Improv Nonsense

This post is about things you can do in your improv sets that provide instant gratification in terms of laughter from the audience and are also usually (though not always) healthy for your scene overall.

I’m thinking about when you’re about to do an indie show and you just want to HAVE FUN, but so often that urge results in terrible aimless chaotic shows.

Here are things you can do that are easy, that get you INSTANT LAUGHS, you validation-hungry whores, and will USUALLY help your scene even though they are not technically things that address directly the fundamentals of a good scene.

QUALIFICATION AND APOLOGY: This post is also a ridiculous over-simplification of things but I will accept no criticism. Express any dissatisfaction through means which I cannot detect. It is also too long to be considered diligently written. I forgive myself as I’m shaking off dust. Thank you, improv 301 students, who will hopefully read this whole thing.

I. Immediately Accept Offers

So I was in a Stepfathers show and was kinda lost - I had initiated that I had come to town hall to look up a birth certificate of my grandfather and then immediately forgot why I thought that was a good idea. My scene partner, Silvija Ozols, made a suggestion in the form of a tentative question in the way that improvisers sometimes do when they feel things have gotten foggy: “Wait, are you they guy who’s trying to fake that your grandfather is a citizen?” And I considered it for one second and then without really understanding what I would have to do just said “Yes.”

And the audience laughed.

I think we’re all familiar with that situation — someone half-offers an explanation or a idea of what another character is up to. “Are you saying you’re going to quit your job?” “There’s something else going on. Are you trying to tell me something?” Saying yes to these questions will almost always please the audience. I’d go so far as to say you will always get a laugh in saying “yes” to those questions which are really tentative offers.

I’m NOT saying it’s always good for the scene. If there’s a game established, blindly saying yes could muddle things. And now you have to prove it — to make true whatever you just agreed to.

But it’s always always good for the MOMENT to say yes to those offers. It’s a guaranteed happy moment and often the right move since you are agreeing with your partner.

Why is this so reliable? I guess because the audience can see that Person B thought of the idea, and Person A is now going to enact it. It’s like a pimp or in a small way like a short-form game where one person is controlling the other. Or it’s just good cooperative improv. Person A pauses, Person B makes an offer and Person A accepts. Or it’s the magic of saying “yes.”

Another way of looking at this: when I watch indie shows that are going poorly, it’s the number one thing that stands out to me, that people are constantly saying “no” or finding reasons to dismiss or ignore the half-hearted tentative offers from everyone else. Next show at the Creek or Under St. Marks: you count how many times someone softly brushes aside comments like “you’re angry, aren’t you?” or “is that MY briefcase?” — it is surprisingly constant.

II. Rich Specifics

Making any generic item specific, or making any would-be generic setting specific — is always immediately fun. When Jack McBrayer moved to NYC and was doing an improv show, and the world here had yet to discover how awesome he was, he stepped out in a Harold and someone said “Pick up that basketball” and Jack said “I’d love to. It’s a SPALDING.”

And the audience exploded with laughter.

That’s partly because the audience loves anything Jack McBrayer says but they also loved the specificity.

Magazine titles, types of food, saying particular names all are fun and easy things to do — as long as they fit within the reality you establish and are not jokes in an of themselves are always a delight. No more Johnson File for Jenkins at the office. It’s a list of fire alarms that need repairing for your boss Bert Purdy at the rock quarry headquarters.

I admit these will not always serve the scene, and if a game has been established you will risk distracting from it — but it will absolutely be fun in the moment and very often inspire future choices. And if you’re in a show that you’re thinking of as a fuck-around show, it’s a good way to practice keeping the writer side of your brain active.

Related but just slightly harder: starting with a rich world — the future, the past, a fantastical land — each with its own laws, codes, cultures, jargon — that’s fun to play with and is instantly fun. A dystopian future where you say “Greetings citizen” is not that much harder than asking your modern-era roommate about the rent, and it’s way more fun.  A small midwestern neighbor who comments that the Kiwanis Hall needs fixing — that person sounds more interesting than a doctor asking for a scalpel.

III. Physicality

Fwand was one of my favorite Harold teams of all time. I feel like I never saw a fwand show where they didn’t all pick up one of their members off the floor at least once. Therefore always pick each other up and do big group physical stuff or any kind. It’s fun.

Audiences eat that shit up. It probably won’t hurt anything and will likely invigorate things.

IV. Commitment

Commitment is obviously a big part of good improv and something that does help your scene fundamentally and is something all improv teachers should constantly talk about. But what you might not appreciate is that, ironically, even half-assed commitment works.

What I mean is: you don’t have to work yourself up to a Robert Duvall level of immersion for your commitment to help your improv. I think just saying to yourself as the scene is starting “be there” or “be this person” — just that short mental check in, and your whole posture will change. Your face will slightly drop its smirk, your eyes will focus. The audience will detect that you are much more in the scene and they absolutely will love it more at that very moment.

Better example: The suggestion is “plaster” and you decide you’re going to be a guy in a hospital bed, and as you walk out you also decide that maybe you’re going to be asking the doctor if you can bribe him for a better room because why the fuck not? You need an idea and that’s one.

As you sit in that chair and lift your leg, just tell yourself “be in the hospital” — and without thinking any more than that, I bet your acting will get 20% better. The audience will notice.  How many indie shows are two people facing each other on stage with a big grin, giggling through their lines? Just being a notch more into it would set them above most of the rest of the pack in one instant. Yes, you too can be a GREATER IMPROVISER WITH JUST THIS ONE STEP OF HALF-ASSED COMMITMENT! NO FORETHOUGHT OR GREAT GAME MOVES REQUIRED!

V. Summing Up

So I don’t know: none of these things address the fundamentals of a good show. They don’t guarantee you a grounded reality, or supportive environment, or smart games. They don’t lay down seeds for third beats — they don’t really do the work.

But they increase the quality of play, they increase the percentages of good things happening. They provide instant gratification and are easy. I suggest you try them at your next low stakes show and feel how much fun you will have.

BONUS: None of these things really require that anyone on your team be on the same page with you. You can do these in a show all by yourself. Except for picking people up and carrying them around, although with your more petite teammates you can do that, too.