Kids Responded Well to Hard Truth

by Walt Frasier

I have been working with kids and teens for 20 + years. About 15 years ago we created our comedy camp and school in Times Square NYC. Today I read them what I jokingly called, THE RIOT ACT!

I told them, point blank, our class and camps have not delivered the same quality of comedy show as my prepandemic students. To be fair, the bar was set high. Carolyn White was named FUNNIEST KID IN AMERICA at 12yo in 2019. Canceled for two years due to covid, my student, Saloni Singh won the same contest in 2022. Meanwhile ALL my stusents involved were contenders.

My students aced out “comics” from “schools” teaching comedy technique dated by 1980s Catskills Standards.

My students showed up as themselves, not carbon copies of known comics or bad Disney kid actors. My comics, also well versed in improv comedy, dug deep, and were relatable to the audience. Their writing and performance was on a level 1000s of wannabe 20-40yos at open mics across NYC every year will never achieve.

Today, I told my students they were not matching those levels, but it is not their fault, per se. Kids and teens today don’t do the work. They don’t do the research. Too many rely on AI OR WORSE act like they know everything at 10.

This is not new. There have always been bad students. There has always been laziness, apathy, boredom, etc. The difference now, these traits, since 2020, have infested the geeks and nerds. These walking geniuses have little to zero.knowledge on how to manifest their genius into useable skills.

There are exceptions of course. But fewer and fewer…

I spent all morning rehearsing the speech. I spent all morning debating giving the speech. I started by pulling out my most experienced 15-17yos.

“I love you guys. You are funny. You are smart. You are good people. But compared to the counselors.(my entire summer ca.p staff are now former students/campers, those that were 14-17 in 2020, Carolyn bloomed early as she came in swinging as a writer at 11yo) you are not doing the work. I say write down XYZ and you say, I got it in my head. The results, your final product stand up comedy routines feel 3-4 days away from being ready for a show. They lack any attention. They are bloated with unnecessary set up. They lack laughs, punch ups. Most are not taking notes we give and improvinf. I don’t feel comfortable recommending any of you for one of those competitions. But here is thing, we can turn this around in a matter of minutes if you do the work right now.”

I then talked about how professionals use their time at an open mic. Lots of folks waste the experience. A true aspirational comic uses every minute.

You only get 5 minutes on stage.

But while you wait, you prepare. You ponder various scenarios. You imagine a possible better open/closing line to the bit. You brainstorm ways to rip out unneeded set up and punch up with more funny.

The second you get off you analyze the work. We remove ego and insecurity and identify the good, bad and ugly of our time on stage. We put on headphones (or go.home) and watch the video. We transcribe the words. We identify the crowd reactions. We plan for the next outing.

At this point a 16yo that has NEVER written anything down, got up, walked to the waiter station (it is a comedy club), ripped out paper from a food /drink order checkbook, grabbed a pen and started working.

The next hour I left them alone. That hour looked like an adult open mic. They gave each other some feedback but mostly just did the work.

1. PREPARE
2. HAVE FUN ON STAGE, EXECUTE THE PLAN
3. ANALYZE THE WORK

Later that day I repeated the process for the younger campers. Some of the newer campers just saw another old guy saying “you don’t listen and focus.” But anyone that knows me stepped up. And then a few of the newer kids followed suit.

Today was an exercise in TOUGH LOVE. I was a little worried about offending someone. But I had to do something. For THEIR sake.

There is a lot more to it. But if you don’t do the work, knowledge is a waste. High IQ is a waste without GSDQ -Get S(tuff) Done Quotient. Mix in a little EQ and bam, YOU TOO CAN BE AN ARTIST!

I do believe in meeting a student where they are at, giving the foundations they need. BUT too many kids have been LEFT where they were. Take away ALL expectations of improvement and growth and ONLY the self starters will have any progress.

But today was by far the boldest move I ever made. And as far as I could tell EVERY KID AND TEEN took it the way I hoped. The said/thought, YOU ARE RIGHT, I AM CAPABLE OF BETTER.

While the rest if the world listens to the ignorant fools on social media, the rest of yes DO THE WORK, We BOOK the work. We get PAID to do the work.

I cannot wait to see what these kids do next!

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR PROGRAMS

In addition to our public classes and shows, we daily work with student groups from around the world at our Times Square NYC theater and touring nationwide.

Walt Frasier

With over 30 years of experience in theater, comedy, and television, Walt Frasier is the Artistic Director of Improv Theater LLC, a leading edutainment center known for its high-impact comedy shows and workshops. His extensive career includes performing comedy sketches on MTV’s Stankervision, Late Nite with David Letterman, TruTV’s Friends of the People, and HBO’s Pause with Sam Jay. As an actor, Walt has appeared on NBC’s Blacklist, CBS’s Blue Bloods, USA’s Royal Pains, Netflix’s Lilyhammer, and NICK’s Naked Brothers Band, in addition to numerous commercials, industrials, and live performances worldwide.