Improv Best

Everything you love about improv in one place

[improv-philosophy]

You’re already a great improvisor. You already have all of the tools inside of you. You just have to trust yourself enough to reveal them.

Heard at The Peoples Improv Theater, NYC (via improv-philosophy)

[improvnonsense]

Be Unnecessarily Specific

They say you can’t teach funny, and they’re probably right but I can’t help trying.

This is based on my highfalutin post yesterday, where I said that improvisers need to remember that it’s okay to be funny.

I wonder if it’s okay for improv teachers to specifically teach being funny?

Obviously you can’t, really, just teach funny. It’s more about creating an environment where people feel excited and free so that they can be playful and that funny stuff that they naturally have in them just sort of happens. You’re assuming that the people who are taking an improv class have a built-in desire to be funny and ability to be funny of course, which is not always true. But anyway, that’s how you normally teach funny. You get out of the way of the funny.

But say that I’m a robot, and always want stuff to be a system of rules. What are some ways to be funny? Goddamnit, just tell me.

Okay, number one I’d say is to be unnecessarily specific. Be more specific than a situation calls for. 

That’s usually pretty funny and pretty easy to do!

Especially in the ten million scenes you will do where you have to order dinner. Be fast enough to order an incredibly specific dish. Don’t think of it beforehand, just look up and say the most specific meal you can: “Grilled tilapaia and chilled white wine.” 

I don’t even know if tilapia can be grilled.  And isn’t white wine always chilled? And doesn’t my answer sound just a bit forced and jokey? Yeah, I guess, get off my back – it’ll also work. It’ll be pretty funny!

So yeah. Do that all the time. That’ll help!

[improvnonsense]

Argue That The World Is Flat

Another way to be funny: argue the dumb side of any discussion.

I’ve written so much about arguments. Too much. Fights in improv fascinate me and I love analyzing them and trying to think about what they say about our natural defensiveness and mammal brains.

But all that analysis probably doesn’t help you get better at improv. Improv advice is best served in small bites: mantras and tips.

Okay, so how about this: argue the wrong side. Argue that the world is flat.

Anytime any kind of discussion starts, take the wrong side, the side that is obviously wrong. And defend it the best you can. 

That’s usually really fun!

If two characters are arguing whether the world is flat or round (great scene, such a great example, great job), which is more fun? More fun to argue that the world is flat, obviously.

So anytime you find yourself in a fight, make sure that at least one of you or possibly both are arguing something dumb. Or else end the fight. 

If your scene partner accuses your character of being lazy, and you defend yourself that your job is just too hard, and they come up with a reason why you’re still lazy — realize that you are in a non-funny fight, so you make it funny by arguing a dumb point.

You (deliberately making your side a “dumb” stance): “I’m not lazy, I just do better work if I don’t go in until after lunch.”  Other person: “But you work at a law firm.”  You: “So what? The mornings there just stress me out.”

Doesn’t this break the “top of your intelligence” rule, you ask? No, because you will argue the dumb thing as smart as possible. That’s practically the definition of a joke: argue a dumb thing in a smart way. 

This is another way to be funny! Yeah! Do this!

[launchtherocket]

Be a Shit Monster

This post is inspired by Will Hines’ post on improvnonsense answering the question, “I’d like to learn to play better with someone who doesn’t feel like a partner in scenes.” (Go read that post first because it’s better than this post) (Welcome back) His response was awesome and it made me think of this analogy. To a good improviser, EVERYTHING is a gift to be played with. Even shit. So when you have a scene partner who is constantly throwing shit at you, take that shit and rub it all over yourself and just be a giant shit monster.

You: “Congratulations on your promotion.” Them: “I didn’t get promoted, I got fired.” You: “You’re right. I just said that to make you feel bad.”

Take their shitty denial of your offer and rub it all over your body and then give them a big ol’ Shit Monster hug.

[thankgoodnessimnotyou-deactivat]

Nate… Isn’t there a danger of it turning into a wizard battle then? http://improvoctopus.tumblr.com/post/96992523283/wizard-battles

[launchtherocket]

Well the issue of a wizard battle is that both players are defending their point of view and inventing details to do so. When being a shit monster you aren’t defending your point of view but rather embracing whatever your scene partner gives you.

