I have been spending a couple of weeks in Los Angeles visiting family and I notice in my parents bathroom a copy of Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Book, one of my favorite shows. I love it for two reasons. One it is hilarious. Two it is basically improv. Larry David writes an outline for each show and the rest is improv hilarity.

Anyway, I was reading about how Cheryl Hines got the role. She was a member of the Groundlings Sunday Company, an improv comedy workshop in L.A. when she auditioned for the role. You can read the book if you are interested in how she got the role, but it was her one liner on improv that captured me.

She said, “Improv is really just about listening.” To me improv is many things, but I would have to agree that listening is at its core. The ability to hear what your partner is saying, to see what they do and react to them and not some preconceived path you had set in your mind. Improv is a dance. When it goes well it is graceful and amazing to watch. When it goes poorly it is clumsy and oh so sad to watch.

If you are involved with improv, are an avid fan or just want to figure out how to free your mind than Impro for Storytellers is a must read. It is basically the improv manual by the improv creator Keith Johnstone. However, while it certainly walks you though improv sturcture, theretical foundations and technical set up, I am finding much of what Keith writes to be a manaul for life, not just improv.

Of course, it could be that I am looking through my psychologist lens as I read it, but I think it is more than that. He writes about improv as a way to free you inhibitions, conquer your fears and find meaning in your present. It is genius and I would recommend this book over any self-help psychobabble book. Anyway, I am enjoying the book, taking notes and waxing philosophically. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do if you decide to pick it up.

So I realize I have neglected my blog for more than a month. I have missed it and while I continue to be involved in the impro world, I did not share with my like-minded impro friends. For that I have no excuse and have flogged myself for it. Ok.. I am done repenting and I am ready to blog!

Every Monday you can find new improv games at improvplaybook.com. It is worth checking out the site and ordering the playbook. I have it and it is great. Anyway, I check the site often and today I saw this game. It sounds like good fun. I like games where the audience knows something the player does not. Enjoy!

Dictionary (from improvplaybook.com by William Hall)

Place one of the players in the Sound Proof Booth. And audience member randomly selections a word from the dictionary. The word it read aloud for all to hear.

The player returns form the Sound Proof Booth and rejoins his fellow improvisers. Together they play a scene.

The improvisers try to get the player to say the word naturally in the scene.

Notes:
The players can start a scene from nothing or get a suggeston from the audience for the scene.

If the players are too obvious it may not be entertaining.

See if you can make it a scene and not a guessing game. The audience will be more entertained if it’s a good scene and the word is never said than if the word is said and the scene was not worth their time.

*Sound Proof Booth: This is how we do it at BATS Improv, The player turns their back to the audience, place their fingers in their ears and hum or sing out loud. Other players, not involved in the scene can stand around them and add additional singing and distractions.

This post has less to do with improv than with my life in general. I have spent the last twelve years working with teens. Whether it was teaching, planning an event, doing improv or running a therapy group, I have loved it and gave it my complete focus and energy (still do). However, every once in a while a student or client says something that reminds me why I do it. Today was one of those days. After a talk with one of my students, this student asks me if I know why they had switched into my class. I said, not really but was happy they had. The student then explained. The student said that they felt I had a true love of life and that even when things were not going great I still was happy. The student continued to say that they wanted to learn how to do that. I was speechless and quite moved.

To bring this moment into the realm of improv, I feel that the skills learned in improv are so helpful in meeting the challenges in life with a positive attitude and welcome smile. Also, having specifically improv comedy in your life ensures laughter, a necessary component to happiness. We must all find ways to laugh.

I am in the middle of read the book (in the airport in Ft. Lauderdale) “Truth In Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation” by Charna Halpern, Del Close & Kim “Howard” Johnson. First let me say if you have any interest in improv is in an important read. However, I will give you my full take when I am done. What I wanted to share right now is a short explanation of improv by Keith from the book. Enjoy!

