Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation (2 page)

*

Actually, it could be argued that he began as a teenager, when he
toured as a fire-eater with Dr. Dracula and his Tomb of Terrors;
his duties included throwing handfuls of cooked spaghetti on the audience during a blackout when Dr. Dracula called for a plague of
worms to descend upon them.

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I moved to Chicago and started studying at Second City. In those naive early days, I still
thought improv and comedy were interchangeable terms. Del had by then departed Second
City and started working with Charna and the ImprovOlympic, and word around Second City
had it that Del was
the
person with whom to study improv. I immediately signed up for classes.

During the first year I spent studying with Del and Charna, Del would make occasional
references to something called "the Harold." At the time, though, he was too busy trying to
teach us the principles of simple scenes and games to elaborate.

Eventually, the details came. "Harold" was the name of a form of improv that Del had
developed in the late 1960s while working with San Francisco's legendary improv troupe The
Committee. The group was searching for some way to unite all their games, scenes, and
techniques into one format; they developed a way to intertwine scenes, games, monologs,
songs, and all manner of performance techniques.

They came up with one of the most sophisticated, rewarding forms of pure improv ever
developed.

And then they had to name it.

A few years earlier, in
A Hard Day's Night,
a reporter asks
George Harrison what he
called his haircut. "Arthur," he responds.

So when Del asked his group what this exciting new form of improv should be called, one
of his actors, Bill Mathieu, answered "Harold."

It has always been a minor
annoyance for Del that his life's
work has been saddled with
such an inane, silly title. But the name
stuck.

Saturday Night Live's
Tim Kazurinski, who learned to play the Harold from Del at
Second City, says he didn't really understand the name for many years.

"For years, I thought it
was 'Herald.' I thought it
was, in British terms,
heraldic,
with
trumpeters that came out and heralded the cherubim and the seraphim! I thought it was a
pronouncement about the topic selected by the audience," says Kazurinski. "Years later, I
found out that it was 'Harold,' some guy's name. I once got into a big fight with someone about
it. I was going 'Oh, no, no, it's a
much
more important title than that. Boy, are you stupid! You
thought it was
Harold?!
And I was wrong —
it's a dumb name for something really rather
wonderful."

As I continued my improv studies we did some experimental performances with a new
form of improv called Slow Comedy. It was interesting and exciting, but it wasn't Harold.

It wasn't until the following spring that Del and Charna had trained our groups thoroughly
enough to revive the Harold before Chicago audiences. We ended up pitting teams against
each other, letting the audiences vote for the winner. Harold became a unique sporting event
and a theatrical competition.

The Harold was off and running, and it hasn't slowed down yet.

* * *

When I first heard that Charna wanted to do a book on the Harold, I was skeptical. Not
because she doesn't have the credentials, but because I felt improv —
and the Harold in

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particular —
is a live experience, a living, breathing creature that can't fully be captured on
paper.

But then I started thinking
about all the potential improvisers scattered across the country
that don't have easy access to Charna and Del. There are all sorts of eager comedy groups that
will never advance beyond lame TV-show parodies without some sort of instruction. This is
the guidebook they've been
waiting for, the mother of all improv books, with Charna and Del
telling what they know about Harold —
which should be enough to keep most performers busy
for the next few decades.

Harold is useful for more than performing, though. Harold training is beneficial for all
sorts of people, from salespeople to public speakers. From personal experience, I know how
improv is useful to writers: improvisers are trained to start their scenes in the middle and
always eliminate clutter, principles that all good writers should implement.

One of the biggest misconceptions about improvisation is that only trained actors and
comics can be successful. Actually, anyone can improvise. We all do it every day —
none of us
goes through our day to day life with a script to tell us what to do.

The simple, basic rules laid down in this book will result in much funnier, intelligent, and
more interesting scenes. Deliberately trying to be funny or witty is a considerable drawback,
and often leads to disaster. Honest responses are simpler and more effective. By the same
token, making patterns and connections is much more important than making jokes.

This book should be looked on as a starting point; these are
the blueprints that lay the
groundwork. Real improv involves constant experimentation and exploration. Anyone who
uses
this book correctly will eventually make all sorts of original discoveries on his own —
and that's part of the magic of the
Harold.

Whether you're an experienced improviser or a curious neophyte,
you're in for a treat. The
Harold is the most exciting, innovative,
funniest advanced form of improv yet devised —
even
if
Del isn't fond of the
name.

—
Kim "Howard Johnson

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If we want to see where we went wrong
We needn’t look too far

For where we'll be and where we've been
Is always where we are.

And everything that comes your way

Is something you once gave9
Somebody feels the water

Every time you make a wave.

