HCAC Intro to Improv – 2021 Syllabus

Class Notes for the lovely people who are attending Introduction to Comedic Improvisation in 2021.

You may also like the List of Every Performance Game I Know

Week 1: What is Improv?

  • You Already Know How to Improvise: If you just do without thinking too much, you can do it. Learning Improv is about how to do it better, not learning from scratch.

Greetings

Go around the room, and say hello to everyone.
Now greet everyone like you’re at a hearty Italian family wedding.
Now greet everyone like you’re wearing black, it’s raining, and you’re at a melodramatic French funeral.
Now greet everyone like you’re outlaws in the Wild West wondering who’s the Sheriff

You know how to react; don’t think so much.
See also Word Association, where people think too much.

  • Improv is about Seeing the World Differently Seeing patterns and finding connections is a big part of storytelling — and so of Improv.

    See also: Sun, Moon & Stars, which has the idea that “everything affects everything else”
  • Pay Attention to Your Brain’s Patterns: Improv is about playing inside your head, so you should know how it works.

Looking at Things, Pointing at Them, and Saying What They Are


Looking at Things, Pointing at Them, and Saying What They Are NOT

Looking at Things, Pointing at Them, and Saying What The Last Thing You Pointed At Was

Which level is easier?
– naming things? (one correct answer)
– naming any old random thing ? (infinite correct answer, one wrong answer)
– naming the previous thing? (one correct answer)

Some people face analysis paralysis when there are too many choices. Some people have difficulty juggling two ideas. Know yourself.

. . .

Week 2: Everything is an Offer

  • Listening is Important: Improv is a game of offers and information. The better you are at Listening (Observing, Misunderstanding), the more Offers you will detect and generate for yourself

Word Association

Stand in a circle. One person starts by passing a random word to the left. Whenever you hear a word, say the first word that comes into your head and pass it to the left, as soon as possible.

Some thought provoking questions:

  • What do people freeze? Because they are afraid of being judged; because they want to say something funny; because they’re afraid of saying something funny; because they want to appear a certain way.
  • Why do people hesitate, go um, ah, what? Because they’re used to these patterns in real life; because they doubt themselves; because they want to be sure.
  • Why do people ask “what did you say?” Because some people mumble when they speak; because sometimes they don’t have confidence in what they’re saying and they’re stalling; because they’re surprised about what they heard.
  • Everything is an Offer: An Offer in Improv is something that adds an idea to the scene. Can be a snippet of dialogue, can be a gesture, so long as it offers an idea to where the scene can go next.

    Even be the way somebody stands or the silence in conversation can be taken as an offer. (“Why are you giving me the silent treatment? Are you starting a fight?). Improv is a game of offers.

Here’s an example of taking everything as an offer. In the clip, the audience members have to make sound effects for the scene. They don’t always make the right sound effects, but Ryan & Colin accept the offers anyway (eg angelic chorus -> Noah wearing earphones / rumbling noise -> stomach rumbling)

2.1 I Am A Tree

On an empty stage, one player stands in the centre and declares: I am a tree!

Have the rest of the players add to the scene by becoming parts of the picture. Try to encourage building on something that is already there;

  • I am a woman leaning against the tree
  • I am an apple on the branch of the tee
  • I am a worm eating the apple
  • Bring a Brick, Not a Cathedral
    One offer at a time — a small offer will do. You don’t need to finish the whole painting by yourself, and you shouldn’t.
  • Offers should be Clear, Precise and Robust:
    Offers should be clear, so your partner knows what your idea is (and doesn’t misunderstand or get confused). Are you throwing a baseball or a basketball?

    Offers should be precise, so your partner knows exactly what your idea is. Are you throwing them a knife, or throwing a knife at them?

    Offers should be robust, so even if you’re throwing a Blue Globe while Goo Balls and Glue Balls are being thrown around, your partner gets it. Make sure your idea is strong and clearly delivered.
  • Glistening is important. So important I keep saying it.

2.2 Sticky Chewy Chocolate (Dinner Party)

Three players leave the room and return as Guessers or Guests at a Dinner Party. The remaining players decide who is Sticky, Chewy and Chocolate. The three guessers must guess who they are based on how the other players react to them:

  • Players feel disgusted at Sticky, who is a bit sweaty and gross and unnerving
  • Players feel angry at Chewy, and grind their teeth and work their jaws
  • Everybody loves Chocolate

Now repeat with variations of Status. King (respected but not loved) and Queen (beloved of the people) and Maid (lowest status, but common)? Royal and Commoner and Beggar is possible.

