Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation Read Online Free PDF Page A

discover different levels of meaning to their ideas, as well as inspire additional ideas for the scenes to come. The Pattern Game is a great way to demonstrate the principle of "Finding Order Out of Chaos."
    Among other uses, the Pattern Game is the beginning of the process of engendering a "Group Mind," something that we'll delve into much deeper in the chapters to come. When the Pattern Game is used as the opening exercise for a Harold, the audience sees the group developing its point of view toward its theme; this happens as the group shares information, ideas, and attitudes.
    Different groups operating on the same suggestion will usually come up with totally different sets of ideas; one group can play the Pattern Game twice with the same suggestion and probably end up with different results. The game is really a process of discovery and exploration to prepare a group for the main event.
    THE PATTERN GAME: EXAMPLE 1
    Here are two separate pattern games, done by different groups, but both based on the suggested theme "dog":
    Team A
    "Collar."
    "Police."
    "K-9."
    "Rin Tin Tin."
    "Barking up the wrong tree."
    "Firemen."
    "101 Dalmatians."
    "Open 24 hours."
    "I read it in the Sunday papers."
    "Sentence."
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"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.
    PATTERN-MAKING MADE EASY
    As shown in the previous examples, the Pattern Game requires players to heighten the moves, but not to comment or explain them to the audience. It has to be played thoughtfully, and each player's response should be based on the meaning of what has gone before, not on wit utilized for a cheap laugh. If a player responds with the word "sex," the next player should know better than to respond with "fun" or "not enough." These may be personal opinions, but a better and more intelligent response would be to phrase those opinions into a move that forwards the game. "Sex" may make a player think of "blue eyes," which leads someone else to respond with "Paul Newman," prompting a subsequent player to name his favorite Paul
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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 PATTERN GAME: EXAMPLE TWO
    Some Pattern Games circle back to the first move made, but others encompass the entire outline for the scenes in a Harold, such as the following game based on an audience suggestion of "Camera":
    "High school."
    "High speed."
    "Dope."
    "Indy 500."
    "Most likely to ..."
    "Crash and burn."
    "In memoriam."
    "Viet Nam."
    "Don't write on the