My Improv Asylum Experience

Jan 21, 2026

Improv Classes in Boston: A Student’s Real Experience at Improv Asylum

If you’re thinking about taking improv classes in Boston but feel nervous or unsure if you’d be good at it, you’re not alone. Nikki felt the same way before enrolling at Improv Asylum and completing all six levels of training.

Hi everyone, it’s Nikki. I wanted to talk to you today about the really positive experience that I had at Improv Asylum in Boston, and I want to just preface this by saying that I do not work for Improv Asylum. Nobody’s paying me to make this video. This is just me independently wanting to share my experience with everyone. So if you’re thinking about taking improv class but you’re nervous, you’re not sure if you’d be good at it.

I just want to let you know that we were all nervous in the beginning. You know, in level one, a lot of us had never had experience doing improv before, and level one is very beginner friendly. Everybody is very kind, caring, very welcoming. Nobody is going to make fun of you for not being good at improv. You know, none of us are really good in the beginning and we’re all just learning together, making mistakes together.

And I have to give a huge shout out to our level one teacher, Dan Karlin, because I feel like he really set our class on the path to having a good community in the long run. You know, in the beginning of level one, we weren’t even playing improv games yet. We weren’t even, like doing entire scenes together. We were doing a lot of exercises that were to help us just get in sync with each other, get learning how to be in sync with other people, learning how to be a good team player, be a good scene partner, and just kind of get us in sync.

And we did a lot of exercises where we were cheering each other on. And we just never put each other down. And so that, that just set us on the right path to having a great community in the long run. And, and I want to say, I really feel like that is the way we have been the entire time.

I mean, in all six levels of improv that I did, I don’t think there was one single time that I’ve gotten, criticism or any kind of negative comments from a classmate. I feel like we are always just lifting each other up and encouraging each other. And, you know, I think we can all be a bit self-critical at times.

We can all be like, oh, I should have done this or that better. And what a typical class in the whole six levels will be. At the end of class, someone will be like, oh, I wish I had done this or that better, but you were so good. And then the other person will say, no, I wish I had done this or that better, but you were so good and that is just back and forth.

That’s kind of the way we’re always talking to each other, and that’s how it’s been the whole time. So, you know, just don’t be worried that anybody is going to be like putting you down because we’re just always encouraging each other. And but I will say that if you ask for help from your classmates, from your teachers, you will get help.

I know when I was in level three and we started doing exercises where we had to jump in, I got really, really nervous. I was afraid of messing up the scenes that people were already doing, and I talked to my classmates about it. I told them, I’m having a lot of trouble with this, and my classmates gave me a lot of reassurance that they wanted me to jump in more because I was feeling like I want to participate more, but I’m scared.

And they reassured me. We want you to jump, and we’re not going to be mad that you messed anything up. Like we’re all just learning here. We’re all messing up like nobody’s going to be mad at you, Nicky. We want you to jump in more. And my classmates also helped me to jump in more. Sometimes my classmates would coach me on when to jump in.

Or sometimes if a couple of us were about to jump in at the same time, they would let me go because they knew that I had a hard time doing that. So I feel like they were just really, really helpful when I asked for help. So that’s the thing. Like, we’re a team and people will help you if you’re having a hard time.

And I feel like the way we treat each other in improv class translates into real life. It translates into the way we treat each other outside of class. You know, I’ve always had a hard time with it because of some things that I’ve been through. I always feel like I don’t know if somebody really likes me until I’ve shared things A, B, and C with them, that that’s something I struggle with a lot, especially because I’m really looking for deep friendships.

Like I’m not looking to just vibe or network, but I’m really looking for close friends where we can tell each other anything and be there for each other. And I think I always struggle with I want to share deeply, but I’m really scared, like, you’re not going to like me if you know these things about me and improv class was the first community I ever entered where I just felt like I trusted everyone and I trusted that those types of things would be okay before I even had shared anything that deep.

And I feel like that was confirmed at, at the end of our level one class, our second to last class in level one, we played two truths and a lie in class, and most of us shared kind of like funny stories, just interesting facts about ourselves. But a couple of my classmates shared things that were very socially stigmatized, things that, you know, in maybe another environment, people might not react well.

And I feel like our class was just so respectful. People were asking respectful questions, wanting to learn with this open curiosity and no sense of judging anybody. And this was even how we talked to each other on the break period when our teacher wasn’t watching. We were just, you know, everybody was curious to know more. And I feel like part of that is just the people.

