Matt Besser Workshop Notes
These are my notes from the Matt Besser workshop at The Improv Shop St. Louis on 10-19-19.
The workshop dealt entirely with premise style improv. Premise improv scenes are inspired by an opening such as a monologue. This is in contrast to organic improv, which are scenes that start directly from a simple suggestion. All of these notes apply specifically to premise, and not necessarily to organic.
Please note that these are not direct quotes. They're transcribed from my notebook, and edited, expanded, and organized for clarity.
MONOLOGUES / OPENINGS:
A true story is the easiest thing to pull a premise from. If someone remembers a story from their life, there must be something inherently interesting about it.
A monologue doesn't have to be funny. It just has to be true.
A monologue should be 3-5 minutes long. Less than 3 minutes won't provide enough information, and more than 5 minutes creates too much information.
The specific way a monologist tells their story reveals things about their personality. The details they use and the way they say things can end up being scene ideas.
The more ideas there are, the less ideas we will remember together. For this reason, too many ideas in an opening can hurt group mind.
PULLING IDEAS FROM AN OPENING:
We should aim to find full premises or at least half ideas.
A half idea is when you know something in the monologue is funny, but you're not sure why. A full idea (premise) is when you know why a detail from the monologue was funny.
Try to pull 3 ideas from the opening. That way you have a backup idea if someone takes yours.
During an opening, remember your premise ideas and half ideas by "sticking flags" in them. "Sticking flags" means saying 1-3 words in your head that will help you remember your idea.
Pulling details from the opening is NOT the goal. The goal is to pull COMEDY from the opening. The details you bring should serve the comedy.
It's not enough to pull something specific from the opening. It should be a specific funny thing.
Try to understand specifically why something in the monologue is funny, and stay true to it.
If you understand specifically why something in the opening was funny, you will have a much better chance at connecting with your partner (and the audience).
If you're listening to a monologue and think "That makes me think of this other thing", beware. If an initiation comes from a thought only YOU had, it will make the scene needlessly difficult.
If you're not trying to pull a clear idea from the opening, then why do an opening at all?
INITIATING:
It's okay to initiate if you only have a half idea. But we want to aim for full ideas (premises).
To initiate a half idea, initiate in the general area of the thing you found funny.
Different people will initiate the same premise with slightly different angles. This is because everyone sees the world in a unique way.
The comedy in your initiation should be the same as the comedy in the opening.
If you change the comedy or put a different spin on it, you're being a bad ensemble member.
Clever ideas from your head will confuse your partners.
Work with the comedy that everyone saw. This is so crucial to group mind.
The further away your initiation is from the opening, the more confusing the scene will be, and the less group mind you will have.
The first line of a premise should express what you found funny in the opening and why you found it funny (or unusual). You have to clearly express why it's not normal.
Complicated ideas will confuse your partner.
Give your partner clues. Don't make them guess how your initiation is tied to the opening. Be totally clear.
There can be a lot of funny things even about one detail in the opening. That's part of why we have to be very clear and specific.
You can start the scene with the exact same who, what, where as the opening. This can be an easy way to stay true to the comedy in the opening.
Get rid of the note that you can't hit the nail on the idea with an idea. Hit the nail on the head. It's easier, and it works.
You can initiate with a who, what, where that's different from the monologue/opening, but don't change the specific thing that made it funny. Don't let your analogy take away the thing that made the monologue funny.
Be comfortable hitting the nail on the head before you practice analogous scenes.
We want our initiations to stay as close to the monologue as possible, except for the things we change for the sake of comedy.
Initiations should only draw from one part of the monologue.
If you step out first, you are the initiator.
In a show with a group opening, don’t initiate from your ideas you pitched in the opening. The reason: You might be the only person who remembers or understands it. Initiating from someone else's idea is more conducive to group mind.
RESPONDING TO INITIATONS
The goal when listening to an initiation: Listen for clues. Try to understand where from the opening your partner is coming from.
The responder has to be in the mindset of, "Where are they coming from?"
When you respond to the initiation, DO NOT bring another idea. Support THEIR idea.
