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However, the only way to get good in something as difficult as improv is to listen to a lot of people and
choose the ideas you like. If you don't like one of these guidelines, ignore it. Or try doing the opposite
- maybe you'll find something better.
ADD HISTORY
The swiftest way to add reality and depth to a scene is to have the characters call up specifics from their
common history. A simple exchange such as:
--“Like the time we ran naked through the Yale-Princeton field hockey game?”
A few words properly placed can fill provide a metric ton of information. From the example above, the
audience and actors now can infer characters are college boys, they are troublemakers, they are upper-
class, they are educated, they are from New England, they drink to excess, they have police records,
they are old friends, and much more. With one sentence, the amount of information the improvisers can
now draw on has grown exponentially.
Some people suggest staying in the present tense at all times. This is lunacy. I agree, however, that you
should avoid talking to much about the future. Things is the future might happen, they might shape
your characters. Things in the past did happen, they did shape your characters.
When in situations that are fantastic, there is a simple maxim to govern your action: “If this is true,
then what else is true?” It’s a question you can ask yourself at every second of the scene. Each time you
find the answer, you can play it out. Before you know it, you’ve built a solid scene around a core idea.
Example:
Suppose, a character picks up the phone and makes a call. Due to a misunderstanding over names, the
improviser on the other end doesn’t recognize the requested name and says it’s a wrong number. The
caller hangs up and says to the scene partner that there is something wrong with him and he only dials
wrong numbers lately. The other improvisersaccept this as true and then ask themselves what else
would be true if this guy can only dial wrong numbers.
They come up with new scenes and initiate them. Someone initiates a fire in the scene and tells him to
dial 911. The person on the other end says “411”. The guy tries to call his girlfriend and gets another
woman on the line, who recognizes him from previous wrong number and starts to flirt with him.
The real girlfriend suspects something is up, uses reverse lookup, and rings the doorbell of every
woman whose phone number is 1 different from hers and launches into a third degree. The hi-jinx
continue, each person just asking themselves “if this guy only dials wrong numbers, then what else is
true?” and then “ok, supposing that consequence of his dialing wrong numbers has happened, now
what would be true?”
BE VERY SPECIFIC
If you're going to say "nice car!", why not make it "nice, a 1979 Subaru Station Wagon!" If we know
the Subaru owner is a 21 year old woman, suddenly we can visualize her (well, maybe you can’t, but I
can: she has dried white and blue oil paint on her fingers and long brown hair). A more vivid image
opens up a rich, new world. Adjectives are the WD-40 of scenes, as they get the scene going faster.
BEGINNING SCENES
Basically, you want to cut to the interesting stuff as soon as possible. This is why we sometimes advise:
start the scene with two people on, or start the scene with two people with common history.
--Hi.
--Hello.
--Mike.
--What's new?
--Ouch. Margarita?
--My treat.
Mime Denial: Somebody spends five minutes setting the dining room table, another character walks
right through it. This will make the audience squirm and gasp and have an icky feeling.
Character Denial: Not letting the other person be what she wants to be.
--Periscope down.
The denying actor is not reacting to the presented information. Denial makes audience and cast
uncomfortable. All denial can be rectified with Justification, but it's a real skill.
People advanced in improv can tell the difference between bad denial and comedic denial. In the latter,
denial can make sense within in the logic of the scene: i.e., if Don Quixote were the helicopter pilot, he
may say "periscope down" and need to be corrected by his straight-person assistant. However, it
requires a lot of respect (the opposite of denial) to get to the point where the audience understands that
the captain is a Don Quixote.
Furthermore, experienced actors may appear to deny each other when playing games of one-
upsmanship, but, upon closer inspection, they are accepting the information the other presents, then
adding to it and raising the stakes. For example:
--Now you shall die by my sword, certified to be the sharpest in the land Schiiing.
--Sharpest in the land! You mean you don't import your swords? Scha-schiiing.
The response accepts what was stated, and one-ups it by finding a way to beat it without denying it. A
denying response would be, "Well, your certificate lies. Shluuung". Accept and justify the information
that others provide. It makes the scenes flow easier, and is simply less aggressive than denying what
your fellow actors have created.
