Improv notes:
Don’t try to find game, try to find behaviour
Pay close attention to how your scene partner REACTS to things you say/do (even if they’re only doing it subconsciously)
LISTEN!!
Stake out a point of view and your partner aligns with it, either bringing up new things or eventually one of you peels off because it’s too weird
YOU STATEMENTS:
“You are annoyed with me.”
“You have a mischievous smile on your face.
“You are radient.”
“You’re in a good mood.”
Yes-and it.
Perspective and emotion OVER circumstances!!
Go to the environment to find provocation. If you’re atheistic, find a bible on their shelf, etc.
“In improv, it’s a common mistake to make too much of the surface details of scene’s first line or two. For instance, if your scene partner starts a scene by flipping a pancake and asking if you want fresh blueberries on yours, there is no need to make the whole scene about pancakes and the relative merit of blueberries on top. And yet, I see scenes like that all the time.
Instead listen to what’s behind the initiation. What is implied by the action? How are they behaving and what is their mood? These are the real clues to figure out what is going on.
Your scene partner is making you breakfast. Perhaps you have just spent the night together for the first time. Maybe it’s your anniversary. Maybe he did something wrong and he is trying to apologize or perhaps he’s buttering you up for a favor. Maybe it’s simply that he’s the person in your household that makes breakfast on Saturdays. That’s how you really yes and something, you go deeper.”
Nod – it’ll make you more agreeable
React to something innocuous in a SPECIFIC, STRONG, and BELIEVABLE way!! Innocuous statements are usually better than “I killed your dog” “You got the promotion” because responses are either dull or immediately find game – you want to be as unrestrictive to your partner as possible
Be as unrestrictive as possible while adding depth the the scene (difficult balance)
Surprise yourself (the brain is super good at making connections. Thus, every once in a while, throw out a nonsequitur and allow your brain to make the connection as you go!)
Behaviour > Game:
I’m weak and you are strong.
I’m calm and confident, you are jumpy and nervous.
I’m an optimist, you are a pessimist.
You need to be mothered, but I can’t do it because I’m repulsed by you.
You are the bully and I’m scared, but I’m going to stand up to you as best I can.
We are both so excited to see each other that we are jumping up and down like teenage girls.
I am trying to seduce you, and you are shocked.
Context will tumble out
Behavior without much context can be fascinating. Context without behavior is boring.
Match your partner’s activity
“And so in the next few lines we calmly figured out what was going on and what we felt about it and each other and scene turned out pretty well. And it was because neither of us panicked. We were both completely comfortable starting a scene from almost nothing.”
– Don’t. Panic. 😉
One solution that I’ve advocated for years is just do something, anything at the beginning of the scene. Don’t think about it, don’t talk about it, don’t make the scene about that activity. Just do that thing so that your scene partner can join you and you can blow past the who, what and where. Start talking about anything else. This tends to work reasonably well.
But when you can do that, there is a whole different set of muscles to work on. They are acting muscles. You should be able to answer a bunch of questions in the beginning moments of a scene. How do I feel? What is my partners behavior? How do they feel? Do I like it? How do I feel in response? What do I want from my partner (in terms of behavior)? I like scenes where there is a whole dialog between the players not in words, but in behavior and emotional responses.
I wish a lot more of my scenes started that way, where I can ignore the who, what and where and simply concentrate on the how. How is my scene partner behaving? How do I feel in response? How far away from me are they? How fast is the tempo of this scene? How is my body shaped? How am I using the stage and the architecture of the space? When I focus on these things, the why comes automatically and the who, what and where just tumble out on their own, as if there were there all along.
HOW, WHY > WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN
You basically want to initiate with a meaty statement that your scene partner can pick apart and chew.
I have a trick for initiations. Instead of letting the suggestion “inspire” me (when you’re in front of a silent audience, it’s hard to get swept away in “inspiration”), I try to use the word to think of a situation. What do I mean by a situation? A few examples:
Let’s say the word is calendar. A typical initiation off the word calendar usually involves using the word in a sentence. “How do you like my new calendar?”
Okay, fine. Not a lot to unpack here, and your scene partner is going to have to be quick on their feet to get this scene going.
A situation “calendar” makes me think of: people marking off days until a big occasion. An anniversary! A vacation! Or in a mind polluted by too many after school ’70s sitcoms, how many dates till you have sex.
A Situation Initiation: “You know, Suzy, this Friday will mark our 15th date. You know what that means.”
Suggestion: Blood.
Bad Initiation: “Ow! I cut my finger.”
Situation Initiation: “This is your first time volunteering at the Red Cross? Perfect! We’re gonna throw you in the deep end.”
Suggestion: Necklace.
Bad Initiation: “I love working at this jewelry store.”
Situation Initiation: “Honey, don’t be mad but I was so excited to find out what you got me for our anniversary and saw you’d been Googling pearl necklaces.”
Suggestions: Pineapple.
Bad Initiation: “Boy, I’m just CRAZY about pineapple!”
Situation Initiation: “Sir, I’m afraid I can no longer serve you any more pina coladas. The casino is concerned.”
What would happen if you committed really hard?
But not just hard. Really, really hard. So much so that you believed the words you’re saying, and the things you’re doing. You’re no longer an improviser trying to dream up the smartest move in a scene. You’re a character existing in this reality, and it’s actually happening to you.
What if you committed even harder than that?
