It’s been a funny thing to observe in improv: how people seem to listen to improvisers from out-of-town over one of their own, even though the advice can be the same. Why is it that standard adages such as “remember to ‘yes-and'” or “character development is important” sound like unique, glowing pearls of wisdom when coming from a visiting teacher from Seattle or LA?

Apparently, this happens all over the place, all over history.

My sis L just sent this from dad’s files. This is an excerpt from a speech for a retirement party for a crony in Boston in ’73-ish. Dad had had a heart attack, so he couldn’t be there himself, but sent this along:

As for being spokesman, when Francis asked me, he did mention that I had a gift of gab which is nice — even true — but it just puts me in the company of Fidel Castro, Adolph Hitler, and P. T. Barnum. The real qualification is that I’m from out-of-town. You know perfectly well that if you want something done right, you always get somebody from out of town to do it. For instance, how many U. S. Presidents were born in Washington D.C.? When the Boston Patriots football team needed a quarterback did it draw upon Harvard? No sir, it drew upon Stanford. So what you’ve got tonight is the very finest. Not only am I from out of town, I am not even there.

Say what I will about my father, he was pretty damn funny every once in a while.