Connecting Communities Through Improv – Fox 9 Feature
Last week, Danger Boat Productions co-founder Tane Danger appeared on Fox 9’s Afternoon Shift to talk about the power of improv in building community.
In the interview, Tane shared how improv helps people:
Become better listeners
Engage across differences
Open up meaningful conversations in surprising ways
From shows like The Theater of Public Policy to workshops at the Humphrey School, our work proves that laughter and listening can go hand in hand.
Watch the clip from Fox 9 and learn more about how improv can transform communication.
Transcript
Tane Danger:
Wait, oh, this is the impact I have.
Adam Llorens:
Very good, very good Tane Danger, a Minneapolis legend, a United States legend.
Maxx Fuller:
He asked us to introduce himself like that.
Adam Llorens:
Yes, yes. You connect people and you're just an all around, just a great, great dude. Thank you for joining us.
Tane Danger:
This has been a great interview. Thank you. No…
Adam Llorens:
That's very nice. Thank you. I'm very grateful to be here. Yeah. Why don't you tell the people a little bit more about what you
Tane Danger:
Do? Sure. So I'm Tane Danger. I'm one of the co-founders of Danger Boat Productions, and we use improv, as you said, improv comedy as a tool for both teaching people how to talk to each other and then how to connect people and yeah, just how to be good in community with each other.
Maxx Fuller:
Yeah. How did you first have the kind of inspiration to blend, almost like motivational speeches with improv comedy?
Tane Danger:
No, it's a great question. So I was doing improv in college and then I was studying communication in college and I was like, oh, these things that we do in improv, making stuff up on the fly, listening really well to people, being able to tell a story, all these things are things that are really valuable and good. And then about 15 years ago now, I started doing a show in Minneapolis called The Theater of Public Policy, and that was a way where we would actually use improv as a way to bring to life important topics and things. And a lot of this work just really grew out of that. It's this beautiful art form and I really believe what you guys are good at, if you can have people having fun, they're actually going to learn and remember stuff better.
Maxx Fuller:
Absolutely. I'm curious about this show. Could you talk a little bit more about this? How did you,
Tane Danger:
The Theater of Public Policy?
Maxx Fuller:
Yeah.
Tane Danger:
How did that work? So Theater of Public Policy started, I was working in nonprofits and I worked for the state of Minnesota for a period of time. There's all these people who do really good, meaningful work, not always great about talking about
Maxx Fuller:
Their good meaningful
Tane Danger:
Work, or at least talking about it in a way that's fun and engaging. It's like, well, I'm doing all this improv stuff on the side, improv people are really good storytellers. Is there a way to do these things together? So we created this show where I would interview one or a couple people who are really smart about something, maybe like a scientist or a researcher or somebody who's in some sort of office who's the best at whatever they do, and it'd be a serious interview, but we'd have fun. But then we had this team of improv comedy performers who would take everything that we talked about and brought it to life through entirely unscripted improv theater. So my favorite line about the show ever, the Star Tribune wrote about it and was like, they're like, imagine C-Span being swarmed by the cast of Saturday Night Live. That's incredible. So that's how we got this whole thing started, and then along the way we were like, oh, these things improvisers do on stage. These are really good skills for anybody who wants to be able to connect and listen, have a good conversation with other people, think on their feet, and maybe be able to move a conversation or dialogue forward in a productive way.
Adam Llorens:
You talked a lot about listening there. My grandmother used to have a quote, you have two ears and one mouth. You got to listen and talk in that proportion. Why is listening such an important asset that we don't do enough of these days? I mean, have you been around? Do you find people are good listeners
Tane Danger:
Your grandmother's a hundred percent right. Very much aligned with your grandmother. And I mean, I always start this in the improv sense. You imagine an improv show, people getting up on stage to create something. If they aren't listening to each other, that show's not going to work. If I get up on stage and I'm like, oh, hey, it's my birthday and we're going to have a party, and you're like, Hey, we're cowboys on the moon, and I'm like,
Maxx Fuller:
Yeah,
Tane Danger:
Just it.
