For the past couple of weeks, the Germanytrek team has been learning the art of comedic improvisation.  Comedy improv involves going on stage and making up a scene on the spot….which everyone expects to be the funniest thing in the world.  Great stuff!  In the midst of creative juices flowing and people going crazy, there are rules in comedy improv that help maintain some order/prevent an onstage cataclysm. 

Standard Rules:

1)   Avoid Negation—The word ”NO” or negating ideas

2)   Avoid Questions—‘?’s or ambiguity

3)   Previous Relationship—avoid meeting for the first time

4)   Decide how you Feel—always improves the scene

Anytime you are in an improv nightmare and the scene is going nowhere fast, these rules will be your lifeline.  Let’s start with the first rule.  Nothing will kill a scene faster than negating what your improv partner is giving you.  If you are waddling like a duck, and your partner calls you grandma, you are now grandma duck.  Trying to correct your partner by saying, “I’m not grandma, I’m a duck” kills the scene almost instantly.  What is said onstage is truth.  The audience has nothing else to go on. 

Asking questions (second rule) in a scene will severely slow down the overall scene and more than likely halt it altogether.  Questions like, “What are you doing?” ”Who are you?” and “How are you doing today?” will put your partner in a bad spot.  It forces your partner to carry the full weight of the scene and makes you a dead weight.  Turning questions into statements makes them much more powerful. Good alternatives are, “I have told you a thousand times don’t do ________”  “I can’t be seen with You!” or “You look like you got run over by a bus!”

The third rule, Previous Relationship, is key to instantly successful improv scenes.  A scene between a husband and wife of 20 years is much more interesting than two random people in the checkout line.  There is much more backstory that has to be explained in random encounters while an old married couple already has a clear and universal backstory that allows you to get to the action quicker.

            The fourth rule, Deciding how you Feel, will get you out of just about any pickle imaginable.  Apathy doesn’t play well in improv.  It’s just boring.  If you love/hate your partner or are scared/obsessed with your partner, it raises the stakes of the scene and gets very funny.  One classic move in a quickly dying scene is to pronounce your obsessive love to your partner and your need for them in your life.  That is a sure fire escape route in a scene. 

            Comedy improv can seem daunting at times, however it is good to remember that the audience is always….well…mostly on your side.  They came to laugh and they want to see you succeed.  These are just the very barebones, elementary, and unembellished basics. More to come later!