Improvisers, stop calling out unusual behavior, leave that to the characters
Worry less about what the right thing to say is, and more about what you want to say
I am trying to thread a needle of conscientious social writer and improv obsessed doofus. How am I doing?
Last night I did a Harold with a bunch of teachers and coaches for Play-By-Play. The show has two commentators, in this instance Isabella and Laney, making verbal observations in real time about the improv being performed.
My first beat required me to be the Voice of Reason, and I did it textbook. I’m not bragging. I was actually a little annoyed with myself because I’ve recently been using my soapbox to encourage improvisers to break script. I’m sensing a growing shift, not just in improv, but in life, toward people saying what they’ve told is the right thing to say, as opposed to saying what they would like to say. So when I slipped into repeating back the unusual behavior as a question, and then remarking on how the unusual offer isn’t “what people normally do,” it took hearing one of the commentators saying “here Jake is repeating the unusual offer back and saying what people normally do,” for me to even register I had done it. I don’t want my improv to be automatic. I want it to be present.
There is one type of scene (that I know of) that doesn’t work in improv that beginning improvisers never do, but that experienced improvisers do all the time.
I once had a coach say that the goal of any improviser is to reduce the percentage of bad scenes they do. Now I don’t think of scenes as being bad. “Bad” is a judgment. Judgment doesn’t help development. So I think of them as not working, but since I want to be as accurate in my retelling of this lesson as I can, I’ll stick to my coach’s terminology. He went on to say that when you start, 90% of your scenes are bad. Then with practice, you might cut that number in half. Keep at it and you might get the percentage down to 15-20% No one gets to zero. That’s the beauty and the beast of improv. No art is perfect (thank god), but improv is always a rough draft so there’s bound to be more mis-steps. I think any improviser who sticks with it will shift their goal from reducing the percentage of “bad” scenes to being comfortable with the ones that don’t work. Another way to put it is, they will get to be themselves in any situation, not just the easy ones.
The ineffective scene that manifests among experienced improvisers goes something like this:
Improviser A: “Honey, I’m ready for our Anniversary dinner at the fancy restaurant. I got a new suit, polished my shoes and I’m wearing my underwear over my pants.”
Improviser B: (Looking their scene partner up and down) “Oh you! You look as handsome as the day we met.”
A: (Not getting the answer they were looking for) “Time sure does fly so I wanted to mark this special occasion by wearing my underwear on the outside.”
B: “Whatever makes you happy. It’s our special night. Would you like me to wear my underwear over my dress?”
A: (Panicked that the scene isn’t going as planned) “Huh? Oh well, do you want to? I mean good. I thought you were going to have a problem with me doing it.”
B: (Now also panicked that they said the wrong thing) “Oh right, well you said you were going to make an impression” or “ohhhh right, yeah I don’t have a problem with it, but I think the restaurant will because normally people wear their underwear under their clothes.”
A: (Justifying, feigning annoyance) “God I just want to express myself on our anniversary.”
B: (Labeling) “So you’re saying you like to show off your underwear in public places?”
A: (Trying to yes, and, but also get their idea across) “Yes and also I think expression is showing off a private side of yourself.”
B: (Attempting to show partner they are a good improviser) “Oh like at your job presentation when you shouted out how much money you had in the bank?”
A: (Worried their offer still got missed) “And I wore my underwear on the outside.”
B: (Attempting to course correct) “I want a divorce.”
Annnnd SCENE
If you’ve done a scene like this, I don’t want you to feel bad. You’re doing what you’ve been taught. Improviser A is calling out the unusual behavior. They’re just calling out their scene partner’s unusual behavior, which they see as not calling out their unusual offer. This is the subtext that I see in that scene:
Improviser A: We are doing an improv scene and an improv scene contains a base reality, an unusual offer, recognition of that unusual offer, a label and a justification. Those are all the components of the base reality of the improv scene. Here I will provide you with the base reality and the unusual offer and you will call out the unusual offer.
Improviser B: I am yes, anding you by adding information.
A: (Calling out unusual behavior of improviser) You didn’t call out the unusual behavior, which is unusual to me as an improviser, and I’ve been trained to call out what is unusual. Which is you not calling out what is unusual.
B: So is my behavior unusual?
A: (Label) Yes, you’re not calling out unusual behavior.
B: (Justify) Oh but I just want to be a good scene partner.
A: (Resting) Let’s just try and recognize me as unusual and label and justify.
B: (Resting) Gotcha! Like this?
A: (calling out) No, you’re still being unusual. I want to do an improv scene where someone is unusual and we label them and they keep doing it.
B: (playing truth of the scene, repeating behavior) Isn’t that what we’re doing?
A: Yes, but not like the one I had in my head. I initiated.
B: (recognizing unusual behavior) You said “yes, but”
A and B: (thinking but not saying) I fucked this up
So there we have two improvisers who did everything they were taught to do, having no fun, and then feeling bad.
Characters do not know they are improvisers. They do not know the rules. If you are playing as a character, then you don’t need to call out anything except for what would be unusual to you as a character. If your scene partner does something that goes against your understanding of an improv scene base reality: who/what/where, unusual behavior, call out, label, and justify, (not to be confused with the the base reality of the improv scene), it’s ok to let that go. I know that’s incredibly difficult because that’s what you’ve been pounding into your head since you started. Well I’ve got good news for you. You can do it. Now you get to choose when to do it.
When I see an improviser call out another improviser I see the strings of the scene. I see the mechanics of an improv scene. That’s in part because I’ve watched thousands of hours of improv, but you don’t need to watch thousands of hours of improv to see something is happening on stage independent of what is being created. The audience is there to watch you and your teammates make choices that either meet expectations or defy expectations. The only expectations an audience has are the ones you give them by setting up a base reality and performing as the characters in it. When an improviser is given a cue that the did something that goes against the model, the audience can see that. It breaks the suspension of disbelief and distorts the expectations. It makes the scene harder to play, and usually less fun to play. The audience is there to see YOU, not the curriculum, not the formula.
What I wish I could have done last night in the show when Berg asked if I, a police officer, would help him, the Mayor, find more cute gays to enrich the city, is to say “that’s a crazy request of a police officer, but fuck it, I’d rather do that than be enlisted by the federal government to deport and detain people in this city.” That would have not been the “right” response, but it would have been the response I would have liked to have given because if I was a police officer, I would rather be doing that than helping ICE with their racist raids. It would be the more fun scene and the scene more reflective of me. We eventually got there, but I was kicking myself for a) not doing what I preach and b) not embracing more of myself in the scene.
I’m not saying you have to make every scene a stance on what you believe. Again, I’m trying to thread a needle and I’m trying to make an effort to integrate more of my art into my life and my life into my art. What I am saying is play the character of the scene as you would like to play them. If you lose your character to the formula, then I’m reminded I’m watching improvisers. I want to watch the mayor and a cop go on a scouting mission for cute gays. Or for a couple to struggle with balancing role play and sex in the bedroom. Or for two convicts to escape prison, and one thinks they’re actually the guards so he keeps bringing up that he ate too many chalupas. It’s funny. It’s ok if it’s not right. A textbook scene belongs in a textbook and has no personality. At best saying the right thing moves the scene along uniformly in a way that anyone could play. At worst, saying the “right” thing doesn’t tell me anything about you, other than you know what you “should” say. Give me thirty seconds on the computer and I can find a landfill of people expressing what they “should” say. I came to a comedy show to hear what YOU have to say.