We played this in lesson 1, but how we treated the King/Queen/Maid & how we treated Sticky/Chewy/Chocolate were examples of Offers.

(Technically, it’s an Endowment: an offer about a person’s character.).

See you next time.

. . .

Week 3: Let Yourself Be Changed

  • You Can’t Control What Gets Thrown At You…: If you throw me a knife, I have to deal with the knife. We can’t choose what scenes we end up in, and what characters we end up playing.
  • Endowments: An Endowment is a specific kind of Offer where one player gives another player a character.

    A: Dad?
    B: Yes Luke?
    A, now Luke Skywalker: Do you know what I’m getting for Christmas?
    B, now Darth Vader: I have felt your presents.

    See also Prescott’s Character Creation Circle.
  • …But You Can Control How You React to It If you throw me a banana, I can use the banana to fence with you. Or I can decide to be allergic to bananas. Or I can eat the banana and become Bananaman. Let yourself be changed, but know that you can change back.

3.0 Touch the Pillar / Touch the Pole, or “Pole-Dancing”

A game for three players; two ‘dancers’ and a ‘pole’. The pole stands in between; their job is to spit out random words whenever gently touched. The two dancers have a scene and must touch the pole.

Dancer A: Hey, let’s plan a birthday party for Amelia
Dancer B: Yes, let’s. What kind of cake should we we get?
A: We should get a (touch) chihuahua cake, because she likes dogs
B: Good idea, and we can get a (touch) USB dongle, for her laptop.
A: Yes, (touch) magazines are important, she wants to read them on her laptop for (touch) synaesthesia research
B: (touch) Hot dogs! Yes, we can make finger food hotdogs.

The goal is to try to keep talking about the party, while having random words thrown in. Then, you try to find a connection to the random words.

. . .

Week 4: The Shape of Stories

“Truth is often stranger than Fiction, because Fiction has to make sense.” – Mark Twain

4.0 The Story Spine

Almost all stories can fit into the following ‘spine’ structure:

  1. Once Upon A Time, there was a …
  2. And Every Day, He/She/They would …
  3. Until One Day, …
  4. And then ….
  5. And then ….
  6. And then ….
    (repeated)
  7. Until Finally ….
  8. And In The End, …

It’s a simple story structure; first you introduce the status quo, then you inflict a change. All storytelling is Routine -> Change the Routine -> New Routine -> New Change and so on.

. . .

Week 5: Rhythm & Punchlines

“A joke is like two stories. The first part of the joke leads you to make an assumption; the second part, or punchline, whips the rug out from under you.” – Jimmy Carr

  • Rhythm A good story has a rhythm to it (see Story Spine). A good joke is like a good story — and also has a rhythm.

    Things are funnier in threes, which is why we have two closely related rules:
    • The Rule of Three (in Comedy) If something happens two times, it must happen a third time and the third time it happens, it will be hilarious.
    • Yes, No, Banana Rule: Surprise people on the third go; if your first two answers are obvious, saying something completely random the third time will be funny.
  • Tell Bad Jokes… If you can tell good jokes, you should. If you can’t, just tell bad jokes.

    People might groan or roll their eyes at a bad joke — but it’s less stressful for them, and for you. And you’re getting a reaction from them. And if you keep trying, you’ll eventually crack them. The secret to telling 1 good joke is to tell 100 bad ones; the secret to telling 1 great joke is to tell 10,000 bad ones.
  • What makes people laugh? It’s nearly impossible to know. Why not tell 100 jokes and find out?

5.1 181 Lightbulbs

First, frame the exercises (“We are going to try telling bad jokes.”)
Then, set up the joke format

“181 Lightbulbs walk into a bar. The bartender says…”

Write your own punchline

The goal of the game is to tell bad jokes. Encourage people to cheer after the punchline instead of giving no reaction.

181 Lightbulbs walk into a bar. The bartender says, “This is a NIGHT club.”

181 Lightbulbs walk into a bar. The bartender says, “Want some LIGHT beer?

181 Lightbulbs walk into a bar. The bartender pulls out a cigarette and says, “I need a light.”

It’s always amazing. At the start, they won’t even sound like jokes; but as the exercise goes, everyone will get better. Puns fly out, people find associations with lightbulbs, and then you’re ready for…

5.2 Sex With Me…
5.3 Sausages …

These two games are very similar; just that SWM has a set-up (and you write the punchline) and Sausages you have the punchline and you write the set up.