In terms of a wizard battle it is more like, if it was a wizard battle where Mim kept changing Merlin into different creatures, and instead of retaliating with more wizardry, Merlin just used whatever he was turned into against Mim.

If you turn everything I do to shit, I’m just going to be a giant shit monster and I’m going to give you a great big hug.

These aren’t going to be the best scenes in the world because one player isn’t being a great scene partner. But an improv-educated audience will recognize what is happening and appreciate what you are doing. An audience that doesn’t understand improv might not necessarily get what’s happening but they’ll be getting a better scene than if you kept battling against your scene partner.

[improvnonsense]

improv for people not that good

Hi! I’m Will Hines and I am not that good at improv. At least not naturally. I’m very naturally good at computer programming, memorizing lists and being fussy about things like fonts. But in the very basic improv skills of being comfortable on stage and staying present and being charismatic and doing fun characters: I am very much not natural at those things. 

Yet, here I am, one of the best goddamn improvisers in the world. How the fuck did I do it? This is how:

be brave

never be freaked out/preoccupied by any base reality

always do the scary thing (accents, dancing, stepping out, or NOT stepping out, being emotional, being honest)

be authentic 

react, a bit more, in a fun way

let things in the scene change you

play with difficult people 

bad people

people who are funny but do it wrong

(the trick: you assume they mean well)

be funny 

keep patterns going, until they’re used up

be unnecessarily specific

make the surprising choice, then explain yourself

pick the wrong side of every argument

That is my current guess.

[katiepoole912]

Parks And Recreation is criminally underrated and one of the best ensembles on TV. They figured out how to make comedy out of people who like things, as opposed to the usual sitcom where it’s just people being awful to each other. Turns out passion can heighten things in the same way that conflict does. And that delights me.

Tim Carvell, head writer for The Daily Show (Rolling Stone,Sept. 2013) 

(via ioxeia)

THIS IS SO IMPORTANT!

(via dalekemperor)

[improvnonsense]

Do you remember how long you had been doing improv before the probability of completely bombing (I mean really eating it) was close to 0%?

Hmmm. Maybe like 8 years? But long before that I just got comfortable when shows were really bad. Spoiler: I am not a model for doing things in a successful way.

[improvnonsense]

Some Notes I’ve Been Giving

I’m having good results giving these notes lately, all pertaining to better acting/listening/reacting at the tops of scenes. General qualifier here about how I’m sure these notes are not anything fundamentally new; but I like these phrasings.

1. Don’t be freaked out by the base reality. You gotta be instantly comfortable in the world of the scene, no matter how confusing / surprising / weird it is. If you start off playing ping pong (which is not that weird but IS something that might take up more mental space than you were ready to spend), talk about something besides the fact that you’re playing ping pong. Too many scenes start off with characters allergic to the very world around them. 

2. Be comfortable with silence, especially right after a reveal. Lots of people talk until they are interrupted; better to make a point and let there be a quarter-beat of silence after. Especially if you make a big reveal/change to the scene. “You didn’t know? The store is going out of business.” (quiet).

3. See it land. After you make a move, make sure to see the move land in your scene partner’s expression. Don’t keep talking or walk away or leave or do some other move until you see it land. Someone told me this is a note Christina Gausas gives and I think it’s great.

The fun thing about having an improv blog is you can just say stuff.

[improvbest]

Improv suggestions at the touch of a button? Yes, you can.

http://www.can-i-get-a.com/

[improv-philosophy]

They key to figuring out what happens next in a scene is remembering what has already happened.

Heard at The Peoples Improv Theater, NYC (via improv-philosophy)

[wordnerdali]

Acting is memorization. Improvisation is living.

David Shepherd (via wordnerdali)

[launchtherocket]

Improv has its own language and in improv the word for “mistake” is “gift”.

(via launchtherocket)

[launchtherocket]

Improv is

listening

[bestnatesmithever]

supporting

[letstalkimprov]

responding

[improvbest]

Being in the moment

[improvbest]

What if improvisers in real life behaved the way they do on stage?

This video reminds us to pay attention to our object work. While I find that holding an invisible phone incorrectly can often go unnoticed by your audience, walking into walls, disappearing furniture and incredibly fast undressing can ruin in the blink of an eye the illusion of the scene being created.

What’s your best/worst object work?

[launchtherocket]

Improv has its own language and in improv the word for “mistake” is “gift”.

(via launchtherocket)