Improv Nonsense

Even though I’m making a big deal about it, accepting offers should be no big deal most of the time. You should be poised to say yes to anything implied about you in an effortless way. A lot of the time, the offers won’t be a big deal - but it’s good form to accept them anyway.

Let’s say you’re a character taking a girl on a date, and you and the other character get into a little groove where you’re each trying to apologize for things going badly.

• Guy: I’m so sorry, this night has been such a mess.
• Girl: Don’t feel bad! I know you’ve been trying.
• Guy: Who cares if I’ve been trying? The waiter brought us this horrible meal, everyone’s been rude. We should go.
• Girl: No, you paid so much for this meal! We should stay!
• Guy: It wasn’t that much. Let’s get out of here.

Right there in the last line, the guy is rejecting an offer. I mean, not really. He’s just saying his character didn’t consider it that much money. It fits his character and the momentum of the conversation, and he has not hurt the scene. But I bet if he were really disciplined about listening to his partner’s lines for offers, he wouldn’t have said that.

Without adding any new information, I will tweak this to show offers accepted explicitly and simply:

• Guy: I’m so sorry, this night has been such a mess.
• Girl: It has, it has. But don’t feel bad! I know you’ve been trying!
• Guy: I have! So much! But who cares?  The waiter brought us this horrible meal, everyone’s been rude. We should go.
• Girl: We should just leave immediately. But you paid so much for this meal! We should stay!
• Guy: It really was very expensive. Still, let’s get out of here.

I don’t think I’ve really changed the scene, but this conversation sounds like two improvisers who accept everything hinted as a matter of course. It shows better form.

This is all semantics. You could correctly argue that I’m just talking about “Yes, and” — and that the previous example is simply making a bigger, more explicit “yes.” But as I said at the start of this (monstrously long?) piece, the phrase “accept offers” demands more explicit action from improvisers.