end, the scene worked, however Nithia and Rydia pointed out… my character wasn’t that central to the story, in a two-partners scene.

This is a lack of commitment because I didn’t feel confident in my character or my performance. I remember Nithia saying this to me:

“Remember that when you are on stage, the audience wants to see you.”

These words stuck to me. I felt odd, as in… people wanna see me?? Since when?

It’s important to remember, that in improv, every performer is a writer, and everyone contributes with confidence and commitment.

In the second scene, playing Film Noire, I was an intern, and my scene partner (I can’t remember the name of the partner, sorry!) was a detective. I can’t recall every single detail about the scene; what I do remember is the fact that when the detective called my character to do something, I went in front of the stage to perform a monologue (as you are expected to do during Film Noire) and said something along the lines of “I don’t want to do it because I’m not paid enough for this”.

Why is this bad? I lacked commitment on my character, and especially without explaining to the audience why my character felt like that, instead of chasing a career. It’s a “be cynical just to be cynical” type of comedy. If your character doesn’t care, neither will the audience.

When Nithia (rightfully!) pointed this out, at first it felt rough. Not one, but two commitment or character mistakes in one night? It’s rough. But, after the initial “slap” to the face, all of this gave me the push to think like this:

It’s either I take this way more seriously or I get out.

It wasn’t what Nithia said, but that self-pressure worked out eventually! Here is another piece of advice: take notes after workshops and shows.

Mamma mia, spicy IKEA meatballs

During one workshop, a crazy Swede called Blaiddan was teaching my group. He started explaining the game Film Noire, which involves the players occasionally stopping the scene and having a short monologue about the scene, in the style of a character in an old black and white thriller movie.

I had seen the game the week before during a Skits ‘n Bits show, so it wasn’t new for me. Despite this, fear held me back from going in first.

Then Blaiddan suddenly asked:

“Alright, so that’s the explanation for Film Noire; any volunteers?”

“Don’t pick me don’t pick me don’t pick me don’t pick me…”

I kept pleading to myself.

Remember, I was still pretty shy at the time. Despite taking improv more seriously, I still had fear holding my mind as hostage.

“Timber! Why don’t you go up on stage?”

“AAAAAAH OH GOD WHY” - I screamed internally.

“Sure!” - I smiled externally.

I tentatively go up on stage, as I feel everyone’s eyes on me.

Then the unexpected happened; I played through the game smoothly, with not much stress, and I had fun with it. In later workshops, I didn’t feel as scared anymore; it is important to remember, however, that stage fear will never really go away, but you can manage to live with it, or even exploit it. SwitzerLad, co-founder and team lead at Skits ‘n Bits, puts it this way:

“Turn your fear into excitement and you will rock on the stage”

This advice really helped me during workshops, and later, shows.

A recommended read

“How to be the Greatest Improviser on Earth” by improviser Will Hines has helped me a lot to gain footing and to cement a lot of improv concepts.

The book is full of examples, games, personal stories from the author and is a really easy read. Despite the warning at the beginning that states that this is for “advanced improvisers”, I think that by having read that after 4 months of going to workshops regularly, I didn’t have much difficulty reading through it: it doesn’t dive too deep into theory, but more into “this is my experience with this idea, and it worked or didn’t work for this reason”.

It feels like a very personal book, and considering Will Hines has done improv for ages now, and is a teacher & performer at the Upright Citizens Brigade, I consider it a very valuable resource for improvisers!

The May show

It took me almost six months to build up the courage to participate in the Skits ‘n Bits that was held in May of 2024, but damn was it worth it.

I knew I was ready when I was in a workshop, where Nithia was again Team Lead. MattPro and I were in a scene together, where we were both bros on a picnic. Our characters faced a huge problem: ants were eating all of their food! And that’s where I got an idea:

Bro, let’s just dap. The ants will die from the shockwave!

And so we did. Multiple times, with increasing energy.

Nithia was on the floor laughing the whole scene.

In that moment, I said to myself: “I am ready.”

When I got picked for the show, anxiety still went through the roof, but overall I think it went quite good. The only mistake that I made was with the Lorena scene, where I started the scene with a conflict.

I got rightfully served by her with a “your mom” joke, ending the scene on a high note!

The highest moment of panic, however, was when we were playing the Genres game and that blue furry called Hanns, who was in the audience at the time, suggested we do “Opera”. His reasoning?

“Timber is Italian, of course she can sing Opera!”

I… was a bit panicked when this was brought up, not gonna lie.

I did sing in karaoke before, but rarely in front of other people. Let alone coming up with improvised songs! Thankfully, though, in improv your partner always has your back, and Blaiddan helped immensely with his improvised song, which I followed to a T.

Surely Hanns won’t be important again in this story.

Joining Jackal Ears

Hanns did become important again in this story.

He is cracked, in a good way: he can sing, do improv, dance, and now he works at Disney World!

When I joined the Jackal Ears improv workshops, I really liked the core principle of strictly staying in a 13+ humor or language; it really forces you to think deeper about other kinds of jokes. Adult jokes are fine, but it’s really easy to come up with them.

Keeping a 13+ attitude will also make your adult humor shine through that much more.

Jackal Ears also allowed me to learn another type of improv: Musical!

I didn’t consider myself a very “musical” type of person, but when we started to do exercises where we have to come up with musical lyrics on the spot, I understood there was much more inside me than I thought.