Maxx Fuller:
It's like Michael Scott in that episode of the Office.
Tane Danger:
Yeah, exactly. Michael Scott in that of the Office. Bad listener. So yes. And also, yeah. Anyway, so I totally agree and it's so fundamental. I mean, to expand on how your grandmother framed this, we always talk about when we're doing some of these trainings and things, if you aren't listen, listening and actually hearing what somebody else is saying is the foundation to then being able to actually engage with what they're saying. And B, the piece I really think that we underestimate is how much people appreciate being listened to. We live in this time where people talk about how polarized we are and how hard it is, and oh, people are just mad. I'm like, you know what? My experience is if you actually can demonstrate to somebody else, I actually am listening to you and curious about what you're saying. It doesn't mean that we agree, but if I have that curiosity and I can show you that I'm really listening, we're probably going to have a pretty okay conversation.
Maxx Fuller:
Amen to that. Yeah, absolutely. We need a lot better listeners. If everyone listens to each other more often, I think we'd all be a little bit more close together. I'm curious though, because listening is a skill. It's not something that's innate. You're not born with certain capacity to listen or are you,
Tane Danger:
Oh, this is actually, this is great. It's like you've taken one of my workshops before because I have this whole bit on this that I talk about where sometimes talk about or just almost the way you are partially like, oh, well I'm not a good listener, or That person is a good listener. And I mean, there's probably some element of how much we just naturally do it or whatever, but I fundamentally believe in the workshops and trainings that we do, you can get to be a good listener really fast. And even if you just sort of think about if you are, okay, let me ask you this. Sometime you're in your house or something middle of the night and all of a sudden you hear something in your house, all of a sudden you are a very good listener.
Maxx Fuller:
You're hearing everything.
Tane Danger:
Hear every single thing that's happening, and that's kind of an but that demonstrates you can tune up that level of listening. And so we do a lot of, with the exercises and trainings that Danger Boat does, we do a lot of things where we're getting people to practice these different ways to listen and listen, both for the actual hearing, what somebody's saying, but then also the nonverbal cues. What somebody is communicating to you when their facial expressions, how they hold themselves, the energy, all of those different things. We are aware of that when you're talking to somebody, if somebody's like, yeah, I'm really excited to be here.
Maxx Fuller:
Yeah, this is great. Yeah, thanks for having me.
Tane Danger:
We're not dumb. We know what that is. And so paying attention and listening to that is not some foreign language. It's not impossible. Just we have to take a minute sometimes to tune into that and pay attention to it.
Adam Llorens:
You brought up Danger Boat, what exactly is danger? And you know what, listen, is this your real name, Tae Danger? That's your real birth name.
Tane Danger:
Tain Danger. I had a grandma Danger just to keep it with Grandma.
Maxx Fuller:
Grandma Danger.
Tane Danger:
Yeah.
Maxx Fuller:
Totally. Your ancestors must have been something else to get the last name. Danger, because my family, my last name is Fuller, but formally it was Outlaw. So I was like, what did they do? Outlaw? What did they do to Yeah, it was Outlaw. Before we were Fuller, we were Outlaw. I was like, how obnoxious were my ancestors that they were just like they got to Ellis Island or wherever they're black and they're like Outlaw, outlaw, outlaw. That's your name. That is your name. That is what describes you. Danger is what describes your family.
Tane Danger:
Yeah, I don't know. Which is more extreme. The people would be like, damn Danger. So yes, danger is my last name and then my co-founder of the company is Brandon Boat. And so Danger, but I know people always say, and so we literally get email inquiries that are like, is there anything for sale at the marina? No, I kind of want to, we should have a side hustle Anyway, danger Boat is Team Danger, me and Brandon Boat, and then a team of very talented improv people. And we do a lot of different things. We do shows what I talked about. We do a lot of education and training pieces using improv in workshops, in school settings, at conferences and things like that to help people learn how to communicate and things like that. I mean, sometimes I do the shorthand, which is just like if you are looking for something that you want your conference or event to be more fun people to learn something and you're looking for a creative way to do that, that's basically kind of what Danger Boat does.