—
Thom Bishop

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CHAPTER ONE

What Is Improv, Anyway?

The word "improv" has been thrown around with reckless abandon over the years.

There is a national chain of comedy clubs called "The Improv," along with a TV series
entitled
A Night at the Improv.

Second City, where improvisation was refined and turned into a commercial success,
continues to present comedy revues at its Chicago and Toronto locations, with touring
companies traveling extensively.

And there are plenty of other performers doing improv comedy in clubs and theaters
across the country.

The Improv clubs feature stand-up comics performing material that has been written,
rehearsed, and polished in front of hundreds of audiences. They may throw in an authentic
ad-lib or two during a performance, but very few of their acts are based on improvisation.

Second City today uses improvisation to develop material for their comedy revues. Many
of their sketches are written, and then revised and perfected by improvising in front of an
audience. Even the improv sets, performed nightly after the regular revues, rely heavily on
material that is being developed for upcoming shows.

Then what exactly
is
improv?

Real improvisation is more than just a garnish, thrown like
parsley onto a previously
prepared stand-up comedy routine.
Nor is it just a tool used to manufacture prepared scenes.

True
improvisation is getting on-stage and performing without
any preparation or
planning.

Sounds easy, doesn't it? Even audience
suggestions aren't necessary. Strictly speaking,
improvisation is making it up as you go along.

This definition makes all of us expert improvisers. We all go through life every day
without a script, responding to our environment, making it up as we go along. Improvising
on-stage is obviously a little different —
the performers are trying to create while entertaining
an audience.

Sure, improvisation was created to develop comedy for its own sake. Every writer or
performer improvises as he or she creates, even if the only available audience is his typewriter
or television set. Improvisation can be more than just a creative tool, though —
it can be a
vastly satisfying form of entertainment.

People often ask, "What do you use improvisation for? Is it to help an actor understand a
role? To develop comedy material? As therapy?"

Improvisation is not some poor relation to "legitimate" theater, such as ballet or opera. It
is an art form that stands on its own, with its own discipline and aesthetics. The roots of improv
can be seen in the venerable and influential 16th-century theatrical form known as
commedia
dell’arte.

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Improvisation can be seen as the 20th-century descendant of the
commedia, with Harold
as its most ebullient incarnation. Thus far, it hasn't gotten
the respect it deserves from the
"legitimate" theater community, but when it's properly considered a public art form, the
question "What is it used for?" no longer applies.

This book is geared largely toward improvisation, and its role in discovering the
truths
about comedy. As the purists will be quick to point out, improvisation is not necessarily funny
(even when it's intentional, as plenty of actors who have "died" on-stage will attest to). The
first improvisations performed by the Compass Players and other forerunners to Second City
were not always intended to be humorous.

In recent years, though, improv has become synonymous with comedy. This slightly
skewed image has come about through such aforementioned establishments as Second City,
the Improv,
and many others. Since this volume is geared toward truth in
comedy,
however,
we will politely tip our hats in acknowledgment of the more serious uses of improvisation, and
saunter off in the direction of chuckles, chortles, and guffaws.

HOW TO BE FUNNY

First of all, no one can read a book and become funny.

So, if you've just bought this book in the hopes of becoming popular, earning a reputation
as a silver-tongued raconteur, or scoring points with the opposite sex, you might as well return
this to the bookstore and exchange it for a copy of
1001 Jokes, Jests, and Jibes.

That said, it
is
possible to learn techniques that teach you how to become a funny
performer, and they don't involve memorizing pages of stale jokes. Everyone who has ever
performed comedy has their own definite ideas about how to be funny. But the simplest and
most basic concept may also be the most effective.

The truth is funny.

Honest discovery, observation, and reaction is better than contrived invention.

After all, we're funniest when we're just being ourselves. Sitting around relaxing with
friends usually inspires far more laughter than a TV sitcom or someone trying to tell jokes.
When was the last time you laughed out loud? Odds are that most of your recent belly laughs
were the results of talking with friends.

When we're relaxing, we don't have to entertain each other with jokes. And when we're
simply opening ourselves up to each other and being honest, we're usually funniest-
We’ve
all
sat down with two or three friends and described an incident or discussed something that
happened in our lives. This is
precisely what a stand-up comic does, although a stand-up's
audience is usually (though not always) larger than two or three people.

The freshest, most interesting comedy is not based on mother-in-law jokes or Jack
Nicholson impressions, but on exposing our own personalities. One of the most disquieting
moments for a novice performer is when he (or she) gets a laugh that is completely unexpected.
Improvisers often like to feel "in control" of scenes; such laughter tends to prove just the
opposite is occurring.