For the past two years, I have called Izzy Robertson “Mom.” That’s just the kind of thing that happens when you spend four hours a week dedicated to the cause of improv with someone.
If you know Blank Slate Improv, you know Izzy Robertson. All four years of her college career so far, she has been dedicated to nurturing an ever-changing team of hooligans with one goal: to bring joy and laughter to Union University’s campus.
Improv is a comedy show comprised of scenes and characters created completely spontaneously based on audience suggestions. Often these creations manifest within games in which performers must guess prompts and juggle unpredictable changes happening within a scene.
“One of the joys of improv is we practice a lot as a team, and we kind of create these inside jokes that we then get to share with our audience,” Robertson said.
Once a month, the Blank Slate team puts on a two-hour improv show. The night is full of games and skits performed completely in the moment. The prompts are given by the audience, and the performers are told the games minutes before the show.
Their only preparation is hours spent learning each other’s humor throughout the weeks beforehand.
As we sat in Robertson’s room surrounded by walls covered in niche posters and postcards, Robertson recounted how she first joined the Blank Slate family — a cheerful Kat Pinkston and John Clemmons enticing her to the ways of comedy.
“I could tell that they were very deep and well-connected people,” Robertson said. “It was like, ‘Oh, okay, these people could really mentor me.’”
I was instantly reminded of how Robertson convinced freshman me to join the team. She and Aubrey Eytchison, Robertson’s co-captain last year, stood on either side of me like supportive pillars as we “Rick-Rolled” the audience during Union’s Welcome Week Open Mic Night.
It was at that moment that they invited me, not only into the Blank Slate family, but into their lives, in a way that could only be shared through laughter.
“You form that almost tangible bond between each other,” Robertson said. “And I guess that that bond is your shared humor and the memories that you’ve made.”
Robertson has had to watch those tangible bonds form and then become difficult to keep a grasp of as some members graduate or members (such as myself) have to step off the team after, as Robertson described it, “Life be life-ing.”
“I’m a very sentimental person,” Robertson said. “I remember almost every scene that I’ve been in. I remember so many of them that it is hard for me to not reminisce and compare new teams.”
When you grow so accustomed to a group of people that you can anticipate their next words at any given moment, it’s almost a culture shock when suddenly half of the group is new faces with unpredictable jokes.
“There’s a challenge of letting go of what you really liked about the previous year and accepting what is new about the new year,” Robertson said.
Robertson has always had a way of being able to identify the things that made us improvisers unique. She could look at someone during auditions and instantly point out the specific skill set that person has. Whether it be how they move to represent different characters or the way they react with a wide range of emotions, Robertson sees it and knows how to hone it.
“There is the ‘je ne sais quoi’ of each person, and it’s different,” Robertson said. “And you can’t just expect to find it again. So, you’ll find different ‘quois.’”
With a new team, the process is the same: a group of silly people gather week in and week out and share their humor.
“It doesn’t take very long for a new team to bond and form essentially new memories,” Robertson said.
There’s something special in a group that is just genuinely funny. You feel as though you don’t have to entertain anyone because everyone in and of themselves are naturally interesting.
“That’s what really forms a strong team,” Robertson said. “Having people that find each other funny but are each unique in what exactly they bring to the table.”
In the past, Robertson has always ensured the team stays like a family. During my freshman year, she invited us all to celebrate Hanukkah with her. As we sat around a table eating food and exchanging small gifts, the references to movies like “Hot Fuzz” and “Moonraker” would make any outsider convinced we had all grown up together watching and sharing the same things.
“That is something that makes me feel very well loved on the team,” Robertson said. “Having people that understand that deep referential knowledge.”
Week after week, that love and respect for one another grows.
“We know each other,” Robertson said. “We know what each other are struggling with, and we are a support system.”
That support system never fully goes away. Even though I don’t get to meet with the team every week this year, that hasn’t stopped me from going to Robertson and updating her on my life changes and taking her advice in stride. I still talk with many of the graduated members as they live their adult lives and pass down wisdom to us from beyond the “walk.”
As Robertson prepares to graduate this May, the thoughts of what comes next for Blank Slate fill our minds. Most of us can’t picture the team without her.
“I actually do have strong faith in the people that will be taking over the leadership positions,” Robertson said.
While it may feel as though there are large shoes to fill, or a shadow of what once was, Robertson has ensured that Blank Slate stays rooted in its values.
The dynasty may be passing on to a new team next year, but as long as Blank Slate is on Union’s campus, there will be joy, laughter and a very chaotic, but funny, family.