For Sex With Me, it’s not really about sex or dirty themes; it’s a clever word-play joke. If anyone’s the butt of the joke, it’s you, so it’s safe (heh) self-deprecating humor.

Sex with me is like a [air fryer], things get real hot real fast.

Sex with me is like a [air fryer], not so oily.

Sex with me is like a [air fryer], I don’t have an air fryer.

This is the same concept as Sausages:

What did you have for breakfast this morning? SAUSAGES!

What do your fingers look like? SAUSAGES!

What do you call a Pesto Pandit, a Ketchup Guru, and a Worchestershire Wise Man? SAUCE SAGES!

The best joke-telling or line-up game is of course, Scenes from a Hat:

. . .

Week 6: The Shape of Scenes

  • Short sharp and snappy: Scenes should get to the point. Nobody wants to see waffling except at a bakery.
  • Build Up the Antici-: When playing guessing games, don’t go with obvious hints at the start, start with obscure inside jokes and slowly work your way up to outright hinting. The goal isn’t to win the guessing game, but to tease and make great “foreplay”.
  • What Happens Next?: Always be trying to move the scene forward.
  • –pation-: Remember to pay off the anticipation that you build up.

. . .

Week 7: The Pace of Performance

  • Why Do I Care?: People want to know what’s going on – so be clear about Who People Are, What They Are Doing, and Where They Are. One Improv acronym is Crow:
    • [C]haracters – who are these people
    • [R]elationships – how do they know each other, what do they feel about each other
    • [O]bjectives – what are they doing here, what do they want to do
    • [W]hereabouts – where they are, what situation they are in
  • Fast Food Stanislavsky: The legendary actor/director Stanislavsky says there are three fundamental questions that every character actor needs to know:
    • Who am I ?
    • Why am I here ?
    • What do I want ?

7.1 Bachelorettes / The Dating Game / Let’s Make a Date

Simple game – there’s a Single, and three Contestants on a dating-type show; the Single asks questions of the Contestants. The game is, the Contestants each have a secret quirk or strange identity, and the Single has to guess what the Quirks are.

It looks like it’s a guessing game, but really it’s a chance to make jokes and playing characters to their wacky maximum. Case in point: Let’s Make A Date, where all three characters use their bodies and words for comedic effort.

. . .

Week 8: What Next?

  • Performance Level Best-Practices Here are some regular habits & exercises performed as part of the Latecomers and other Improv teams I am part of.

8.1 Warm-Ups: Word Association Variations

Word Association is a great improv exercise. Variations abound. Play for quick reaction speed and accuracy. Before starting any practice or performance Word Association(s) helps to teach everybody to focus and listen, and get into the groove of rapid response. Also, this is a great opportunity to surface recurring jokes.

  1. Word Association
  2. Goalie (Scene Offer + Reaction)
  3. Level Up
  4. Break It Down

8.2 Check-In: Check-In

Going around the circle, each person delivers a quick summary of their current energy level, their excitement level, and anything that happened during the day.

A: Today was 2/5, I had a rough day at work, but my energy level is 4/5, I’m excited for this class.
C: I was Meh out of 5 for work, but now that I’m here my energy is 🚀/ 🌕 because I love this class!

Check ins help to establish three things;

  • Your Energy Level, so you know yourself
  • Your Fellow Players’ Energy Levels, so you can take care of them if they are lower energy/be ready to go hard if they are high energy
  • What Happened During The Week, so you can start a conversation or take care of each other.

8.3 Ending: KUDOS

Anyone anywhere in the circle can, at any time, start a sentence with “Kudos to (person) for (action).” You can give kudos for anything — a joke you laughed at, a move they made that you liked, a moment you shared, appreciation for being a scene partner.

The most important rules are that kudos should be sincere, and focused on the recipient; don’t try to be snarky, don’t try to humble-brag and praise yourself, really try to be appreciative of the partner.

A: Kudos to B for making me laugh with that Rice joke
B: Kudos to C for being so funny in that scene with me
C: Hey, that’s a humble brag! Don’t do that
B: Kudos to C for always calling me out when I brag about myself

On Good Shows and Bad

Four years ago, at the height of my performing powers, I wrote Repeat after me: On Good Shows and Bad:

There will be good shows, there will be bad shows. Most importantly, if you don’t give up, there will be another show.

@darrendarren

The most important thing to remember is that there will always be another show — so listen lightly, remain humble; good shows are not that great, bad shows are not that terrible.