Improvisation is like steering a car by looking through the rear view mirror. You don’t know where you are going, you can only see where you’ve been. -Keith Johnstone

This is a great analogy and while I don’t advocate for anyone driving this way, you can imagine the excitement and thrill (and fear) associated with it. That is improv!

As I stated in rule #1, the fundamental improv concept of “Yes..and” is really two rules. The first being that you always accept (“YES”) and never deny and the second, rule #2, you always add (“…AND”) to what you have accepted.

An improv player throws out ideas, scenarios, characters, etc. on the spot and trusts that the players they are in the scene with will accept what they courageously threw out there. However, accepting what was offered is meaningless if you do nothing with it. It is like saying thank you to the gift your grandmother gave you and throwing in the trash a moment later (hmmm…..possible improv scene).

An improv player should treat all offers by fellow players as gold and make something beautiful out of it by advancing the scene with it. If you fellow player welcomes you to his home for his 80th birthday party don’t just say “Happy Birthday.’ Accept the offer by saying “Happy Birthday” and advance the scene by telling the player how your remember the day he was born, like it was yesterday, offering that you are his 105 year old father. Always advance the scene and keep the scene and show moving at a pace that keeps the audience engaged. Good Luck!

Check back soon where rule #2 is applied to more than the stage.

Happy Valentines day everyone! Enjoy the special Valentines day episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway? Enjoy the first part of the episode below and you can click on the second and third part below the video. Cuddle up with your loved one (or with a yummy pint of rocky road) and enjoy the great joy that is improv!

Click here for part two.
Click here for part three.

Ok. I know the name is a little morbid, but this exercise I created looks and feels just like carrying dead bodies (that is an assumption of course as I have never actually carried a dead body). The basic idea is getting your students to carry an imagined body across the stage as accurately as possible.

To accomplish this I first ask two students to carry an imagined body across the stage and swing it off the edge. They are told the body is that of another student in the class so they have a basic idea of shape, height and weight. Once they attempt this task, I ask the student the imagined body was modeled after to lie down, let their body go limp and have the two students carry the actual body this time (without throwing him or her off the stage).

What the students usually notice is a significant difference between the first carry attempt and the second attempt with the real body. When doing this last week I remember the first two students lifted the imagined body as if it was a body made of feathers. They lifted it quickly without any resistance and swiftly got the body across the stage. When asked to move the realy body, it was an entirely different experience. At first they could not get a good grip and the body kept slipping. They were grunting while carrying the body and the effort it took to move the real body was clearly expressed in their faces and bodies.

Having your student alternate between imagined objects and real ones is an excellent way for them to learn how to create an imagined object with as realistic an interaction with it as possible. You can do this with a glass of water, a book, pencils, a box and, of course, bodies. Enjoy!!!

The other day I talked about the importance of space work. Below is a short exercise I did with my students from ImprovEncyclopedia.com that teaches students to quickly alternate between two different imagined object sizes.

Besides accurately creating a space for the fish, improvisers must also watch the power and trajectory in which the fish is thrown so that it is also caught realistically. If it is thrown high, it will take a moment to catch it. If it is thrown fast you might find yourself jumping back. Just imagine you are being thrown a real fish and go with it. At first though, the fish should just be passed gently. Once comfortable with this exercise you can throw it at different speeds, trajectories and you can always add in new objects to be passed around. The objects added are only limited to your imagination. Enjoy!

Big Fish Small Fish

Description
Fun energizer game. Everyone in a circle. We are going to pass a pattern along the circle. Everyone, at their turn does either:

* Say Big Fish, and hold both hands in front of you, about 3 inches or 10cm apart. “It” then passes to the next person in the circle.
* Say Small Fish, and hold both hands in front of you, about 15 inches or 50cm apart. When this is done, the direction changes.

Players that miss (e.g. say Small Fish and keep your hands too close together or say Big Fish and move hands wide) do a forfeit, or die with a loud noise.