We even had a musical show at the Skits ‘n Bits 2nd anniversary show! Something I definitely didn’t even think I would do at the beginning of 2024!

Rocky Horror Picture Show & more!

After joining an improv group, and performing in a couple of shows, I thought to myself there wouldn’t be a limit to what I could perform in. I’ve tasted blood and I want more I felt.

And that’s where I had the chance to audition for Rocky Horror Picture Show - possibly one of the most iconic musicals of all time, and a staple in the LGBT community.

This was extremely fun to work on, and it’s all thanks to Ru!

At the beginning of the year, I would have never imagined to perform in a show where raunchy jokes from the audience are not only expected, but encouraged.

Later in the year, I also got into the Narrative improv course by Nithia & Rydia, which required me to hone in on my improv skills that much more.

Narrative improv is an art in and of itself, where you really need to be extremely attentive to details, and be aware of your performance partners, and at what point of the story you’re on. During the graduation show, I felt really nervous, but me and my team actually did a great job!

”I don’t have creativity though?”

With all due respect, that’s bullshit.

Everyone has creativity, you are just not asked to use it.

I could write an entire blog post just about this kind of self-doubt, but keep this in mind:

There is a very high chance that if you feel like this, you work or study in an environment where creativity, in the best case scenario, is not asked of you.

Worst case scenario, it’s frowned upon. “You are not payed to think, you are payed to do what you’re asked” type shit is something I faced in the past too. Just know that you are not alone in this.

Creativity is a muscle: if you don’t train it, it will atrophy.

Getting good: tips from a beginner to absolute beginners

Notes, notes notes

Taking notes is one of the best things you can do.

Not just about a specific topic, but for everything going on in your life; having some time for yourself to write down and tidy up your thoughts about your day is important, especially in a world that expects us to focus on a million things at the same time.

That is the reason why I started to take notes about every single workshop I took part in since June of 2024: I take notes about the games that we do, what worked and what didn’t work as well.

It’s really helpful, especially at the beginning, to sort your thoughts and make sense of a skill that seems simple, but is actually really complex.

My recommendation is using Obsidian, and to use my markdown template for workshops, but you can use whatever works for you: Notion, .txt files, or even a regular pen-and-paper notebook work just fine!

The important thing is you keep writing down your thoughts and what you learned.

Future you will thank you!

Singing your fear away

If you find yourself stressed out before going to a workshop or a show, a thing I recommend is singing karaoke. Soon enough, I realized that I was really scared of going on stage (yes, even on workshops), so I started going to karaoke VRChat worlds all by myself, and sing on a stage in front of an empty crowd. My personal recommendation is Karaoke in Sync.

I know what you’re thinking: “Why the heck would I do that? I can’t even sing.”

First off, 99% of people who say “I can’t even sing” sing way better than they themselves realize.

Secondly, if you can go to karaoke and sing on a stage all by yourself, then you can go to a workshop and have fun playing games with other people, in a welcoming environment where you’re supposed to be a goober.

Tension gets released and you will feel more relaxed afterwards.

Over time, doing this before workshops helped me with getting comfortable on going on a stage, and nowadays I don’t even do it that much. Maybe sometimes before big shows, were I feel the stakes are higher.

Read improv books

The aforementioned “How to be the Greatest Improviser on Earth” definitely helped me grounding my knowledge in improv, but it’s by far not the only improv book out there.

“The Upright Citizens Brigade: Comedy Improv Manual” by the Upright Citizens Brigade is considered, for instance, the Bible of improv as it contains lots of important improv theoretical concepts, such as “The Game of the Scene”, as well as practical examples. “One day I’ll read that”, ya girl always says. I really need to get my hands on it, and my pinky promise for 2025 is to read all of that!

Remember that theory alone won’t make you an excellent improviser, but it does help you find your footing, and understand the mechanics of this crazy kind of art.

Music helps you relax

Before a show, I almost always put my phone on Do Not Disturb mode, wear comfortable headphones, and play music to help myself focus and relax. Tracks that I personally recommend before a show are in this YouTube playlist!

Thanking the people that made my year :3

There is no achievement that one can obtain only by themselves; so I am going to try and list everyone who helped me in this journey.

• WalGesicht & SwitzerLad for founding and managing Skits ‘n Bits;

• Sage for being my first improv teacher, and for being an understanding & caring one at that!

• Hanns for involving me in Jackal Ears, and inspiring me to do better;

• Blaiddan for pushing me to the limit in my skills since day one;

• Ru for being an absolute Queen and not only directed the first Rocky Horror Picture Show performance, but also for believing in me in that big endeavour;

• Nithia09 for pushing me to the limit with their narrative improv workshop, and for presenting valid, actionable criticism when I needed it most - and of course, for the Narrative improv course!

• MattPro - Cat gang 😎👊🏻

• Citrine for checking in during our graduation show for Narrative improv, and their words of encouragement they had for us;

• Rydia for believing in the power of my voice, and for being a great Narrative improv teacher alongside Nithia!

And many, many more people. Too many to count!

Even if I forgot to mention you, I want you to know you are fantastic, and have been extremely helpful and kind to me :3

In conclusion

It’s been an interesting year, where I started as an extremely shy and insecure bean, to finish it off not giving a single flying fuck on stage.

And it’s all thanks to YOU!

For 2025, I am looking forward to learning more about role playing, and to actually learning how to dance! I just got started, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds!

~ Timber the Cat ❤️