Improv Comedy and Identity Formation: The Importance of Serious Leisure in Emerging Adulthood

Abstract

The purpose of this autoethnography is to evocatively and vulnerably share my story of participating in a collegiate improvisational comedy troupe in order to understand how my participation influenced my identity as an emerging adult. In this personal narrative, I take the reader through my experience of the practices, shows, feelings, emotions, and significance that accompanied my membership on an improv comedy troupe. I then analyze my experience from the framework of serious leisure and from the viewpoint of an emerging adult in order to bring light to how serious leisure, especially improv comedy, can significantly influence identity formation in emerging adulthood. An analysis of my personal narrative revealed that serious leisure, namely improv comedy, contributed significantly to my identity formation as an improviser as well as an emerging adult. The study also revealed that passion and peer relationships have significant roles in serious leisure pursuits as well as the formation of identity. This study proposes additions to Stebbins’ (1982) serious leisure perspective and to Kleiber’s (1999) conditions for identity formation through leisure. It also adds to the literature of positive youth development and the discussion of emerging adulthood as a significant developmental stage.