You Are In Control Of Your Improv Scenes

Sometimes I watch an improv scene and I get the sense that the people in it are hoping it will be good. I recognize this hope because I’ve felt it too, especially the first few years I started. When you approach improv this way good scenes feel magical and rare, a stroke of fortune that cannot be predicted or counted on.

Like many improvisers do with their improv scenes, this mad scientist has forgotten he is in control of his giant robot.

But improv scenes do not get picked out of a magic bag by improvisers who find out what they picked during the scenes they are in. No, you are in control of your improv scenes. You are making them and so (obviously) you make them what they are.

Consider juggling. 

Bad jugglers throw their balls every which way and have to spastically shoot their arms all about themselves in order to catch all the balls sent spiraling in senseless directions. I’ve been that juggler, and when you are that juggler, you feel lucky to catch even one ball. Catching a ball, in fact, seems like a miracle of random luck.

Good jugglers catch the balls easily, because they throw the balls to land where they want them to. Whether they juggle a tight, low pattern or a high, dramatic one, it is intentional. They are in control.

So are you when you improvise. 

If your scene is listless, or hack, or utterly boring, that’s because of the choices you made. It sounds harsh, but there is a good side: If your scene is magically awesome, that’s because of you too.

It is not out of your control. It is not random luck. You make your improv scenes what they are through a series of decisions.

So I thought we could take a look under the hood of our decisions in improv scenes, to see what we are thinking when we make this decision or that decision in the heat of the moment. Are we making sensible decisions or are we making haphazard decisions that throw our scene in directions we would rather them not go?

In order to conduct this analysis, I am going to use a Meta Scenes exercise that is inspired by Ian Roberts exercise that helps improvisers use their personal experiences and memories to populate scenes with interesting details (a practice, I believe, is called flashing). Here is a video of me describing how the Meta Scenes exercise works:

And here are two beginning students giving the exercise a shot. I’m going to do three of these and with each scene I’d suggest watching the video and then reading the transcript.  Meta thoughts will be italicized, dialogue will be normal and my thoughts on both will be in blue.

A note on my notes in blue.

I grew up as an improviser in the UCB system. I love game and my notes will reflect that, however you could use this exercise for any approach. The goal is to see what we are trying to do as improvisers, if those decisions are helpful or hurtful top the scene’s quality and finally whether the actual dialogue accomplishes what we intended.

Improvising this way is slow and plodding and I’m not saying we should always be quite so intentional when improvising. It is often fun and magical to simply blurt out whatever you feel like in an improv scene. But sometimes it is useful to take a pause, see where you are in a scene and make an intentional decision based on that analysis.

This exercise helps work that muscle.

Okay, scene number one!

SUGGESTION: 

Salmon, the Color Salmon 

ROB

Okay I'm thinking of establishing (that) Leslie is my wife and that we're now decorating our first home and I want her to be on board with the color choice, so I will say…

   Okay great. Rob is thinking about the Who, the Where and the What. He did consider the idea that Leslie might not “be on board” and states that he wants to be sure she is. This invites conflict and maybe increases the likelihood of asking an opinion question (ie how is this, etc).

Hello darling, this is the first time we've decorated our house and I'm wondering how you would feel about us using the color salmon when we paint the walls in the lounge?

   Okay, we get the Who, we get the What. He doesn’t 100% say the Where but we can be pretty confident this is happening in their house, so let’s give him credit. The initiation does include a question and one that invites conflict, which could prove to be a problem.

LESLIE

So I'm thinking that it's a neutral color, it's kind of a boring color, although it's an earthy color so…

   Leslie’s thoughts are mostly about the color salmon. There is no analysis of where we are in defining the base reality, which I would expect in the response to an initiation. While all her thoughts about salmon as a color are interesting, I don’t think this is the headspace  we want to be at this early stage of the scene.

That sounds like a color that we can both agree on. And you know, most of your clothes are the color salmon, so…

   This line is fantastic and very helpful in moving the scene forward. It totally the threat of a fight by agreeing with Rob’s question based suggestion and it also introduces a very funny new detail, a first unusual thing. Rob not only wants to paint his house interior salmon, he also wears a lot of salmon colored clothes.

ROB

For my next sentence I'm thinking how I could compliment my wife on being so agreeable and recognize her quirky joke about the color of my clothes and just confirm agreement that we've agreed to color so I would say…

   Rob wants to be agreeable, which is always generally good in improv. He also wants to confirm that they’ve agreed to salmon, which is interesting. It is as though a part of his brain wants her to fight about it and is reluctant to leave the subject. But there is no actual paint in the scene, no house, no need for a boring dispute about paint colors. 

