“Date Me… I’m Amazing!”, a two-hour relationship workshop presented by Paul & Kelly Marks, was the fastest and funniest 2 hours I’ve spent in quite a long time. Paul Marks, President of Over The Counter Improv, is gifted at drawing audience members into each humorous moment; and his tag team with Kelly kept each of us totally engrossed, fully engaged and completely engulfed with LAUGHTER!
A quick survey of the room that evening revealed that the attendees ranked humor in a relationship as an important priority more often than any other trait. Paul shared his surprise with us that humor wasn’t listed in the top 10 characteristics of a successful marriage in a Huffington Post Survey and we were just as surprised! Understanding that relationships require people ‘to relate’, we all agreed that humor is an extremely valuable commodity that provides us with common ground.
The room took on an air of festivity as Paul raised the ‘Embarrassment Bar’ and we formed small groups to execute the ‘silliness’ that he had assigned. The ‘Alphabet’ Game and an interestingly altered version of The ‘Dating’ Game taught us the Art of Listening. The ‘Film Critic’ Game taught us the Power of Observation. We practiced important skills such as repeating a statement and adding to a train of thought to continue a conversation without using the word ‘But’. We learned how to practice and develop some very important relationship skills – and we had loads of fun while doing it!
Relating is not just for dating… And what Paul Marks is offering appeals to a much broader audience. Corporate and Faith-based organizations can benefit from his workshops which use humor effectively to help with fortifying teamwork, thinking outside the box, problem solving, cultivating new clients, improving morale and increasing productivity.
…And if you’re just looking for an evening filled with laughter, the next OTC Improv Show is Saturday, March 28th, at 8pm at The Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte. If you could use a laugh, it’s a show you don’t want to miss!