Improv Skills Helped Me Survive Leukemia and Caregiving

Improvisational comedy often appears on stage as fast-paced jokes and witty banter, but the principles behind the art form can offer genuine support during difficult personal challenges. A ten-year survivor of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) found that the “yes and” philosophy helped him work through the isolation of caregiving and the grief following the loss of his spouse to dementia. By applying these techniques to real life, he created meaningful connections during bleak periods.

From Hospital Ward to Restaurant Table

After Sue’s dementia progressed, the author took on the role of household cook. To cope with the daily routine, he developed a private fantasy that he was a gourmet chef running a world-class restaurant. One evening, Sue appeared for dinner looking forlorn. Without prior planning, he blurted out, “Good evening, Ms. Scott. We’re delighted you’re dining with us again. May I have the honor of escorting you to your table?” He took her arm as they marched to the dining room where he got her seated. He ducked into the kitchen and returned saying, “I’m happy to present your favorite beverage: Chateau Pepsi. March was an especially good month.”

He was dumbfounded when she joined his fantasy and played the role of a returning diner. As he transitioned from chef to server to dining companion, they had a lively conversation. His training in improv was the impetus for this spontaneous act that created a real connection and a cherished memory during an otherwise bleak time.

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Learning the Tools of Survival

During multiple hospital stays following his stem cell transplant, he honed coping strategies that still serve him well. These include mindfulness, exercise, humor, being proactive, and journal writing. As he recovered, he joined Gilda’s Club, a support organization for people touched by cancer. He gravitated to a class called Improv for Life™, which teaches improv skills but also presents the art as a broader philosophy of life.

The class’s premise is that everyone can benefit from improv in often surprising ways. Alongside his coping strategies, improv provided a guiding philosophy for handling survivorship after cancer. He notes that the core of the philosophy is accepting whatever is created by a scene partner and building upon it. This means never negating or rejecting whatever comes our way. It requires staying in the moment to respond to fellow improvisers, which demands close attention to their words, body language, and emotions. The practice asks performers to shed inhibitions and be silly, but it is structured by a commitment to listen, watch, and concentrate on everything happening in a scene.

Improvisation works best by interacting with a partner, establishing a relationship, and conveying emotion. It is essentially about connection, collaboration, and creation with another person. One of the best things an improvisor can do is give gifts to their partner, meaning words or actions that give them something to build upon. Good improvisors make their partners look good. The goal is not to be funny but rather to be genuine. If these principles are followed, humor organically emerges from the spontaneity and unpredictability of the performance. The humor created has many physiological and psychological benefits for those watching, learning, or performing.

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Handling Grief and Laughter

In 2023, after 41 years together, he lost his spouse Sue to dementia. As he grieved, he realized his mental health depended on forging new connections with others after the isolation of caregiving. He also needed to reintroduce laughter into his life. His experience with Gilda’s Club prompted him to enroll in a class at a local comedy cabaret. One thing led to another, and he is now performing throughout the Twin Cities in a troupe called Eaten by Locusts.

He has become enamored with the philosophy, practice, and performance of improv, calling it a life-changing experience. The pillars of his mental health have thus become mindfulness, improv, and gratefulness. Each reinforces the others, but improv provides the secret sauce of play and fun. He sees improvisation as a basic skill everyone possesses. Cultivating it reveals that mindful attention, acceptance of what we are given, and responding creatively are useful in all kinds of social situations.

Some people claim they are too introverted to do improv. The reality is that introverts make the best improvisors because they typically do the active listening that is essential to good improv. Lest all this sound daunting, consider that you have already been doing improv in every unscripted conversation, novel experience, and spontaneous moment of your life. Everyday improvisation demonstrates that laughter and humor are not the province of professional comedians but rather our collective birthright. This is not a call to be a professional improvisor, but an invitation to explore all that improv offers and to find ways to practice it in everyday life.