If you don't know what your partner's idea is, play to the top of your intelligence until you do (playing at the top of your intelligence means acting like a real person).
ALWAYS give the person who comes out first a chance to get their idea out. Listen to them.
If you are not the initiator, label nothing until you're sure what they're going for.
It's easier not to guess what the other person is going for. Let them say it first.
SCENES:
Scenes should start grounded in reality. This will help everyone see exactly why the thing in the opening was funny.
Talking fast in a scene is a sign of nerves. Take your time. Breathe. Don't be afraid of dead space. Silence is fine.
Justify why your character does an absurd thing. Give an honest, truthful reason.
Don't make your justification silly or funny. Get into the head of your character and give a logical reason. How would a real person rationalize this behavior?
The game will provide the silliness. Justification makes your scene sustainable.
When justifying, go to your real life experience. Have you ever done anything like this before? Do you know anyone who has? What was the reason? There's no right answer. It just has to come from real life and be believable.
Just be real. What is the reality of this situation?
Whenever possible, interact with the environment.
You (and the audience) should be able to "see" the environment of the scene.
By "seeing" the environment, you are seeing details. You can use those details, rather than inventing things.
A scene can get as absurd as you want as long as you earn it. Stick to only one absurd thing in the scene and give it a believable logic.
GROUP OPENINGS:
The goal of openings should be to create comedic premises. Everything you do in the opening should be done with that goal in mind.
Approach a group opening like a sketch comedy writer's room.
In a group opening, go to your personal experience about the topic at hand. Then everyone can build off that anecdote.
Look for and build on observations about what's funny about the topic at hand.
In group openings, improvisers often go to tropes and archetypes. Things they've only seen on TV and in movies. Aim for truth in comedy. Be inspired by your real life, and the lives of people you know.
In group openings, make eye contact.
When you get a suggestion for a group opening, your first thought should be, "What about [the suggestion]?". If the suggestion were "popcorn", your first thought would be, "What about popcorn? What in my life do I know about popcorn?". Start with real stuff that the group would recognize as true. For example, "Popcorn smells good". From there, another person should build directly on that. The thought process for this is, "Oh yeah, popcorn does smell good. What about that?". Then we keep building directly on the last thing said until we find a premise.
Once we've found a premise, different people give different pitches on that premise. Do at least 3. This is like pitching sketch ideas in a writer's room. The pitch that feels the funniest should be the one you make a scene out of.
OTHER
Improv training won't make you funny. What it CAN do is show you how to work with other people.
Knowing how to work with others doesn’t come naturally. That's why we teach it in improv class.
Improv training is about learning techniques that unlock group mind.
To build group mind, you must analyze comedy together as a group. For example, watching sketch videos as a group. Everyone says why they thought it was funny. Everyone says what they think the game of the scene is, and the group decides which definition best nailed it.
It's good to analyze comedy, because that's basically what you're doing in an opening.
Analyzing comedy together is just as important as rehearsing scenes.
You want to work with people that use your ideas. Be that person for others. Honor the opening. Honor your teammates.
Selfishness leads to bad improv. It's not about your clever ideas. Improv is about building a shared idea, together.
Improv is a shared thought bubble between you and your partner.
Ideas that come from group mind are so much more fun, and so much easier.
If you know why an idea is funny, you can fuel it.
It's also important for the backline to understand the premise, so they can support it.
The premise is just the start of the scene. All a premise does is tell us what the comedy is. There's so much left to discover. It's just like having an idea for a sketch; you still have to sit down and write it.
Second beats don't lie. To do them successfully, you have to know what the game of the scene was. Otherwise, you're probably just doing silly narratives with the characters.
One of Besser's biggest beefs: starting scenes too large. Instead, play to the top of your intelligence.
Get rid of the idea that for improv shows "you had to be there". The comedy should stand on its own as good, whether it's improvised or written.
When improvising with new people, aim to get your premise out in the first line. If you've improvised with someone for a long time and trust them, you can take a few lines to get to the premise.
Trust that you will learn this stuff if you practice.
The big lesson for the day is listening. Are you hearing all the details your partner is saying? Listen so you can be an improviser that your partners trust.