What if you made a comedic choice and stuck to it no matter what? Even when it wasn’t getting laughs. Even when you’re terrified.
What if you just kept doing it with greater confidence and conviction?
What if the audience truly believed your character, and understood your world view? Your thoughts and actions make sense because they HAVE to.
What if you committed so hard, you could never be wrong?
Be comfortable on stage! If you’re in your house, chill out, be yourself
Ben Schwartz plays with his shirt, etc.
Miles explained there were four types of scenes in improv: Straight/Absurd, Character Driven, Realistic, and Alternate Reality.
“Peas in the pod” scenes are the worst. Often times, there is no tension because both characters just agree about everything.
If Person A initiates: “Did you just pee in the pool?” – that tells their scene partner, Person B is absurd and yes, they did just pee in the pool, wanna make out?
“An attack is a gift,” Miles explained. “They just told you who you are and what to do. If you’re the absurd guy, take responsibility for what you did in the scene. Own it.”
One of the more controversial ideas from Miles’ class is one of my favorites. “When you’re playing absurd, don’t justify. Don’t explain it. Your job is to just keep doing it, and keep heightening.”
“When you justify the absurd, you’ve lessened the absurdity.”
To me, this is the biggest philosophical difference between Miles’ improv and UCB, but can I just say: I fucking love it. He’s absolutely right. How many times have you been in a scene acting weird, only to have your scene partner assign some perfectly reasonable explanation for what you’re doing?
However, I see a lot of performers pick a relationship and still treat their scene partner like a perfect stranger. Without giving gifts, a relationship in a scene is no more helpful than being two strangers at the bus stop. It only serves to help you if you do the work, and many improvisers don’t. How many times does the game become “bad Dad” because the paternal relationship was established in the second line?
I think transaction scenes get a bad reputation because when handled poorly, they can lead to arguing. There’s also an assumed timeline that once a character gets what they want (the transaction), the scene is over. That’s why it’s extra important to ask yourself, “If this is true, what else is true?” There are so many unexpected places a transaction scene can take you if you resolve to let action move forward and not argue.
Tag runs = opportunity to fall down the rabbit hole. If it gets too out of hand, return to the monoscene
Tag type 1: unusual person in different situation
Tag type 2: who IS this unusual person? what’s his deal? who are his friends, family? where does he work? = new game LOOK FOR IT
e.g. Always pretend you know how to do something you don’t. Tag 1: takes someone skydiving Tag 2: so you wan’t to return this groupon? “YES! I almost died out there!”
“Well miss, you can’t just come to Groupon headquarters for a minor customer service issue.”
As Ben walked us through a satisfying tag run, I couldn’t help but think about how Shitty Jobs plays. All of their tags just follow the unusual person in a scene, which changes from tag to tag. If DC Pierson and Dominic Dierkes are two serial killers on a first date, but Sean Clements waddles in as a duck waiter, we want to know what the duck waiter’s deal is. Maybe in the next tag, we meet his boss who regrets hiring a duck to run this Cheesecake Factory.
But wait? Why would anyone hire a DUCK to run the Cheesecake Factory? Now we follow the boss’ character and find out what his deal is.
“When you’ve taken the tag run about as far as it can go, return to the monoscene and keep those specifics in your back pocket. The easiest way to impress your audience is if you can tie something from the tag run into the monoscene later.”
* In a Pretty Flower, treat the monoscene as your home base. Give your character a philosophy and a point-of-view. This will inspire tag outs.
* During your tag outs, make strong choices. Play characters. Be fearless and follow the fun. Now is the time to play aggressively and play fast.
* If you’re on the back line during a tag run, you are just as much in the scene as your scene partners. Pay attention and be alert for the next tag.
* When you return to the monoscene, keep your transitions clear so the audience understands what’s going on. Return to an action. Use character names. Whatever you explored in the tag out is completed, so don’t start talking about it again. Move on to the next thing.
* Look for connections at the end of your Pretty Flower. Are there any characters from the tag outs you can bring back? Do we learn one of our characters from the monoscene actually is someone from an earlier tag out? Let universes collide and tie it all together.
“Being specific doesn’t mean just saying your burger’s from Carl’s Jr. Try to give your character a philosophy and fill out the universe they live in.”
Weird + Justification => Game. gg 😀
“It’s not enough to just be weird. You should be weird in a specific way.”
ben schwartz improv the swarm cagematch shitty jobs
Initiation: “Did you remember to water my plants?”
Second line (no context): “Shit! I totally forgot! Don’t be mad.”
Second line (adding context): “Yes. And I finished your homework, and did all your chores. Please don’t tell Mom about the vase.”
Initiation: “Beautiful weather we’re having!”
Second line (no context): “I know! Don’t you just love the outdoors?”
Second line (adding context): “I searched the whole island. There’s no food. For the love of God, help me build a life raft!”
Initiation: “You don’t look like your OkCupid picture.”
Second line (no context): “Are you sure? Maybe because I’m not smiling.”
Second line (adding context): [Improviser gets on knees and hobbles around] “That’s strange! I used my headshot.”*
FAMILY. GUY. = game.
Types of tags: game tag, act-out tag (remember that time…), exploration: if this game is true, what other games are true?
WHY DO YOU KEEP HIRING CATS?!
guy-with-history-of-making-bad-executive-decisions-then-regretting-it game
forsixthirty 