[TheMissingWife]

I'm taking a Theater Improv class at school. It's harder than most might believe. Anyone with experience have any tips or knowledge bombs to drop on me?

[Skeeter]

I've done improv for about six years and have run several improv workshops: here are a couple keys to good improv:

Listening is the first key. If you listen well to what everyone else is saying/doing, you will have a much easier time with improv. The first mistake a lot of new improv actors make is spending their entire time in the scene thinking of what they're going to do instead of paying attention to what everyone else is doing. It's very difficult to constantly come up with new ideas for your character or the scene by yourself. The trick to improv is to create new ideas as a team by listening to each other.

The second key is saying "yes." Your response to what you listen to should always be "yes, and..." or "yes, but..." I don't mean that you should literally say "yes," but you need to respond to what the other people on your improv team are doing in a positive manner.

As an example, if one of your teammates suggests going to the beach, you need to start packing the beach towels. Never, never say "But I don't want to go to the beach," even if you think it will be funny or dramatic. It will stop the scene dead in its tracks. Instead, the scene is going to the beach; take the idea and run with it.

In any case, those are my two biggest pieces of advice: listen and respond positively. I could go on and on, but those are the two most important things to learn.

[TheMissingWife]

Most definitely! It's all about helping out your team and adding that brick onto the story. I'm having a harder time with endowing characters on people. Giving your teammate as much information as possible to work with. Establishing who they are, what the objective is, where we are, and what our relationship is. CROW. Character, Relationship, Objective, Where. The best places are the places with things to play with. It's no fun to be on a deserted island because there's nothing to work with.

[beanbag]

who says being on a deserted island is no fun? what if you're on a deserted island with a piano, a crowbar, and an umbrella?

(I never did improv officially, but I was on a drama team from 12-14 and since I never memorized my lines, it kind of turned into improv. hah.)

[rock_show_host]

I did improv for 2 years in high school and have done it on and off since. I'm by no means an expert, but in addition to everything Skeeter said (which is true and great advice), one of the most important things to do in improv is to take yourself utterly seriously. By that I don't mean to not be funny -- what makes improv funny is people taking completely ridiculous scenarios and characters completely seriously.

As a follow-up to that, don't focus on jokes. I think shows like Whose Line is it Anyway (while a HILARIOUS and amazing show) convince a lot of people that improv is all about coming up with funny one-liners or zingers. When people focus too much on those, the scenes lose any and all momentum. You'll find that circumstances or extended scenarios tend to be much funnier than jokes, and they're only funny if the actors commit to them 100%. Don't play a comedian telling funny little hypothetical anecdotes about being on a deserted island -- believe that you ARE on a deserted island with that really random set of objects, and act accordingly.

[TheMissingWife]

Originally Posted by beanbag

who says being on a deserted island is no fun? what if you're on a deserted island with a piano, a crowbar, and an umbrella?

(I never did improv officially, but I was on a drama team from 12-14 and since I never memorized my lines, it kind of turned into improv. hah.)

Then it becomes fun lol. But it's better to pick places with things already in them, like 7/11 for instance. Using actors as slushie machines never gets old.

Originally Posted by rock_show_host

I did improv for 2 years in high school and have done it on and off since. I'm by no means an expert, but in addition to everything Skeeter said (which is true and great advice), one of the most important things to do in improv is to take yourself utterly seriously. By that I don't mean to not be funny -- what makes improv funny is people taking completely ridiculous scenarios and characters completely seriously.

As a follow-up to that, don't focus on jokes. I think shows like Whose Line is it Anyway (while a HILARIOUS and amazing show) convince a lot of people that improv is all about coming up with funny one-liners or zingers. When people focus too much on those, the scenes lose any and all momentum. You'll find that circumstances or extended scenarios tend to be much funnier than jokes, and they're only funny if the actors commit to them 100%. Don't play a comedian telling funny little hypothetical anecdotes about being on a deserted island -- believe that you ARE on a deserted island with that really random set of objects, and act accordingly.

For sure! My instructor was telling everyone that the first day. He said the class clowns have the hardest time in his class because they focus on jokes instead of their teammates/story.

[Skeeter]

Exactly. A funny situation taken completely seriously will inevitably be funnier than a one-line quip.