Maxx Fuller:
I love that. I love that you do thousands of these, I would imagine have done hundreds of these over your time. There's got to be some trends that you see across some of these meetings and stuff. What would you say is the number one kind of listening or trend that you see that people could tweak pretty easily?
Tane Danger:
So that's a great question. I think one thing that we spent in the last year or so, we've been really focusing a lot of this on how to have conversations that maybe are a little challenging or difficult conversations across Difference. And we've been doing some of that work with the University of Minnesota. And one of the things out of that work and I think is a trend that we're trying to address is people having a conversation, but instead of listening, they are politely waiting for their turn to talk.
Maxx Fuller:
Right? They're talking at each other.
Tane Danger:
Yeah, they're just sort of like, let me tell you what I think.
Maxx Fuller:
I cannot tell you how often that happens to me.
Tane Danger:
Exactly. That is a real thing. We have some exercises and things that we run people through that just force you to actually listen to the other person before you can go on. So just a really simple exercise, people can do this at home is like, okay, when you're having a conversation with somebody else, listen to them. And then you start your sentence with the last thing the other person said, the last few words. And it sounds a little clunky and it's a little bit hard, but once you start doing it, you're like, oh, this is slowing me down. I can't just be in my head thinking about what I'm going to say next. this other
Maxx Fuller:
I have to listen to person.
Tane Danger:
And this addresses a real thing that we see of people totally missing what the other person is talking about and them not really necessarily showing the other person I care about what you say,
Adam Llorens:
I care about what you said. See, Hey, look at that. Look at that. Yeah. Lesson learned, right? Yeah, it's done. What have been some of the crazier clients or situations that you've found danger to be a part of?
Tane Danger:
Oh, I mean we've done hundreds of conferences and events and all these different kinds of things over the years. And the Theater of Public Policy is one of the shows we do do an entire show where we bring people together and have them have conversations about what their ideal end of life would be.
Maxx Fuller:
Oh wow.
Tane Danger:
Yeah, I know it sounds heavy and it's like everybody's like, oh, I don't want to talk. But yet, if you actually ask people what do you imagine the perfect way to go to be, right? It's a meaningful question. You get to know people really well and you find people have kind of deep thoughts about this sometimes and they connect. And then, I mean if that doesn't sound awkward and weird enough, then our cast of improvisers listens to all of that and then they do a show reflecting back to the audience, here's everything we heard everybody say about their hopes and fears and challenges about this. That's one of the weirder things we do. But honestly, even that this sort of magic, I think a little bit of using good listening, good communication, but then a little bit of comedy sprinkled in.
Maxx Fuller:
Right.
Tane Danger:
Opens these things up and we do that exact show, that end of life conversation and then show thing. And I've had so many people who have come to one of those and they've been like trying to get my husband to talk about how we want to focus on this for 20 years. And it's always been like, no, we're not going to talk about it. No, we're not. And then it was like, well, there's this comedy show and we came to that and now actually we talked about it and it's like this magic thing to open some of this stuff up,
Maxx Fuller:
Man. I would imagine through doing that hundreds of times, thousands of times, that it also opened stuff up for yourself as well, that you're kind of having to reflect and learn a lot about yourself and open up your own personal life to the audience that you're sending the message to. Right?
Tane Danger:
A hundred percent. I mean, I think one of the things that in all this different kind of work, but I mentioned we're doing a lot of this work on dialogue across difference and how to have some of these kind of conversations. We have such a capacity to imagine, oh, well this person lives in this part of the state or they are from this background and so I already know what they think about X or how they are going to view X or whatever. And I'm just telling you, we do events and projects all over the state, but even all over the country. But again, you go anywhere and if you really sit with people and talk to them, people are complicated, they're complex. And I have yet to meet somebody who just, I'm like, I know everything. You fit every single thing that I thought ahead of time. Everybody has a whole multitude of ideas and perspectives and ways of thinking about things. That's cool. That's amazing.
