From NPR, this is hidden brain.
I'm Shankar Vedanta.
Morgan Smalley has been performing with an improv comedy troupe since she was in college.
Look at me on page four.
Somehow my tongue left my mouth.
After dozens of performances, she's learned that you need more than a creative mind to get the audience laughing.
You also need to be a good listener.
That means not just hearing what people say.
You have to pick up on everything that surrounds the words.
Like, let's say I came out, and instead of saying happy birthday, like, with a happy face, I could be like, happy birthday.
And clearly that means that I'm upset.
And then we go from there.
Like, why am I mad at them?
Is it that when it was my birthday last time, they treated me like garbage?
Things like that?
Morgan prides herself on being able to pick up on subtext, on being able to read between the lines, behind the lines.
When she does that well, she can hear the results immediately.
When you get the laugh, it's just like, such a self esteem boost.
It's like instant validation and instantly exhilarating.
That's how she felt at a recent show.