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!
