STFU→

Wish I could forward this to the dude in the audience who gave notes out loud during the show I saw on Friday night.

Improv Nerd E163: TJ & Dave

Here are some notes and interpretations I took while listening to Chicago improv podcast Improv Nerd. This is from Episode 163: TJ & Dave. Click the links on the times to be taken to an audio version of the note.

10:34: How the TJ & Dave format came about: “We decided to improvise in the way we were going to improvise.” No planning of what the show was going to look like in advance, including format. After a bad first show, the duo made some choices to “find out what this show tends to do”. The cast was kept to two, as they only wanted to add people as they were needed. Rather than doing “a bunch of different stuff, let’s just do one thing.” Someone else pointed out that the shows would always take place in the same time – almost real time, within the hour TJ & Dave are on stage. No time dashes, but jumps to different locations (in the same time) occur. TJ & Dave playing multiple characters over the course of a show came out of necessity.

14:40: “The show itself, it’s an exercise in seeing what happens when you really only go from moment to moment to moment with no plans, no bits, and really just behave this way. [..] Like an actual human being, which is like the easiest way to get a show to a sustainable way, like put real people in it. Real people tend to live for a while, you know what I mean? They do things that they live by, and make choices that their accountable for, and that kind of stuff and so, if it was just going to be us and the show would be about an hour then, let’s make these people as actual as we can, and they’ll do things that people actually would do. Because no-one’s coming, we’re not getting edited, so we gotta live in these people for a while. It’s going to be easier if we make them real.”

16:53: Responding honestly means the response falls in the believable realm for that character’s point of view. In short, the logic checks out. An absurd character can be believable by being honest on stage, which may in turn gain laughs more so than an absurd character stating absurd things (because they are absurd or funny).

17:35: What a character first does can deem what they become. An over-solicitous waiter stands in a certain way, walks in a certain way, the pace in which they move or talk.

19:45: [..] There is going to be comedy in it [a TJ & Dave show], but it’s not the intention. That isn’t what we’re focusing on, we’re really just trying to go from moment to moment to moment, and one’s own nature will probably reveal itself in certain situations, you know the tendencies. We have a skewed outlook that often people view that as funny. Like in therapy, that’s sad. It’s medicated. But on stage, oh that’s hilarious! If you said comedy is the goal, if you said funny is the goal, you’re likely never going to hit interesting or frightening or any of that, you’re just going to hit, you’re going to miss, you’re going to hit unfunny.

21:44: “Honesty doesn’t prohibit comedy.”

30:23: Improvisation isn’t getting on stage and talking. It’s choosing your words, your movements, how you conduct yourself carefully in response to your scene partner.

33:56: Scenework that involves making discoveries on stage involves removing internal fears. “Empty yourself of all your own garbage”, and to “operate as an antenna” to receive, not push the scene in the direction we want it to go in. You don’t have to say something soon – talk when you feel the need to talk. If a place or person isn’t defined, we don’t have to define them in order for the scene to be considered good. “When in doubt, seduce.”

35:17: “Pay attention to the other person. That’s all that matters, that’s all that matters. What is going on here, what’s the relationship. That’s the extent of how important I am, what am I to them? And it takes a lot of the onus off trying to work all this shit out.”

56:45: “The job of the improviser is to not do the same thing, to always have a new. If what we’ve decided to explore becomes less than new, we have to find something else to explore.”

1:09:16: “Never love it [improv] so much that you’re not having outside experiences.”

1:09:55: “A bad scene should not force you to think less of yourself. A bad scene should and can make you look forward to improvising again.”

 

How do I deal with setback?→

Brian Stack, one of my favourite Late Night with Conan O’Brien performers on working out why he struggled in auditions.

Yummy Pineapples: Eight Ways To Cut Open A Suggestion

Suggestions, the supposed proof that what we’re doing isn’t written. Even then, you’ll still have people coming up to you after shows asking if you pre-plan characters or scenarios. Sigh.

When I was learning the Harold, all I remember of interpreting suggestions is that you don’t want to go with the most obvious idea, but go with your second or third idea. In other words, if your suggestion is pineapple, it’s poor form to initiate a scene about eating a pineapple. Instead, we want to take the themes and larger concepts that come up in an opening and play with those. I remember coming up with scene initiations on the sidelines, then panicking when one of my teammates came up with the same idea and initiated first. What do I do now!? I’m screwed!

Since then, I’ve had a lot more training and heard a couple of techniques that have really stuck with me, making things easier, giving me more options, and allowing me to explore suggestions in new ways I never have before.