Two exercises can help people overcome the denying urge. One is playing the denial game (i. e.,
playing out scenes where every line denies the other character's previous line) to make one another
conscious of the bad habit. Another rehearsal exercise, just for beginners helps to point out each others
denials in scenes: simply respond to your fellow actor's denials with "there's no denying that!".
JOKES (beginners)
Never try to be funny or tell jokes on stage. Humor will arise naturally out of tight relationships and
solid, simple plots.
JUSTIFICATION
You must provide reasons for everything the audience sees that doesn't make sense. If you don't, it will
disconcert them. That is, if 3 characters each mime the refrigerator being in different places, then the
character who damns putting rollers on the thing will put the audience's mind at ease and allow them to
get into the story and characters. They will also get a laugh, but that doesn’t matter as much.
Why have:
--Hey, if you give that cop a wedgie, I'll let you kiss me.
The audience wants the actor to succeed. The moment you launch into an activity (baking bread,
counting money, sweeping the floor) or an emotion (hope, love, pride), the audience thinks "oh, I see.
They know what's going on. They have a plan" and then they relax and enjoy the show. Of course, you
don't really have a plan, and you don't really know what's going on. As Mick Napier said:
"improvisation is the art of being completely O.K. with not knowing what the f-- you're doing." In
more polite English, the best improvisers appear completely confident even when they have no idea
what's going on.
Any question can be turned into a statement. The nice thing about statements is that they provide
information you and your fellow actor
Why go through:
--Uh, 3:30?
--Uh, Fargo?
--It's 3:30
A drill to point out question-asking in rehearsal, is to respond to each other's questions with "that's a
good question ..." or adopt the Yiddish practice of answering with the exact same question:
--What do I want? [actor 2 points out that actor 1 is putting him on the spot instead of contributing]
--Look, I'll get you the money tomorrow [hurrah! actor 1 gets the message]
“WHO WHAT WHO WHERE?” ARE GREAT THINGS FOR PEOPLE STARTING SCENES
TO ASK THEMSELVES
A fine way to start a scene is to lay out who both people are, where they are, and what they are doing.
You may provide this information or do it for the other character. Just be sure to accept all information
the other character provides for you. Who? what? who? where? is nicely followed by raise the stakes --
sort of an opening gambit for improv scenes.
APPENDIX
Here are some vocabulary terms I've grown to know and love:
2 3 4 (repeat)
Notes: Popocatepetl ((po po ca te' petl) nickname Popo) is a volcano in South central Mexico which
erupts all the time, even 11 days before I wrote this. It is not a seaport. Malaga is a seaport in Southern
Spain, home of strong, sweet Malaga wine. Rimini is a seaport in Northeast Italy, which is like Fort
Lauderdale for European youth. Brindisi (Brin’de zi), sometimes nicknamed and mispronounced
"sleazy Brin dee' zee," is a seaport in Southeast Italy where you catch the ferry to Greece. A girlfriend
and I once asked the tourist office if there were any movies in town. "Only for men," they said.
justification - providing an explanation for something the audience saw that didn't make sense
reflexive action - an action a character does repeatedly and unconsciously. Helps make the character
stand out from the crowd, as well as seem familiar like an old friend, or that special pair of moccasins.
One way to "take care of yourself" on stage.
rule of a thousand - continuing on after the rule of three until things become funny again. Some
people believe this works something like a sine wave, so there's always hope some thing may get funny
again even if it's starting to look really desperate.
rule of three - Three humorous events (scenes, jokes, etc.) on the same topic or with the same gist.
The third is always the hardest hitting.
runner - three blackouts on the same theme with the third one being the biggest laugh of all.
status - Whoever has influence or control over a situation has the higher status in the scene. Many
pre-defined stock relationships, such as, judge / plaintiff have status build right into them. Status can
easily invert and this can become the plot of entire stories, a la Trading Places.
yes and - two great words which encourage the person who says them to accept information and add to
it