Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation (9 page)

PAT: What's the matter, Bill? Trying to prove to yourself that you're not

addicted?

BILL:
(Nervously)
No.

MARK: I knew a guy who always played the same number for years. Then,

one day, he was too
busy to buy a ticket, and sure enough, that was the

day his number was drawn. He missed his chance. Boy, he wanted to

kill himself.

PAT: Twenty-seven million, Bill.

BILL: I gotta get a ticket, quick!
(He runs out, Pat and Mark eye each other

carefully.)

MARK: Isn't that your car alarm?

This game of manipulating each other out of the room was established in the very first
exchange between Jenna and Pete; all the others observed it, and skillfully played it out.

Another example of finding a game in the scene was done by a house team called The
Family. They were doing a Harold with the theme of "Santa." Throughout the Harold, they per-
formed monologs giving statistics about the homeless and the increasing suicide rate at
Christmas. In their last scene, they found a game to illustrate how depressing Christmas is. As
a group, they began singing Christmas carols. During the first verse of "Jingle Bells," Adam
took an imaginary gun and shot himself in the head, then fell on the stage.

The others stared briefly and began to sing "The First Noel." During the first verse, Miles
pretended to hang himself from a noose. The others cut him down, and his body fell next to
Adam. The survivors began to sing "Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer." One by one, they
continued to play the game of "committing suicide." Finally, with a pile of bodies next to her,
Rachael began singing, softly and beautifully, "Silent Night." On the last line, she pointed to
the heap of bodies and sang "Sleep in heavenly peace" to end the game.

Another example of finding the game within the scene is a one-upmanship game Charna
discovered in a
scene with Scott.

The scene established that they had been dieting for days, when the pair sat down to their
three ounces of protein and one cup of vegetables. Scott took a slice of bread. Charna scolded
him, because he'd eaten his daily serving of bread at breakfast. To spite her, Scott took the
bread and put a whole stick of butter
on it, topped with a second slice of bread.

To retaliate, Charna put four teaspoons of sugar in her coffee. Scott picked up the sugar
bowl and poured it into his mouth. Charna
ran to the refrigerator to get the cake she baked for

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their party, and began shoving fistfuls of it into her mouth. The food war game escalated until
it could build no more.

LISTENING AND RESPONDING

Hearing and listening are two different things. When a player is given an initiation, he
must let the words resonate inside his head for a moment, so that he can decipher the
underlying meaning.

An improviser must consider what is said, and what is left unsaid, as well. He must think,
"Why was that said? What does she mean by that? How does it make me feel?"

If a player takes the time to consider what the other speaker means, then his response is
more intelligent than the knee-jerk response (usually a one-liner that attempts to be witty). A
more carefully considered response takes a second or two longer, but the wait is well
worthwhile.

A player's move is not complete until he sees how it affects his partner. When his line has
been heard and pondered, his fellow player then responds from a similarly honest and
emotional state.

Some of the very best improvisers are those that listen an
remember. Former
ImprovOlympic player Chris Farley is an expert at this rule, both on and off the stage. Chris
listens with his emotions; his fellow players can see him responding while they are still saying
their lines. And he never forgets a thing that is said.

Charna says Chris still reminds her of something she said or did years ago, which is why
she finds "The Chris Farley Show" on
Saturday Night Live
so funny. Chris interviews show
business giants by reminding them of his favorite moments from their films, saying
"Remember when you did this .
. . That was awesome . . ." Hosting his own talk show, he never
asks questions —
he just remembers! The
SNL
writers are very obviously heightening one of
Chris' natural traits. He remembers everything! .

AVOIDING PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS

Preconceived ideas for an improv scene can get a player into trouble.

Avoiding preconceptions is as easy as listening and using each other's initiations.

Of course, a previous scene may give an actor a notion for a location, relationship, or a
situation. However, his grasp on such a thought must be loose, and dropped quickly if the
scene takes a turn that contradicts his plans.

For example, Madeline might enter a
scene with the intention of being Dave's long lost
lover. She begins by saying, "I've missed you terribly." If Dave responds by saying, "I know.
Sorry I haven't written, Mom," then Madeline must immediately discard her romantic scenario.

Of course, it's
important to remember that initiations can be nonverbal, as well as verbal.
The way an initiation is presented is just as important as the words themselves, and the
accomplished improviser must always be listening for intonations and hidden meanings. If
Madeline's opening line was spoken with sexual innuendo, then Dave would have turned it into

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an incestuous love scene, which would probably lead to the discovery of why the boy left home
in the first place.

One last comment on listening: always listen to the whole idea in a statement. When a
player is cut off in the middle of a sentence, his fellow players cannot respond to the best of
their ability until the entire statement has been made. It's just simple logic.