Lliam Amor, a brilliant improviser from Melbourne took my old Harold team Airblade one week for training. He let us in on how a suggestion can be broken down into four parts:

  • Literal: Playing the suggestion for exactly what it is. Initiate a scene as a pineapple, letting the characteristics of a pineapple influence your character choices – you’re prickly and mean.
  • Personal: Letting a personal memory influence your choices. When I was a kid I would only eat Hawaiian pizzas, so I might initiate a scene as a pizza shop owner running short on supplies.
  • Historical: Use your historical knowledge of the suggestion. I know that pineapple was considered an exotic treat in the 20s and 30s, so I could play a dapper business man trying to sell the world on something new and strange.
  • Pop Culture: What does the suggestion remind you of in the real world? Perhaps your scene is set at The Big Pineapple on the Sunshine Coast.

Last week I was at a live taping of Improv Nerd with iO alumni Matt Higbee. Right before performing a scene with host Jimmy Carrane, Matt was asked how he interprets a suggestion. Matt’s mind works through the following:

  • Sound: What noises/voices does the suggestion remind you of? Pineapple might remind you of tribal warriors on a tropical island.
  • Physicality: Let the suggestion effect your body shape. You might stand with your legs split, bent at the knees, and your hands out by your head; which in turn might generate a character choice or inspire your scene partner.
  • Phrase: Say a phrase that comes to mind from the suggestion. It could be as simple and coming out and saying “How sweet it is!”
  • Thematic: What themes the suggestions inspire – play them. Pineapples are spiky on the outside and sweet on the inside – maybe the characters in the scene reveal themselves to have a hard outer shell but change once opened.

I can’t believe I’ve found eight ideas from the (often oversaid) suggestion pineapple, but there’s a whole lot going on without being a boring dude opening a can of pineapple rings. I really like the idea of using personal memories, because there’s a good chance that my memory is not going to be the same as any of my teammates. Physicality is really cool too, because you might do something that reminds you of the suggestion, but reminds your scene partner of something else!

In short: You can take plenty away from a suggestion. Cut open that fruit – there’s plenty of juicy stuff inside.

My Worst Moment in Improv→

This is hard to read, but important to read too. I’ve never seen anything like this, and never want to. Play the reality you want to see in the world, not the reality that already exists.

Will Hines – Tracers Form Workshop

In preparation for the Del Close Marathon, the Upright Citizens Brigade Training Centre offered a bunch of workshops covering various topics. I attended a workshop with Will Hines covering two ‘harder’ long-forms that he saw many times when starting with the UCB – The Sleepover and Tracers. Below are the notes and impressions from Tracers portion of the workshop.

How It Came About: Tracers was a show that ran at UCBNY in early 2000. It was inspired by the show Close Quarters which ran years earlier in Chicago, and later spawned shows at UCB such as Vantage Point and Retraced.

Form Characteristics:

  • A company of 6 to 8 performers.
  • Take a suggestion at the top of the show.
  • Scenes all happen in the same geographic location. If your location is kitchen, you might see scenes at the dishwashing station, at the bar, at the FBI van in the car park across the street.
  • The first scene establishes the location plus the people.
  • Scenes heighten a lot!! Every scene is a short little play which gets bigger and bigger (like a balloon).
  • Tone can change between scenes. You can have a slow-played dramatic scene in one location, followed by a gamey fun scene in the next.
  • We never go backwards – all the scenes are happening at the same time.
  • Two gimmicks to use in the show: Callbacks and Foreshadowing
    • Callbacks: If something happens in one room, it’s repeated in the next room (eg callbacks – someone screams the word ‘murder’ in scene one. In scene two, you will hear someone scream ‘murder’ in the background). This requires memory, so don’t do it too often.
    • Foreshadowing: Backwards callback. You’re encouraged to do it. People in the backline adding something (via a walk-on) which is used later on in the show. This can include emotion!
  • The show isn’t made by the gimmicks though. It’s made by the scenes.
  • Transitions: French Edit your scenes – walk out in front of the performers and start a new scene.

General Notes

  • Everyone has their own little issue which comes up in each scene.
  • Not everything needs to be solved.
  • Loads of emotion between scenes.
  • Plot doesn’t matter because it’s easy to get stuck in information established in the previous scenes. We want to see relationships, confessions, moments.
  • Take your time, there’s no need to rush.
  • Show Balance: If you take, you must give – be it confessions, character names, gifts.
  • Use the entire stage to indicate the different spaces you are located in.
  • If you drop a bomb, let it land. Look at the person for a beat to inform your character choice.
  • Make instinctive choices right away.
  • Be comfortable with silent tension.

Listening vs. Monkeys→

What I learned from Mick [Napier] when I studied with him was that I could empower myself onstage at any moment that I chose. When I am not the one starting the scene I just choose to empower myself right after I have completely listened to the first person’s initiation. This way I make sure that their idea gets explored and, if I am listening well, they will almost always tell me basically what I am supposed to do. In seconds I have a clear scene start that can move forward effortlessly.

If you like nerdy in-depth discussions of what improv is supposed to be, Pack Improv with Miles Stroth is your podcast. Also, at 30 minutes an episode it’s an easy listen.