And if you can focus on that, all of a sudden, every person you meet is a gift of what are we going to discover about you today? I dunno, I'm getting a little preachy about this, but I really do believe this where it's like if we had a little bit more of that in our minds as we were going about our days, like, oh, I'm so interested in what is going to surprise me about this person rather than Yeah, I know. I think that a lot of our communications and a lot of our society would just probably function better. And I think we would just get a lot more out of our, a much more positive way to go about your life.
Maxx Fuller:
For sure. Once you realize the world is not black and white and there's a lot more gray, oddly enough, the world gets more colorful.
Tane Danger:
I totally agree. I love that framing. Absolutely.
Adam Llorens:
You're talking about positivity. You ever have bad days chain danger? You ever had bad days? Yeah. How do you deal with those? Because you have such a beacon of white Positivity.
Tane Danger:
Come on afternoon shows and talk to great people. No, I mean frankly, yeah, it is for me, I find a lot of solace in talking to other people and I can get down and frustrated and I don't know, you open a newspaper or whatever on any given day and you're like, there is a lot of heavy stuff here. And I really find the more time, whenever I'm feeling that way, if I can spend time with other people and actually talk to them and be interested in them, that is uplifting for me. That, and then my other one, which is just another best practice about being in the world is write thank you notes. Totally A, it's a nice thing to do. And then B, I feel good writing thank you notes to other people. And so this is my advice to anybody. Just write thank you notes and you a other people will appreciate it and you'll feel good.
Maxx Fuller:
Yeah. Here you go, love. Thank you. Love right here. No, it's not handwritten, but it's the thought that counts. It's the thought that counts. Danger. I hate to, we're not trying to rush you out of here or anything like that. You want to enjoy the, now you seem like a very present guy, but what's next? What's in the future? What are some goals that you have?
Tane Danger:
Oh wow, that's great. So we are doing, as I said, this work on using some improv things to train folks in how to have better conversations and dialogues. We've got a relationship where we do this with the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. And so this is a training that we developed and we have done it now for incoming classes of students how to constructive dialogue at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. And we've done it for all the incoming Humphrey students the last two years. It's great. They get a lot out of it. And what we hear is that it really helps them have better conversations as students. I really want to grow that work. I think that how to have better conversations and how to listen and tell a story and have a conversation with somebody who's got a different point of view than you is like a class. Every human could probably take
Maxx Fuller:
Something.
Tane Danger:
And so that is work that I'm very, very excited and positive about. And then Danger Boat is doing a whole variety of different shows and projects all over the state of Minnesota. Again, a lot of these different things where people are like, Hey, we need a fun way to bring some folks together at a conference, at a community event or something like that. Can you help us use a little improv magic to actually get these folks to talk about something and then do a show about that? I love this work and we're doing it. And I always feel like, where haven't we been yet?
Adam Llorens:
Yeah, yeah. What's your message out there to somebody that might just be having negative thoughts today? Or maybe just be feeling negative Because again, you exude positivity, you exude optimism on everybody that you encounter. I get the vibe I speak for Max, I know you've done that for us here. Somebody out there for sure is maybe not having such a great day. What's your message to them?
Tane Danger:
So, okay, I'll get very real about this. Do you know the number one cause of premature death is not necessarily smoking or alcohol consumption or it is a lack of social connection. And I know that this is easier said than done maybe for some folks, but I would just really encourage, reach out to somebody, try and make that connection. A neighbor, a friend, maybe somebody you haven't talked to in a while. Again, I rarely find that people are unhappy that you have reached out and tried to do that. And I think you will feel better and they will feel better. And then if you're having trouble doing that in person, write a note and maybe start with. Thank you.
Maxx Fuller:
That's it. Well, we're grateful that we reached out to you. If there's others out there that want to reach out to you, connect with you, where can they learn more about you?
Tane Danger:
Go to danger boat.net. Net. Eventually we'll be able to afford the.com. It's Danger boat.net. Danger boat.net. And you can see more about all the different work and projects that we do and get in touch with us. And yeah, maybe bring us out to do some improv communications work with you.
Adam Llorens:
Tane. Danger. You're welcome here at any time. We appreciate you.
Tane Danger:
That would be very fun. Thank you both. You all are great. Thank you.