Improv Nonsense

This is about long-form improv, the practice of making up funny scenes as you go, on a stage. My name is Will Hines, an improviser at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre who ran classes in NYC from 2009-2013. Now I teach and perform in Los Angeles. This blog contains memories, thoughts, opinions about long-form improv. It will be unapologetically insidery, shamelessly indulgent and often completely wrong.

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New Improv Book: “All the Posts”

Newly available on improvnonsense.com: the digital book IMPROV NONSENSE: ALL THE POSTS.

“But Will,” you say. “You just published an improv book four months ago. Is this another one?”

Well, not really.  “All the Posts” is an archive of this blog (the one you are reading right now, Improv Nonsense).  

You see, many people have come to over the years and said something like “Hey, I love your blog. It’s kinda hard to click around through everything but I love what I read.”

"All the Posts” solves this problem. It has all of the posts from this very blog in chronological order, with a hyperlinked Table of Contents that lets you easily skip around the content, which was all published here over the last six year.

Every essay, every piece of advice, every reminiscence, every serious question, every joke question: all included in “All the Posts.”

Available for ten dollars on improvnonsense.com.

Also included with the PDF are the book in EPUB and MOBI formats. Those are the “flowable” formats that you can read on your Kindle or other e-readers. It means for your ten dollars you get the book in whatever format you like your digital books. 

Yup!

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“How to be the Greatest Improviser On Earth” still on sale!

My improv book remains on sale ONLY AT http://www.improvnonsense.com/

It is NOT on Amazon for at least another month, maybe two, by my own choice.

$15 for a print copy, and now the digital version (which includes iPad, Kindle and Nook versions) costs only SEVEN DOLLARS!

http://www.improvnonsense.com/

I sign every print copy, whether you like it or not.

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Preview of “How to be the Greatest Improviser on Earth”

This is the “proof copy” which is the first copy you get from the printer to make sure the pages look like you wanted and that the coloring is good, etc. It looks good! Check it out!

I’ve now ordered the first real shipment of the books and should get them in a week or so! I will keep you all updated, whether you like it or not!

We’ve had about 350 pre-orders so far! You can still pre-order at http://www.improvnonsense.com/

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Lately I feel like I haven't been doing a good enough job of being creative and adding info to a scene. My strong suit has always been finding and specifying game, but recently I've been having more moments where I think "I need to add something right now," and being at a loss for words. My usual approach is to use my personal experience, but that often runs dry. Do you have any other advice for getting better at creating information from nothing?

Commit harder. Think of what just happened before the scene started. Look at the other character and make an observation about them.

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Soft Launch

The online store for my book is taking pre-orders. I’ll ship them June 15th.

http://www.improvnonsense.com/

Since it’s only just gone live, there may be some bugs. Please send any descriptions of problems to: [email protected]

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I do a lot of two prov, but my partner is a real problem performer. He moved to LA. It makes it real hard to do scenes, or even schedule shows. Should I say something?

Tough one. I don't know your situation specifically of course but it sounds like this guy is a real pain in the ass! Drop him, I say!

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Hey Will! I've been working with a classmate who is really not great at improv. Scenes just get dragged down by her choices, she steps all over everyone in scenes, and just doesn't listen. My other classmates and I have a hard time making up for it (there are only five of us to begin with). How do you compensate during rehearsal/shows for being put in a group with someone who is a relatively poor player?

http://improvnonsense.tumblr.com/thatguy

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Hey there! I'm in a 401 at UCB and on an Indie Team right now and I'm finding myself really struggling. I feel like I'm pretty funny and quick in a normal setting but once I get my improv pants on all of that fizzles out and I'm not only boring but I also get stuck for any response at all! Any tips for getting out of this rut?

See "how can I get out of my head?"http://improvnonsense.tumblr.com/head

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Code of Conduct for Classes, First Draft

A code of conduct for classes, first draft:

No picking each other up.

No kissing.

No miming sex. 

But yes to: seduction scenes that seem to be leading up to sex, or scenes that take place after sex. But we all agree we won’t get to/start with sex itself.

These are okay: hugs, holding hands, arms around each others shoulders.

And anytime there’s anything you don’t want to do (lap dances? intense yoga poses? Vigorous tennis match), you tell the other person in character that you don’t want to do it and they’ll adjust.

(You generally shouldn’t use this code of conduct to get out of acting challenges like doing an accent or straightforward conversations about uncomfortable topics.)<\p>

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How do you get a team you're directing to listen more when they aren't in the scene?

Prove to them how it's hurting the scene and then tell them to listen better so that stops happening. If you can't prove that it's hurting the scene then maybe everything's fine.