   Instead he should be focused on what he is categorizing as his wife’s joke. If his mind were analyzing the scene for comedy dynamics he would probably recognize that the base reality is set and the next order of business is to agree on a comedic focus. I would guess he would identify him wearing salmon all the time as a comedic offer or at least a first unusual thing. Then he could start asking other questions with more helpful answers, such as, is this a matching scene or a straight man/crazy man scene? What could be my character’s justification for wanting so much salmon in my life and how can I introduce this justification into the scene.

Oh you know you're such a darling. I mean this is why I married you. Every time I speak to you, you come out and say something quirky like you did about my clothes. Well that's wonderful, then. So our first discussion since moving into our home and our first agreement on anything. Great.

   So Rob almost writes the unusual thing/comedic offer away by dismissing it as a quirky element of Leslie’s character instead of reacting to it. See this post for more on that. He formally repeats that they agree about the color, treading water by not adding any new information into the scene while using quite a few words to do so.

LESLIE

So I'm thinking that your close match the walls so if we paint the walls and you get any paint on yourself, it won't make a difference and also that you will kind of blend into the background.

   I really love the comedy ideas Leslie is generating at this stage. Pointing out that getting salmon paint on Rob’s clothes would be no big deal is a good absurdity to highlight that would help reinforce the first unusual thing (Rob’s apparent fixation with the color salmon) and the idea that he will now be able to blend into the background of the home feels almost like a heightening move. Great!

   However, she isn’t recognizing that Rob seemed to miss her comedic offer. Both in thought and words he is not accepting the comedic offer and is instead writing it off as a feature of her character, not a comedic offer. This problem is common and so it should be a focus. Asking yourself the question, have I communicated my idea for the scene’s comedic focus successfully to my partner, is a good idea.

   If the answer is no, as it seems to be here, then perhaps you need to restate it more plainly or reposition it in a way that is easier for your partner to understand.

So yeah so let's let's go ahead and do this project and, you know, this going to be easy cleanup because if you get paint on your clothes then it won't really matter and you can just keep wearing the same clothes. And, you know, when you're relaxing and sitting on the couch I won't even know that you were there. I think that we can both have a good peace of mind.

   A pretty long line, which we want to be cautious about. I didn’t notice it in the meta thoughts leading to it, but including both the paint joke and the blending in joke in just one line is a lot for a scene partner to react to (even though they both are quite funny). I wonder if a pithier line might be easier for Rob to collaborate with.

ROB

I'm recognizing the unusual thing, that my clothes are all salmon colored. I love comedy so I will encourage my wife to be funny. In the future I will let her know that I found what she said to be funny.

   This is a very interesting moment to see into Rob’s thoughts. He accurately pinpoints the first unusual thing, calling it exactly that, but then chooses not to treat it as such. Once we know the first unusual thing (or first strong move) in a scene, the next step is either to react to it or to justify it or (best case) both. Instead Rob focuses on Leslie’s sense of humor. 

   I would say there are multiple problems stemming from the way Rob regards this moment, but the biggest one is that he is essentially ignoring his partner’s comedic by not really reacting to it. She is saying, how about our scene be about someone who uses the color Salmon too much? And he is responding with, how about I pretend you aren’t making a comedic offer as an improviser but are instead just playing a character with a sense of humor I appreciate.

Wow you're so right! I really do love the color salmon and, you know, I'm thinking, how about all my clothes are salmon now? How about I get a salmon colored car as well? That would be wonderful! I really appreciate your sense of humor.

   You can see in this line that Rob has good ideas about how to heighten the comedy in this scene. But since he isn’t taking Leslie’s words seriously, we’re watching a scene about two funny people joking around with each other. 

   Imagine if John Cleese had made the same choice in the Dead Parrot Sketch. “That bird’s only sleeping.” “Ah, I can see you have a good sense of humor.” That choice would ruin that sketch.

LESLIE

So a salmon colored car. I'm just thinking that we can extend this thing. We can paint the outside of the house salmon, have a salmon colored car and we can blend in with the fall trees and um we can um eat salmon.

   No real last line from Leslie, but you can see she has more good ideas about how to heighten the comedy in the scene.

Let’s look at another one!

SUGGESTION: 

Hopscotch 

LEELA

That makes me think of putting, Hopscotch makes me think of scotch, which makes me think of making Christmas cake and putting Brandy on it. So I am going to approach Bailey as if I belong to the same cooking club as she does and I've come over to her place to see her cake.

   Great, Leela uses the suggestion to come up with some ideas for the base reality. Her analysis is mostly about the suggestion and not the base reality, but as you’ll see her initiation does cover a lot of the base.

