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Improv pro teaches ‘The Real World’ cast how to react in almost any situation
PROFILE. Considering all the weave-pulling and impromptu drunken hook-ups that go down in front of reality TV cameras, it would seem improv skills are the most vital tools the star of a show such as “The Real World” could possess — this is unscripted television, after all. So perhaps that’s why, for the twentieth edition of the stalwart MTV series, producers enlisted renowned improvisation expert Charna Halpern, founder of Improv Olympics and mentor to Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Mike Myers, Vince Vaughn and other comedy elite, to teach the housemates how to think on their feet.
“The ability to really listen to the people around you, to be spontaneous and in the moment and to let that moment lead you can help you learn a lot about your life,” Halpern says. “It’s kind of like John Lennon said: ‘Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.’ These are the tenants we teach people how to live by.”
The wild, young cast of the current season of “Real World,” bunked in a fabulously renovated movie lot stage/home in the middle of Hollywood, needs all the help from industry insiders that they can get. In a series twist, the housemates on this show cycle are given the opportunity to pursue their own dreams of a career in entertainment rather than be given a mandatory job for the duration of the taping.
“In the beginning [the housemates] were kind of skeptical about being given improv lessons [instead of a job],” Halpern says. “But then they started watching other shows at iO and going ‘Wow, this is cool. You can actually teach us to do that?’ They started taking it a lot more seriously.”
Of course, this wouldn’t be “The Real World” without some naked hot tubbing, boozy fisticuffs and other serious drama conflicting with the more positive moments of the season. “There were ups and downs, because the kids were always partying and drinking. There were days when I wanted to kill them,” Halpern says, laughing. “I haven’t watched the episodes yet, so I’m curious to see if the skills I taught them about working together made them better housemates.”
Roommate courtesy — or a lack thereof — aside, Halpern hopes the cast took her career guidance to heart, so that one day, perhaps, they’ll be remembered alongside the illustrious names on the iO alumni roster.
“I always hate to lecture and say, ‘You know, in two or three years you’re gonna wake up and go, ‘Oh God, that was an amazing opportunity and I didn’t take it,’” she says. “There were a lot of opportunities given to them, not only through me, but through auditions and leads for jobs. Doors don’t open that easily, so this was a really important opportunity.”
‘The Real World’ airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on MTV.