Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation Read Online Free PDF
Author: Charna Halpern
wall."
"Smokin'."
"I caught you."
"Smile!"
"I think I got it."
"Clap."
"I think I got it."
"The answer is ..."
"Let's see what develops."
19
"I think I got it."
"Photo finish."
"By a nose."
"Buy a vowel."
"By the hair of my chinny chin chin." "Buying a bond."
"Propaganda."
"Buy it."
"Viet Nam."
"Bye, bye."
"Dope."
"Speed."
"It happened so fast."
"Indy 500."
"High speed."
"High school."
This Pattern Game inspired scenes with numerous levels, following the lives of four youths through high school — a fast- paced life of fast cars, drugs, sex, and smokin' in the boys' room, progressing to their Viet Nam experiences. A scene about the Viet Nam memorial was inspired by connections to reading the bathroom wall in high school.
It all resulted from the simple method of ordering information through a unique method of communication — the Pattern Game.
THE RULES OF THE GAME
Throughout this book, we will be using examples of different improv games to underscore the comedic principles involved. There is some similarity to playing games like Hide-and-Seek, inasmuch as there are basic rules of each game that must be understood and followed.
Anyone can improvise, but like any game, if the players don't learn and obey the rules, no one will play with them. In childhood games like Cowboys and Indians or Cops and Robbers, if someone is shot, he has to "die." If he is taken prisoner and tied up, he has to remain tied up until someone frees him. A child who doesn't follow these rules won't be very popular in his neighborhood.
There are plenty of rules in improvisation, as a quick thumb through this book will show. However, one of the first rules is "There are no rules." Just about any rule here can be broken
20
under the proper circumstances; the guidelines in the following chapters demonstrate when a rule can be broken as part of an appropriate game move.
During his years at Second City, George Wendt says that the "no rules" rule could be both liberating and frustrating while improvising for Del.
"Our working relationship was extremely loose," he recalls. "Almost anarchic, to the extent that Del would either ignore scenes or give copious notes on scenes that were eminently forgettable! It was alternately enlightening and discouraging, as it would be for any improv company. You'd do a brilliant scene and you'd know it was brilliant, and the audience would know it was brilliant, and everybody would be very excited. You'd come backstage and Del would say, 'Nice work In the psychiatrist scene. Unfortunately, Mike Nichols and Klnine May did it in 1963!' "
Anything can happen in improv. The only rule that can never be broken is the rule of agreement. Experienced improvisers may decide to cut loose in a scene and break as many improv rules as possible, and the scenes are usually very funny (at least to fellow improvisers — they run the risk of being a bit in-jokey to other observers). Even here, though, they are simply playing a game — the "Rule-Breaking Game," and the performers all agree to participate.
If the game rules of improvisation are followed, the players will "win" on stage. And if they play the game well, then everybody wins.
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.
21
CHAPTER THREE
Support and Trust
The actor's business is to justify.
–Elaine May
St. Louis Compass Players, 1957
The master weaver incorporated the mistakes of his students into a larger pattern.
–Sufi saying
Many years ago, Del was teaching an improv class during the same period he was directing The Committee in San Francisco. In order to impress upon them the importance of trust among actors, he decided to employ an exercise often used in acting classes. "We had a second-level balcony in our theatre," he recalls. "As a display of trust, I leaped
"Smokin'."
"I caught you."
"Smile!"
"I think I got it."
"Clap."
"I think I got it."
"The answer is ..."
"Let's see what develops."
19
"I think I got it."
"Photo finish."
"By a nose."
"Buy a vowel."
"By the hair of my chinny chin chin." "Buying a bond."
"Propaganda."
"Buy it."
"Viet Nam."
"Bye, bye."
"Dope."
"Speed."
"It happened so fast."
"Indy 500."
"High speed."
"High school."
This Pattern Game inspired scenes with numerous levels, following the lives of four youths through high school — a fast- paced life of fast cars, drugs, sex, and smokin' in the boys' room, progressing to their Viet Nam experiences. A scene about the Viet Nam memorial was inspired by connections to reading the bathroom wall in high school.
It all resulted from the simple method of ordering information through a unique method of communication — the Pattern Game.
THE RULES OF THE GAME
Throughout this book, we will be using examples of different improv games to underscore the comedic principles involved. There is some similarity to playing games like Hide-and-Seek, inasmuch as there are basic rules of each game that must be understood and followed.
Anyone can improvise, but like any game, if the players don't learn and obey the rules, no one will play with them. In childhood games like Cowboys and Indians or Cops and Robbers, if someone is shot, he has to "die." If he is taken prisoner and tied up, he has to remain tied up until someone frees him. A child who doesn't follow these rules won't be very popular in his neighborhood.
There are plenty of rules in improvisation, as a quick thumb through this book will show. However, one of the first rules is "There are no rules." Just about any rule here can be broken
20
under the proper circumstances; the guidelines in the following chapters demonstrate when a rule can be broken as part of an appropriate game move.
During his years at Second City, George Wendt says that the "no rules" rule could be both liberating and frustrating while improvising for Del.
"Our working relationship was extremely loose," he recalls. "Almost anarchic, to the extent that Del would either ignore scenes or give copious notes on scenes that were eminently forgettable! It was alternately enlightening and discouraging, as it would be for any improv company. You'd do a brilliant scene and you'd know it was brilliant, and the audience would know it was brilliant, and everybody would be very excited. You'd come backstage and Del would say, 'Nice work In the psychiatrist scene. Unfortunately, Mike Nichols and Klnine May did it in 1963!' "
Anything can happen in improv. The only rule that can never be broken is the rule of agreement. Experienced improvisers may decide to cut loose in a scene and break as many improv rules as possible, and the scenes are usually very funny (at least to fellow improvisers — they run the risk of being a bit in-jokey to other observers). Even here, though, they are simply playing a game — the "Rule-Breaking Game," and the performers all agree to participate.
If the game rules of improvisation are followed, the players will "win" on stage. And if they play the game well, then everybody wins.
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.
21
CHAPTER THREE
Support and Trust
The actor's business is to justify.
–Elaine May
St. Louis Compass Players, 1957
The master weaver incorporated the mistakes of his students into a larger pattern.
–Sufi saying
Many years ago, Del was teaching an improv class during the same period he was directing The Committee in San Francisco. In order to impress upon them the importance of trust among actors, he decided to employ an exercise often used in acting classes. "We had a second-level balcony in our theatre," he recalls. "As a display of trust, I leaped
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