Hey Josie, thanks for inviting me over to your place to see your winning cake from our baking club.

   As promised, we know who, where and what.

BAILEY

So we've established what we're doing and where we are, it's not really clear who we are to each other and so I'm going to say that she's my best friend and um um so that would be completing the base reality and then we're going to I'm going to add something about her so that we find organically, if we can, something funny.

   I love this analysis, it is focused on the base reality and what is needed afterwards. You could nitpick and say we do know they are cooking club mates, but best friends is more specific and makes the scene more important, so I really like it. The decision to add a gift for Leela to play is quite good and very helpful. 

So Susie, ah you're my best friend, so nice to have you here. Come in, come in. Oh don't sit down on the, on the couch. Oh you look so energetic.

LEELA

I'm just feeling on top of the world it's like oh you know…

   Here Leela starts with the line of dialogue rather than the meta analysis. This is interesting right? She knows the point of the exercise and nonetheless gets carried by the scene on just her second line. 

   This is honestly how most of us improvise and how we should improvise, recklessly and carefree. But we also should be able to hit pause at times and take stock of where our scene is so that we can make intentional decisions that foment collaboration.

TERRY

Wait Leela, Leelaa, tell us what you're thinking.

LEELA

Oh sorry! I forgot!

I'm thinking that I'm going to play out what she said that I was. That I am energetic. Um, yeah so I'm going to match what she is suggesting.

   Wonderful. Leela noticed the gift and wants to play it. She was naturally doing so in her first line also, so everything is looking good!

Oh I'm so excited I can't wait to try your cake!

   A good example of embracing and playing a gift.

BAILEY

So, I find it funny that she's extremely excited, uh to try my cake. I'm going to to label this as the funny thing uh and I'm going to try to match, so um… 

   Bailey notices a first unusual thing and now intends to Yes And it by matching the way Leela played “energetic” with a type of unbridled enthusiasm. Great.

Yeah isn't it exciting? It's the best day of the week.

   Eh, maybe this could be a little stronger. I’m not sure this is as “energetic” as Leela was. I like to heighten when matching so there is no confusion and maybe you could even say out loud something that 100% defines it, like “I’m just as energetic as you, that’s why we are best friends.” 

LEELA

So I'm going to uh keep playing on the line uh that we've chosen as funny.

   Okay, so really nothing new in Leela’s analysis. Perhaps it is foreboding that she says nothing of Bailey’s attempt at matching.

Yes and I'm so excited to try your cake that you've totally soaked in brandy because I've had to quit drinking but no one said I had to quit eating. 

Interestingly, Leela has mostly stopped playing energetic, although she is still enthusiastic,  and has introduced something with a lot more gravity: Her apparent/probable alcoholism coupled with Bailey’s tendency to soak food in alcohol, PLUS Leela has quit drinking but will eat alcohol if served in a semi solid state. That’s a lot, too much. You have to wonder if Bailey’s matching move had been stronger, could this have been averted.

BAILEY

We changed the funny thing. I make cakes in a very funny way, which is soaking them in alcohol. So I'm going to use this as our game and do a lot of crazy things with alcohol.

Like a pro Bailey understands what has happened and without delay pivots into the new comedic offer while dropping the original focus. Impressive.

Come in, come in and try. Look! It's like a soup.

A funny line that Yes Ands the soaking food in alcohol offer.

LEELA

Oh my God soup with alcohol that is over the top, but I guess I'm going to have to dip bread in it because I can't drink anymore and soup is kind of a beverage but I can eat so I can dip my bread in it.

   Leela forgets to include a Meta statement, reinforces how difficult it is to remember what you are trying to do inside of an improv scene. It is kind of like the movie Inception where characters forget why they have entered a dream and instead start living their lives there. 

   Nonetheless, the move Yes Ands an angle of the soaking-food-in-alcohol offer. Focusing on the “I can’t drink but can eat alcohol” angle is the most complicated aspect and I worry this will make collaboration harder. 

BAILEY

So I'm going now to the rest of the comedy and so do anything else and then um do something else with alcohol.

   Yep, Bailey just thinks the offer is soaking food in alcohol and misses the eating alcohol is okay component, meaning the two scene partners are playing slightly different games. 

Yeah, here's the bread it's on that table, so you've been exercising, you told me, haven't you?

   Nope, Bailey, does mention the bread helping the whole scene movie forward. There could be a stronger reaction to all of these unusual elements which would help us define more about them and play them more successfully. Even so, this is a high degree of collaboration given some of the hurdles this scene has faced.

And here is a third scene for which I haven't typed out the analysis yet. Don't worry! It is coming!