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When I play with improvisers who I think are doing very bad improv, I find myself trying to "fix" it in ways that often don't seem to work. Example: my scene partner keeps dropping huge things that have come up and adding new crazy things. I try to tie in what they dropped while still dealing with the new stuff, because you shouldn't just drop huge stuff. But I get notes that the scene moved on and I should've just gone with it. In general, how do I "go to them" without sacrificing good improv?

My gut tells me you need to be in the moment more and not worry about fixing things. If they need fixing they’ll come back up. Be in the moment, commit, react and your authentic reactions will make the good parts stick and let the bad parts dissipate and no one will miss them. More acting, less writing.

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I think my team is a little too quick on the draw with initiating scenes or walking on. Several times this week I've been trying to walk on or initiate a scene, only to be interrupted by somebody who had to get their idea out first. In one first beat I was a son. As I'm walking out for the second beat, a teammate runs out and now he's the son. It could be funny a idea but it actually derails the scene. Anything I can do to help my team work on this?

I hear this. It’s a common feeling. 

It’s reasonable to ask your team to practice Initiation Etiquette: whoever moves first is going to initiate and gets a few long moments to do so.

It’s also reasonable to say to your team “I think our back line is getting involved too often.” I call it an “oppressive” back line. Propose a compromise: no tag-outs or walk-ons for the first 2 or 3 scenes. After that, people can go nuts. 

Another part of this is you accepting that sometimes teammates are excited and just can’t help themselves and that’s part of the fun. A common problem for teams is that they are too polite and won’t get involved in each other’s scenes and it slows stuff down.

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How To Be The Greatest Improviser On Earth - The Book

This blog is going to be a book in June. It’s going to be called “How to be the Greatest Improviser on Earth” (inspired by an earlier post in this blog) Pending everything going as planned, It will go on pre-sale in May and ship in June. 

I am self-publishing it. I tried to court it to publishers and had some nice meetings. But basically, I have better direct access to potential customers than any company, so besides the prestige of a publishing company, doing it myself made more sense.

It’s been edited by Malin von Euler-Hogan (an editor who is also on a Harold Team in UCB-NY), and will be laid out by former NYC improv stalwart Nick Jaramillo, with a cover by Maëlle Doliveux. It’s gonna be rad!

Mailing List

If you want to be notified when the book is available, please join this mailing list. You’ll be the first to know what’s going on with it’s publication. I’ll also send a few updates on the publishing process as they are kinda fun and interesting in a nerdy, under-the-hood sort of way.

Cool!

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How much stage time should an improviser really want? It's easy to want to do shows every night because improv is fun. Can an improviser spend too much time performing over practice with a coach or does more stage time make up for that?

A great question! Hmm, there’s no formula. I think that yes, there are diminishing returns for any kind of practice. I would say that it depends on the quality of the show and/or practice. If your practice is with excellent people and a great coach, that may be more fruitful than a depressing show before very small crowds. If your show is for a great crowd with a great cast, that might be more helpful than a listless practice.

Take the quality of the performance/practice into account. What is pushing you more?

Also remember that time away from improv where you absorb real life is crucial. Be a full person. Or fake it, as I and many others have done.

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"End the group and reform with everyone but this person." Is this really better than being direct and tossing that one person? It feels childish to me

I’m assuming that the group matters to this person and so it’d be polite to start over with a new name. I was once in a group that kicked someone out and they were hurt badly and it seemed to me that if we had changed names, a not-that-big-deal thing to me, it would have been a gesture of respect. It’s also something that I see done a lot: breaking up, reforming with most of the same people, changing names.

But these are anonymous questions and I don’t know the people involved so certainly I respect that kicking them out directly may be the right move.

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What should my practice group do about "that guy" when the person is an actor or actress only interested in socializing at practice sessions and is doing improv only because their agent told them to? They are taking up time at practice that we are paying for with a coach to socialize and go off topic. This person has no interest in taking the entire improv school's curriculum and only wants to be in a commercial. They have also failed to grasp basic concepts.

My suggestions:

a) Wait two weeks no matter what and see if it’s still bothering you.

b) End the group and re-form with everyone but this person.  Lots of people do this. If you do this and the person asks you what happened, you have two choices. Be honest with them “We wanted to try some other things. Maybe we’ll all do something else some other time.” That feels hard but it is respectful. Or dodge them forever, which also happens.  If you do that, be cool with the idea that they’ll never want to perform with you again, which you might be okay with.

c) If this is the third or more time you’ve gone through this, quit improv.

(I EDITED THIS TEN MINUTES AFTER POSTING MY APOLOGIES)

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In improv, what's a better way to start a rap, "My name is ______ and I'm here to say," or "yo, yo, yo, yo?"

I’ve heard that Del Close and Bernie Sahlins would argue about this all the time.