Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation

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KEY POINTS FOR CHAPTER EIGHT *Take the unusual choice. *Listen to your inner voice. *Reflect each other's ideas. possibilities, rather than the perfection of his limitations (as is the case when art is reduced to Del Close (March 9, 1934 – March 4, 1999) was an American actor, writer, and teacher who coached many of the best-known comedians and comic actors of the late twentieth century.[1] In addition to an acting career in television and film, he was one of the influences on modern improvisational theater.

Notable Quote: “There are people who prefer to say ‘yes’ and there are people who prefer to say ‘no’. Those who say ‘yes’ are rewarded by the adventures they have. Those who say ‘no’ are rewarded by the safety they attain.”TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword by Mike Myers …………………………………………………. 1 Introduction I ……………………………………………………………... 2 Introduction II ……………………………………………………………... 3 CHAPTER ONE What Is Improv, Anyway? ………………………………………………… 7 CHAPTER TWO But Seriously, Folks ……………………………………………………… 13 CHAPTER THREE Support and Trust …………………………………………………………. 22 CHAPTER FOUR Agreement. ………………………………………………………………… 27 CHAPTER FIVE Initiations and Game Moves ……………………………………………… 35 CHAPTER SIX Moment to Moment to Moment…………………………………………… 44 CHAPTER SEVEN Building a Scene …………………………………………………………...49 CHAPTER EIGHT One Mind, Many Bodies ………………………………………………….. 55 CHAPTER NINE Environmentally Aware …………………………………………………… 62 CHAPTER TEN Responsibilities of a Harold Player ……………………………………….. 72 CHAPTER ELEVEN How to Do a Harold ……………………………………………………… 81 CHAPTER TWELVE Harold As a Team Sport …………………………………………………. 90 About the Authors ……………………………………………………….. 91 Read How to be the Greatest Improviser on Earth. 6. The Improv Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Improvising in Comedy, Theatre, and Beyond by Tom Salinsky and Deborah Frances-White KEY POINTS FOR CHAPTER SIX *Stay in the moment. What is happening now will be the key to discovery. *Nothing is ignored. Follow the unexpected twist. *There is no such thing as a mistake.

Every director has heard the dreaded, familiar "My character wouldn't do that." There is nothing a character won't do. When an actor discovers a new character in his personality, he must find what will make him go further — to do the unexpected. Developing characters proved to be one of the most useful elements of the Harold for Chris Farley when he moved on to Saturday Night Live. "I was able to come up with many different characters. In one Harold, I could do five characters, and maybe hone those just a little bit and try 'em again," says Farley. "There are so many different characters you can do in one given Harold — five characters can easily emerge." NEW WOMAN: Okay. Simon says, "Lay face down on the floor." (He does.) FREEZE! A player tags the standing woman, and looks down at the man on the floor, and says, "Last call!" Death." "Bergman." "Bird dog." "Bird Man of Alcatraz." "Prison." "Bondage." "Collar." Team B "Loyalty." "Man's best friend." "Barking." "Sit." "You can have the kids. I'll take the dog." "Stay." "Caged." "Divorce." "Heel." "Barking." "Cat fight." "His bark is worse than his bite." "He's a stray." Team A's use of the "dog" theme revealed ideas about crime and punishment; Team B discovered levels of failed human relationships, in addition to animal-human relationships. Notable Quote: “If improvisers aren’t truly playing then they are “thinking about.” If fear has them thinking in this way at the beginning of the scene, they are sure to discover that their scene is boring from the audience’s perspective. The consequence of that realization is more fear and confusion.”One Mind, Many Bodies Following the Unconscious Choice The subconscious is a lot smarter than most people think. Very often, when a beginning improviser gets the impulse to say or do something in a scene, he ignores it. When his subconscious provides him with a sudden idea for the scene, and he doesn't understand the reason for making this "crazy" choice, his ego considgxsJLaniistake. The only real mistake here is ignoring the inner voice. Inexperienced players disregard the unconscious choice, and continue on with the scene as if that choice was never made; it doesn't fit in with what they "think" the scene is about. They couldn't be more wrong. As explained in the previous chapters, a scene is never about what the player thinks it is going to be; glossing over this "mistake" actually ruins a great chance to make discoveries. As the players grow more experienced on stage, they discover they have an inner voice which, when followed, leads them to interesting twists in the scene. The unusual choices result in the most interesting scenes. The ego is the part of the mind that hangs on to preconceived notions about scenes, so the best improvisers always strive to overcome their own egos. They've learned to trust their inner voices to their unconscious right choices. And when a player reaches the level where he lets his subconscious make the correct choices, his level of confidence on stage will soar! One of the most difficult feats for a beginning improviser is trusting his unconscious mind to lead him down the right path. Eventually, he learns that there is a part of his brain that really does know how to do this work quite well — if he would just get out of his own way! Learning how to edit a scene is easy. Knowing when to cut a scene off requires a little more effort.' Players have to respect the length and timing of the individual pieces that make up the Harold. If a scene or a game goes on for too long, not only does it detract from that piece, it zaps the energy of the entire performance. A Harold should rarely run longer than 35 minutes. Since the opening alone can take six or seven minutes, the entire Harold becomes unbalanced if one scene rambles on without being cut off by other players. By using a cinematic approach, the player is responsible for seeing that his fellow players are edited at the right time. This is really very easy to do, since most of us have seen thousands of hours of TV and movies — it's almost instinctual! Based on how much film and TV we've seen, most of us have the equivalent of advanced degrees in film editing. Any player paying attention knows when his teammates have established their relationship in a scene clearly enough to be cut until a future time. It will be obvious when a scene reaches its end, and the players will need to be cut so that they can retire their brains. When improvisers work together for a while, they will recognize the tone in another player's voice asking to be edited. Much of this is pure instinct. If a player has an impulse to cut a scene but isn't quite sure if the timing is right, chances are that his impulse was the correct one. He can't worry about being polite — it's more polite to edit a scene too soon than too late, because they can always return with their ideas later. That's the beauty of Harold! KEY POINTS FOR CHAPTER SEVEN *Keep it simple. Less is more. *Avoid exposition. *Start scenes in the middle. *Take the active choice to forward action. *Be specific. Avoid generalities. *Listen for the game move. *Welcome the silences. There is action in thought.