As Del once said during a conversation with Charna's mother, "Cut off the comedian and
you miss the punchline!"

EXERCISES

Freeze Tag

Freeze Tag, sometimes known as "Switch," is a simple way to work on initiations. Two
people begin a scene with dialog and a physical activity. A third player shouts "Freeze!" to stop
the action, and the improvisers immediately stop in midscene.

When the players are "frozen," the third player will tag one of them out and take his place
in the same physical position. He then starts an entirely new and different scene which justifies
the physical positions of both players. In the opening line of each new scene, the initiation
must be clear, so the new scene is immediately understood.

The following is an example of how a Freeze Tag might look. If the opening line, taken
from the audience, is "Let me carry you over the threshold," the exercise could begin with a
woman carrying a man in her arms (knowing how players take unusual choices):

WOMAN: Let me carry you over the threshold.

MAN: You are such a feminist.

FREEZE!

Players are frozen while a second man tags out the woman, trading places with her. He
takes the exact position, holding the first man in his arms. Since he has entered, it is up to him
to deliver the first line:

2ND MAN: You're lucky I caught you falling from that high-rise, Jimmy!
MAN: Golly gee, Superman, it's a good thing you were flying by.
(Superman puts Jimmy down, and puts his hands on
his hips.)

FREEZE!

Another player taps the man playing Jimmy, who was standing with his

arms at his sides, looking at Superman. She assumes Jimmy's position

and speaks:

NEW WOMAN: Simon didn't say, "Put your hands on your hips." You're

out!

2ND MAN: Oh, give me one more chance!

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NEW WOMAN: Okay. Simon says, "Lay face down on the floor."
(He

does.)

FREEZE!

A player tags the standing woman, and looks down at the man on the floor, and says,
"Last call!"

The game goes on as long as the director, the audience, or the players choose. In our
shoes, the scenes returna
few times to make connections, so the game maygo on as long as ten
minutes. In the example on the preceding page, Superman could return intermittently
throughout the freeze tag.

Three-Line Scenes

In this exercise, two players must discover a scene in only three lines of dialog.
Obviously, this is a good way to teach them to say exactly what needs to be said as clearly as
possible —
in other words, to be
concise.

Since a scene —
even a three-line scene —
has limitless possibilities, this exercise is
sometimes played by making the group do a number of three-line scenes that all begin with the
same first line. It quickly becomes clear that the second person can put an entirely different
spin on the first sentence. In fact, the second line can be the most important of the three.

This exercise also enhances listening skills. The emotion behind a line reading can
change its entire meaning, and so it's easy for very different scenes to result from the same
opening line.

Three-line scenes teach a player how to add, as it is used in "Yes, & . . ." Agreeing with
the opening line won't advance the scene or provide any new information to build a scene
together. Contributing something else gives extra meaning to the opening line, and helps create
a scene.

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Example of agreement:

"Here is a mango."

"Oh, good!"

Example of agreement (and adding "Yes, and . . ."):

"Here is a mango."

"Oh, good! At least we know there's food on this deserted island!"

Quite a difference, eh? And when exactly three
lines are allowed to create a scene,
progress has to be made quickly. As we see in the latter example, the second line adds new
information and raises the stakes.

Here are some more examples of three-line
scenes where each line adds a piece of
information. We'll use the same first line to prove how the scene changes as it's built; this
illustrates how actors cannot assume they know what the scene is about simply by hearing the
first line.

PLAYER ONE: Sign here.

PLAY TWO: This makes it official.

PLAYER ONE: Yes, we're now legally divorced.

Player Two takes what might have been the act of signing
for a delivery and makes it
much more important by adding, "This makes it official." Suddenly the idea changed; it was no
longer a delivery sheet, but an official document. The first player adds to the idea by making it
a divorce decree, and the scene is clearly under way. A different response by Player Two
would have resulted in a very different scene, as shown by the following:

PLAYER ONE: Sign here.

PLAYER TWO: I've never been asked to autograph a woman's chest

before.

PLAYER ONE: Well, I'm your biggest fan!

From that same opening line, the players discover a relationship between a star and his
fan.

It is vital to
listen
to the emotional tone
which provides
the underlying meaning behind
the spoken words. This
subtext, must
be heeded! The words may sound positive, but the
emotional tone can indicate otherwise, as is seen in this example:

CHRIS: I've had another unsuccessful day of job hunting.

STUART: Why don't you read some of my self-help books?

CHRIS: Sometimes I feel like murdering you in your sleep.

Reading these words in cold type, it appears Stuart is trying to be helpful to Chris. But
Chris paid close attention to Stuart's smug attitude, and responded correctly!

Tim Kazurinski of
Saturday Night Live
recalls that while he was at Second City, Del
would drill them over and over with three
-line scenes.