Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation by Charna Halpern, Del Close, Kim Johnson Read Free Book Online Page A

a minute?
    ROBBER:(Panting) You're not gonna grab me if we rest?
    COP: Promise. Just for a few seconds — on the count of three. One, Two.
    Three.
    (Both stop, heavily panting.)
    COP: Boy, this part of my job is murder.
    ROBBER: It's my least favorite part, too. But, it comes with the territory.
    Speaking of territory — this is a pretty tough beat for a 50-year-old.
    COP: Yes. Well, experience counts for something. I'm ready — how about
    you?
    ROBBER: Okay. One. Two. Three — go.
    (Both start running.)
    This scene continued on with the officer and the robber agreeing to stop every few beats, which allowed them to build an interesting relationship — proving once again that agreement in a potentially conflictive situation leads to an unusual choice!
    The actors quickly discover that the audience laughs at agreement — a secret of comedy that veryfew people Audiences aren't used to seeing actors agreeing very often, and they rarely see people agree to the things improv forces them to agree with!
    Audiences at the ImprovOlympic have become quite sophisticated through the years. They respond poorly when they see denials on stage — and a few players are even booed!
    The Ad Game
    This game is a Del Close Special. It teaches several lessons, but it's particularly useful for actors to learn the "Yes, & . . ." approach to creating.
    Usually played with approximately six or eight actors, the group has five minutes to create an ad campaign for an ordinary product with an unusual quality. For example: cereal that plays music when milk is poured on it.
    The group must come up with a name for the product, a package design, a slogan, a spokesperson, and a jingle to create an entire marketing strategy and finished commercial.
    Naturally, the only way to do this in five minutes is through complete and total agreement — no negative thinking is allowed. Every idea is accepted enthusiastically and remembered, each step is built off the previous idea. In order to properly brainwash the actors with this theory of acceptance, the director may want to force them to over-accept, screaming "Yes!"
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"Terrific idea!" "Great!" and other praises of brilliance after each idea is stated. This over-acceptance — particularly of stupid ideas — only makes the game funnier.
    Most of the time, the players dramatize the game with lots of pacing, thinking, and enthusiastic shouts of agreement.
    The Ad Game also familiarizes actors with important techniques for successfully creating a scene. The first, and most important, is the "Yes, & . . ." principle.
    Everything is accepted, treated respectfully and most importantly, used. The other players treat all ideas as if they were their own, and take turns building on them. There is an unspoken agreement between improvisers on stage: "You bringa brick, and I bring a brick. Then together, we build a house. You wouldn't bring in your own entire house and slap it on top of mine. Together, moment by moment, we create a scene."
    Since every idea is remembered and used, players shouldn't give morethan one suggestionfor each topic. One is enough;the first one is always accepted and used — once the product is named, suggesting a second name takes the game sideways. The Ad Game teaches players to go forward. There's no need for a second suggestion, since the group will make the or suggestion work splendidly. In the Ad Game, the word "or"should never be used.
    Since all of the workshop exercises are techniques for performance, they inevitably end up on stage in some form or another in Harolds (Of course, sometimes games are slightly amended in a performance situation for a particular Harold theme).
    The following game was created by workshop students, based on the suggestion of a dog food that makes dogs talk (These students were clearly trying to test the theory that any idea will succeed).
    AD EXECUTIVE: We have dog food that makes dogs talk. Now, who are
    we going to market this to?
    RESPONSE: Lonely