Just because I was in a class of very just, kind, caring, open minded, non-judgmental people who are just amazing. And I think another part of it is that improv class sort of teaches you how to communicate that way. I think that helped us to handle those situations in a way that was supportive, and I still hadn’t shared a lot about myself yet at this point, but it made me feel very safe to see the way the class treated those people.

And I did observe more like any time we were out, you know, we mostly talk about fun things, but if someone did bring up something serious, I feel like everybody was very supportive, very there for each other. My moment when I felt like I shared a lot about myself with the group and when I really felt like very in sync.

I mean, we were already in sync, but this was a special moment in level two class, we had a lesson with Sam Carty on emotions, and we were playing a game called hitchhiker. In hitchhiker, you pretend that you’re driving in a car together, somebody comes along and hitchhikers and is hitchhiking, and when that person gets into the car, they have a certain energy and then everybody has to copy their energy.

So say they’re really, really tired. Everyone in the car has to be tired or say they’re really excited. Everyone in the car has to be excited. When it was my turn to enter the car, I pretended that I was freaking out. I was really scared. I was saying, drive faster. I’m in so much trouble, I need to get out of the town.

I just set my dorm on fire, so then everyone in the car had to also be freaking out because now we’ve all collectively set our dorm on fire. So sometime after that class, so very shortly after we we were just hanging out together for fun and we started talking about the classes we had done on emotions. And one of my classmates said that, you know, when we were doing different emotions as the characters, that sometimes she worried that it was coming from her, that she’d say, you know, if I’m playing a character who’s angry, is that coming from me?

Does that mean that I’m an angry person? And I said, well, I am an angry person. Like, I actually feel all of the emotions that I’m acting out. I just felt like improv class was a safe place where we can express ourselves. And I said, for example, that scene that we did together in hitchhiker, where I was freaking out about having set the dorm on fire, that is based on a real desire because, you know, college was really bad for me, and I would have loved to set my dorm on fire.

And I held my breath. I waited, I looked at them like, are they going to think I’m a freak? Are they going to like, how are people going to react to this? And I just held my breath and nothing happened. Nothing at all. It was like, okay, that makes sense. And we just continue talking about the lesson on emotions and what we brought into our scenes.

And it was fine. And that was a big moment for me when I saw like, wow, you are really, really safe here. And I think that, again, part of it is just that I have a class of amazing people. Everyone is just so caring and understanding and accepting, and I think it’s just who we are. And I think also, I think improv itself can kind of make you that way, because I feel like we are always bringing a part of ourselves to the scenes.

I mean, as a writer, I feel like you always put a part of yourself in every character, even characters who are very different from you. And I think the same is true in improv. I’m guessing that, you know, even if you are playing a character who is very different from yourself, it’s still coming from you. You’re still making up this person.

You’re still generating this character out of nowhere, like it has that something in there is coming from you. And I think the fact that we were in that car together on that journey together, all setting the dorm on fire together, I feel like that also contributed it to feeling safe, to feeling like I feel like in some ways, in some ways, they already knew before I said it, you know what I mean?

Because you’re always bringing a part of yourself. And after that time when we would hang out outside of class, I felt I never held my breath again. I felt completely safe. I felt like I could tell my classmates anything, and I just felt like I can trust them with anything. And I think it’s it’s the people. It’s that they’re amazing.

And it’s also that improv creates that kind of community as well. Another thing that was a big personal growth moment for me was just in general, feeling a lot less self-conscious. When I was in level four, I went to house teams auditions, and I completely messed up this audition. I forgot everything I had learned about improv, and at one point I was just standing there, still frozen, when I was supposed to see something and do a scene completely messed up.

And you know, it’s it’s not that I was that disappointed. Like it wasn’t I wasn’t expecting to make house scenes my first try. So I wasn’t that disappointed. But in the past, I would have felt so embarrassed and so self-conscious about having messed up that badly in front of everyone. And this time I just did it. I was just like, okay, no big deal, whatever.

And I think part of it is the environment. You know, it was a very, very warm and welcoming environment when I went to auditions. Everybody was wishing each other good luck, saying good job, saying good scene to people you did scenes with. And I’m talking everyone. They’re not just my classmates who I knew, but I felt this community with everyone at Improv Asylum and, you know, even the judges who I didn’t know all of them that well, they, you know, they gave feedback, but they gave it with kindness, like, everybody was very friendly, very kind.

And, you know, I was like their instructors, okay. Even though I hadn’t had all of them as instructors, I was like, they’ve seen it all. It’s not that big of a deal. We make mistakes, backs up in front of each other all the time. It’s not that big of a deal, and that is just the complete opposite of how I used to be.

