Improv Nonsense

How about the very common case of a complaint or accusation? What if we see that as an offer?

• Initiation: Bill, why are you so insistent to spend your whole paycheck on this meal? You need that money!

We discourage our beginning students from fighting, since it often stops the scene from moving forward. But it’s okay to fight, as long as the actors are smart enough to see the accusations as an offer. A gift.

The worst response to the above line would be:

• Response: Hey, YOU told me to spend all that money! I was just doing what you said!

That’s what a 101 or 201 student would do. But we can see that that’s essentially a denial, right? The next higher level student would accept the truth but spin the context:

• Response: Yeah, but this the only time I’m allowed to eat all week! I need to get all my food in for the whole week right now!

It’s better — it’s accepting the idea that you truly are going to spend all your money. But it still feels off to me, it’s justifying the complaint so much that the complaint isn’t interesting anymore — you denied the gift of yourself being ridiculous.

What if we look at that accusation as an offer: you are the kind of person, very central to your nature, that spends all his/her paycheck on a meal.

What if it went like this:

• Initiation: Bill, why are you so insistent to spend your whole paycheck on this meal? You need that money!
• Response: This is how much I love food. [or] What can I say? I’m terrible with money.

I bet they would get a huge laugh of satisfaction. And not because there’s any brilliant game in there, or brilliant comedic idea. They are unoriginal, obvious statements. But I believe they would work because they accept in full the offer of the previous line.

I believe the audience rewards us for being smart and realistic. But it also rewards us for playing together. For recognizing what we are implying about each other, for being cooperative.

There is one game that exists in every improv scene, and that is the game of following each other’s cues.