Improv Diplomacy

This piece follows some of the early days of the so-called “Improv Ambassador,” Byron Kennerly, how he conjured the idea, as well as his collaborations with improv groups across Asia. As of April, 2023, he has performed in 11 different cities across 11 Asian countries!

“My name is Byron Kennerly, I’m a touring improviser from Los Angeles and I’ve just launched a quest to perform an improv show in every country in the world. Taiwan seemed like a natural next destination.”

So read the e-mail that Formosa Improv Group (FIG)福爾摩沙即興組合 received at the end of November in 2022, written by the self-dubbed “Improv Ambassador,” or in Chinese 即興大師。With an ambitious goal that will perhaps take him the rest of his life to complete, Taiwan was the third destination after Japan and South Korea where Byron took his diplomatic improv skills to the stage. But how and why did Mr. Kennerly come up with the idea for this seemingly self-destructing mission impossible?

“It came to me as the best ideas always do: lying in bed trying to sleep at 1am.” Byron Kennerly

“It was a few days after I came up with the goal of performing in every country in the world and thought it was the perfect name for my adventure. After quickly checking to see if the domain and social handles were available (they were), I couldn’t sleep until 5am because I was so excited about the possibilities.”

One of FIG’s core values is to “say yes” to opportunities for collaboration that come the group’s way, especially when people take the time, energy, and financial investment to travel to the subtropical island of Taiwan. This e-mail from the Improv Ambassador was a ripe guava that had been tossed directly into FIG’s playing field, specifically so that the group could apply their core values towards action.

Seen here is a photo of Byron with the Pirates of Tokyo Bay. “When I thought of the concept, the first person I called was Mike Staffa (top, third from the right), the founder of Pirates of Tokyo Bay. I’d met Mike on a trip to Japan in 2017 and since he’s a seasoned international performer I wanted to ask him if my idea was, you know, insane. His enthusiasm and advice was a tremendous boost and Japan was the obvious place to start. I was on stage with Mike in Tokyo a week after the restrictions were lifted.”

After taking a look at the ambassador’s website, FIG wasted no time in saying yes and accepting Byron with open arms as an itinerant member of the performance group, as well as part of the FIG improv ecosystem, inviting him to also lead one of the weekly Monday community workshops. As part of the backbone of what ties the group to the Taipei community, the workshops were a place for Byron to flex his facilitation muscles and test out new games, exercises and skills with a “say yes” crowd.

Seen here is the Ambassador in action as he stands on the stage at FIG’s home turf of Two Three Comedy. “I think you all are doing great, especially at building a community which I believe is the most important part of improv success.”

FIG has been running open bilingual improv workshops for the Taipei community since its inception in 2018. These workshops are as integral to the group as are the performances. In the beginning, the workshops were led solely by a rotating cast of FIG performance members, but since 2022, the group has maintained a flexible open-door policy of inviting members of the Taipei community, as well as traveling improvisers or performers such as Byron to lead the workshops and use the space to apply fresh techniques, skills, games, and exercises. Having someone like Byron lead a workshop as he travels through Taiwan was a win-win situation both for him and for FIG as he was able to test out a workshop that he developed specifically for his world mission, and the workshop recipients had the opportunity to have some fun during the learning process.

Listen to Byron’s podcast introducing his time in Taiwan, as well as an interview at the end with FIG performing member, Diana Liu.

Byron in action as he directs participants of FIG’s open workshop during his visit.

“The bilingual shows are impressive and I think you could advise teams around the world about involving players native to the country. I think expanding outside of the expat community is really important and something many groups struggle with abroad.”

Besides leading FIG’s Monday workshop, Byron needed to check a show off the box during his stay in Taipei. The visit to Taiwan would not count towards his mission if he did not actually perform. This would be the first time that the Ambassador was to experience a mix of languages within the same scene. FIG’s bilingualism is very much the group’s calling card. While members of the group and audience have become used to a mix of languages on stage, it is certainly a daunting task for a visiting improviser to improvise in a foreign city, in front of a fully bilingual audience, in a language that is completely unfamiliar.

A behind the scenes view of Byron attending FIG’s practice prior to the show in which he performed with the group. Byron made this face whenever he heard Chinese on stage.

“In my show with FIG, I experienced the first mind bending moment of my improv quest: Bilingual SCENES. It was incredible to watch players in a scene start in English and then switch to Mandarin mid scene. This is something I never would have experienced had I not been on this journey and it was incredible. It was a wonderful challenge and a humbling experience for a guy who thought he’d seen it all on stage.”

Byron and members of FIG strike a pose after their performance together.

After the show and some days of nearby site-seeing (which readers can hear about on the podcast link above), Byron bid farewell to “round one” of Taiwan in order to continue his diplomatic improvised mission. FIG continues to follow and cheer for his journey (check out his website: https://improvambassador.com/). The group looks forward to seeing what sort of improvised gems he collects along the way and hopes to learn from a much more seasoned and grizzled Improv Ambassador at some point in the future. In the meantime, the FIG tree continues to anchor its roots in the Taiwanese soil, bear fruit to the Taipei community, and provide shade, comfort, and improvised sustenance for any future travelers to the island. While Byron may have continued his journey on towards other such locations as The Philippines, Bali, and Thailand, the mission of improvised diplomacy remains alive and well on “Ilha Formosa” with FIG!