First, I read the book after I went through improv training at Second City theatre, and I was taking more improv classes at Chicago iO theatre. Most of those ideas aren’t new to me. Still, they laugh. It is a side-effect of attempting to achieve something more beautiful, honest, and truthful, something that has far more to do with the theatre--which puts your attention on what is important about being a human in a community..." LAMENTABLEMENTE este libro se me hizo bien aburrido y difícil de entender, porque parte de la improvisación es improvisar, vaya, tus props en el escenario y no me alcanzaba la visión para materializar una escena así. Si no fuera porque me apoye de programas como Second City, algunos de los bits más famosos de Monty Python y unos sketchs de Bill Murray, me hubiera quedado en blanco.Truth in Comedy” is praised as one of the classical readings for comedy. Indeed, it covers many fundamental points in comedy. Some, but not all, are: Audience members laugh at things they can relate to, but cannot empathize if the performers are insincere.

KEY POINTS FOR CHAPTER TWO *Don't make jokes. *Let humor arise out of the situation. *Take the scene seriously. *Agreement is the only rule that cannot be broken. *Connections cannot be avoided; don't force them. KEY POINTS FOR CHAPTER THREE *Respect choices made by others. *There are no bad ideas. *There are no mistakes. Everything is justified. *Treat others as if they are poets, geniuses and artists, and they will be. *The best way to look good is to make your fellow players look good. A SAMPLE HAROLD Describing the structure of a Harold is important, but seeing how an actual Harold develops may be even more helpful. This is a synopsis of the Harold that grew out of the Pattern Game described early in this book, based on the theme of camera. Opening Pattern Game: "Camera" "High s c hoo l... high speed . . . do pe .. . Indy 5 00 . .. Most likely to . . . crash and bur n .. . In Memoriam . . . Viet Nam . . . Don't write on the wall. . . s mo kin'... I caught yo u ... Smile!... I think I got it . . . Clap ... I think I got it .. . The answer is . . . Let's see what de ve lo ps ... I think I got it . . . photo-finish ... by a nose . . . buy a vo wel... by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin . .. buy a bond . . . propaganda . . . buy it . . . Viet Nam . . . bye bye . . . dope . . . speed . . . it happened so f as t... Indy 50 0... highspeed... high school." 86 Inside isn’t a live performance. There are multiple takes and camera setups over the course of many months. Still, Inside is the special of Burnham’s that connects the most emotionally with people, not in spite of its being his most contrived but because of it. It posits that attempts to remove artifice are actually artifice, but one can attempt to create artifice genuinely. In contrast, around the release of Inside, it became popular for comedians to include documentary footage in their specials, as if they were scientists offering mathematical proof. “See?” they’d say. “This proves that it’s real.” But how people behave in a documentary to a person like Burnham is also a performance, so to call it “true” feels false. Inside feels true because it’s honest about being manufactured.Newman movie. Combining the meanings of these moves eventually results in the formation of definite themes. There are different methods of playing the Pattern Game and an experienced player will discover more sophisticated game moves. One of these is known as “skipping a joke”. If one player says "Harry Truman" and the next player responds with "Breakfast at Tiffany's," a hip audience will appreciate the fact that they've skipped over the obvious, "Truman Capote." The more familiar a group becomes with the Pattern Game, the more variations and refinements they'll discover. All of the themes developed during the course of the game become themes for the Harold, and the tiniest, most innocuous phrase used is fair game for use in the main body of the Harold itself. Even though the suggestion from the audience provides the inspiration for the Harold, the theme itself is developed by the players during the Pattern Game. The teams raise the level of the audience suggestion as they explore what it means to each of them — no matter how banal the suggestion from the audience may seem, the players will make it profound. The Art of Making Sh!t Up: Using the Principles of Improv to Become an Unstoppable Powerhouse by Norm Laviolette