Like I used to be like I would have felt so self-conscious that I would be like, oh my God, I don’t ever want to see these people again. And I did not feel that way at all. Complete opposite. And that is something that will happen if you’re taking improv class. You get less self-conscious and you realize that making mistakes in front of each other, it brings you together.

It brings you together. You know, at my tech rehearsal right before our grad show, I went up to one of my classmates who was my scene partner, and I told him, thank you so much for remembering our word because I forgot it. Our word is a prompt that we were supposed to use to do a scene. So by forgetting our word, I had forgotten what we were supposed to do a scene about during dress rehearsal.

And you know, it was in the past. If I had made a mistake like that, I would have felt really self-conscious and really kept it to myself. I would have felt like, okay, no one needs to know about this. No one needs to know that you messed up. But. So I’m doing six courses in Improv Asylum. I knew that being able to go up to someone and say, you know what, I messed up.

Thanks for having my back. That brings you closer together. And it did. Like we had a conversation and I feel like it brought me closer together with that classmate from doing that. And I feel like that’s just something you learn that, you know, you have each other’s backs and it’s okay to make mistakes and you, it brings you closer together.

And speaking of having each other’s backs, I have to give another shout out to my level six teacher, Jared Todd Little John, because as we were getting closer to the grad show, I was really nervous. I was still feeling like I was struggling with that skill of jumping, and I was so afraid that I was going to spend a lot of the show just frozen, not doing anything.

And I told Jared about this, and right before the show, he scheduled an extra practice session for free. It was technically for the House teams auditions, which were right before the show, but I was really going more to be prepared for the show, and it was so helpful because we went over everything that I was having a hard time with, and we overshot everything that I would have needed to do in the audition and in the show.

You know, I was coming. I was having to jump in so many times in a row when in the real performance, you wouldn’t need to do that because you’d be taking turns with other people. And we did these scenes that just went on for so long that, you know, in a real performance, you just wouldn’t need to keep going that long.

You would never need to sustain that long because other people would be tapping you in and out. You’d be taking turns. The scene would have been cut at some point, and doing all of that made me feel so much more confident. I did so much better at the house scenes audition. I didn’t make it, but I felt so much more confident going into the show, and I just really appreciated that so much.

So, you know, if you need help, people will help you. People will make sure that you will be prepared. And during the show itself, I was so nervous when the show began, you know, I was supposed to open the show and a lot of my things were all concentrated at the beginning, and I was so nervous. I was freaking out backstage.

And my classmates are right there for me. They were holding my hands, telling me it was going to be okay, telling me that, you know, if if you mess up, we’ll cover for you. And you know, if someone else mess up, you cover for them, like that’s what we’re doing here. I knew that, but I needed to hear it.

I needed to hear it. And in one of my earliest scenes, my scene partner and I, we were holding hands in character as part of the scene, and he told me afterwards, I worked that into the scene to comfort you in real life, because he knew that I was freaking out. I was so nervous beginning the show that he held my hand to comfort me in real life and worked it into this scene.

And this is what I mean when I say I have the most amazing teammates in the world and just all night long, I feel like we were so in sync, like we just we knew each other so well. We know each other so well. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and we knew when is it time to mess with each other, and when is it time where somebody maybe needs a little extra support?

We knew it and we were just so in sync. And right before we went on, Jared had this, had us do this ritual where we walked around the room and patted each other on the back and looked each other in the eye and said, I got your back to every single person. There are 14 of us, and we all went around and did this for each other, and it just it felt so sacred to me, honestly.

Like, I love I love my class so much and it really felt like a reiteration of what we already knew, because I feel like we had had each other’s backs for so long. You know, when it when I had trouble sharing things about myself with other people, when I really want to make that form, those deep friendships. I think one of the things that made it better, that made it easier to do that, is that, you know, sharing with people, especially things that you’re worried they’re going to judge.

It can feel like a trust fall, but when you’re doing improv, you are catching each other all the time. So what’s one more time? You know? So again, I just I have loved this experience at Improv Asylum so much. I love my classmates so much. It has been about a month and a half since our grad show. And you know, we’re still friends.

We’re still getting together regularly. And we still we still are just so supportive, still have each other’s backs. And I just I have wanted a community like this for so long. At some points, I thought I’d never find it. Sometimes I was even told I would never have it. And I just wanted to share this with you that I would just highly, highly recommend improv.

If you are looking for a community like this and if you do decide to join, I would just say to you, I would just advise you focus your energy on being a good scene partner, being a good teammate, being a good friend, and everyone else should do the same for you.