Every time I start a new class I have to go over a set of words or terms that helps the students understand the techniques we will cover. If it’s a UCB 101 the terms are basic to the curriculum. Short Form, Long Form, Yes And, Harold, Harold Teams, Game, and Zelle.

If I’m teaching a particular form, there are terms specific to that form. In the Harold you learn about 1st Beats, 2nd Beats, Group Game, Openings, Pay Pal. If it’s a Documentary I will use terms like Triple Dip, Environmental Testimonials, Walk About, Smoz, and Venmo.

Some of these terms are universal, like “Yes And”. Every Improv teacher knows the term and it’s something we all can agree on as to what it means. Then there are certain school or theatre terms and techniques used only at that institution. UCB owns the term “Game of Scene”, Groundlings uses the “Clap Edit”, and I.O. has developed “Beer Fueled Rage”. All the schools and theaters that teach have one thing in common, a payment plan.

Even within the same school different teachers may have different terms to explain the same thing. The best example I can think of is the Pretty Flower LongForm performed at UCB-LA is called The Spokane at UCB-NY. Different approach, same results.

For students of the art form it must get a little frustrating trying to decipher different words and phrases that mean the same thing. For teachers, we don’t sit in on other teachers classes so we don’t know each other’s lingo. In general, improv is the same thing everywhere. We just have different approaches to get to the finale goal.

Here’s a glossary of words and terms I’ve used in classes and practices over the last 25 years. Some are universal, some are only uttered by me.

But now I give to you, so utter away!!

This round I’ll focus on Game and Editing.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF GAME

Game: If you ask twenty teacher/coaches what is Game, you will get twenty different answers and every one of them will be right. So good luck with that. I tend to focus on base reality, calling out the unusual, justifying, and building a pattern off of that.

Character Game: When the Game focuses on the individual player and not the scenic situation. Be careful of always playing character game in all your scenes, this can create the habit of always trying to be the funny one in the scene.
But you might just be an asshole.

Genre Game: Playing a Genre truthfully so that it becomes the base reality. Just playing Tennessee Williams isn’t the Game, you find the game within that reality.

Game Shift: Letting the Game shift to another Game so you're not beating a scene to death with one note. You can always shift back.

Satellite Game: A smaller Game circling the main Game.

Game Zones: Using parts of the stage to shift Game.

French Scene Harold: A Harold that takes place in a MonoScene. One location all in real time. Game Shifting, Satellite Games, and Game Zones are all used in this form.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF EDITS

Edit: Ending one scene so that another can start. Anticipating and hitting the edit at the right time and using the right type of edit can make the scene better.

Sweep Edit: Crossing the stage in front of the scene from one side to the other. Don’t make a show of it, just do it.

Swipe Edit: Going to one side of the stage and swiping away the previous scene with your hands like some fucking wizard. This creates a quicker more seamless pace.

Fronting: Stepping in front of the scene and starting another. The scene closest to the audience wins.

Object Transference: Carrying an object into the next scene. Like a cigar or a Jetski.

Dialog Transference: Repeating a line of dialog from one scene to the next. Hopefully with different context.

Fanciful Editing: Taking an idea or concept from the first scene and using that to edit the second scene. First scene is about a party clown making bad balloon animals. You could edit with a big needle and pop all the players like they're balloons, or you could play one of the balloon animals coming to life and devour the players.

Organic Editing: Using the Sound and Movement/Organic opening you could pull ideas that can come back throughout the show. Let’s say you have a lot of mountain lions in your opening, try editing a scene with a cougar attack.

HawkEdit™: Developed by the Swarm in 2004, the Hawk edit has a player swoop down onto the stage and grab one of the players with their steely talons and then dropping them off into another scene. the Hawk then flys away screeching with pride waiting for another day and another edit.

Cube Edit: Using outstanding object work, a player pulls a small cube from a wall of cubes and places it in the middle of the stage. All the players onstage are sucked into the cube, it is then replaced with another cube and a new scene pops out. [This has never worked, but it wasn’t my fault]

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If you are interested in taking a class with me I have a few options for you. These are mostly online classes so you can take them from anywhere!

https://www.wgimprovschool.com/onlineclasses

https://ucbcomedy.com/training-center/

https://bitcomedynetwork.com

One of the biggest adjustments Improvisers can make in their scene work is to not talk AT the scene, but talk IN the scene.

A favorite note I’ve gotten and given, “If you can’t find the game, at least have a good conversation.” Sometimes we can get pedestrian focusing on creating a base reality, framing the game, justifying the game, patterning game. The panic created when the scene doesn’t go as planned is to do more game moves. You are doing moves at the scene to get it back on track. You are no longer in the scene, you are throwing things at the scene.

Maybe instead of that, have a nice conversation. Pick something out of the scene that interests you and discuss! Have a point of view, listen to other opinions, don’t argue, take it all in. The audience will listen, they will agree or disagree with point of views given. They will be entertained.

On the way home the people on a date who went your comedy show will talk about that conversation that was had on stage, they will continue the conversation on the way home then they will make sweet love. What they will never do is discuss game moves. Unless they’re improv nerds, then the sex will be horrible.

COMMUNICATION IS COMPETITION

Be competitive with your conversations, treat it like a tennis match. A good tennis match has great volleys, backhands, going back and forth building up energy as it continues.

You want to be actively listening to your scene partner as well as reactively giving. You get a great specific, give a great specific back to them. If they're giving emotion, react with emotion. [No emotion can be a strong response, just don’t do it all the time because that would make you a psychopath]

Counter physicality with physicality. If they move downstage left you counter by moving downstage right. [Again, yes, you can just stand in the middle of the stage. But you really might be a psychopath]

All of these things are part of a great conversation. It’s not just talking to each other, it’s me applying crouching tiger style verses your hidden dragon. A good Ninja finds balance in all things, knows when to hide and when to be seen. Being active/reactive evolves the conversation into a scene. Be the Ninja not the psychopath.

PRACTICE CONVERSATIONS

If Improv is acting and acting is the art of portraying real life, have conversations in real life. Pay attention to them, when to have them. I’m not one to stake up random conversations with strangers so I have to remind myself, if the Uber Driver wants to talk about the weather… YOU TALK ABOUT THAT WEATHER!

If done right the conversation will drift to other things and eventually you find out about the Uber driver’s near death experience snorkeling off the coast of Belize.

TIPS FOR A GOOD CONVO:

1. Share the empathy. “How awesome is that!”

2. Ask follow up questions. It might trigger more memories. “Where did you see that concert?”

3. Let their experiences activate your flash memory, this will find a response with new information to add. “Last time I saw Rush play was in Jacksonville back in the college days, saw a guy get stabbed.”

4. Let them finish their train of thought before you change the subject. “Sounds like you had a great time! Hey, do you know where I can get a good knife?”

5. Let the conversation meander, don’t try to control it with your agenda. “ Yes, great songs indeed, anyways, about that knife store…” [Psychopath]

In conclusion, if you’re having problems figuring what the scene is about, don’t panic, talk about it. At least have a good conversation. Maybe it won’t help you be a better improviser, but you might just end up being a better person.

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Back in the late nineties, during NYC’s Alternative Comedy Boom™️, UCB’s Matt Besser created an improv show called Immortal Combat. Based on the video game Mortal Kombat, two teams would go up against each other as mystical warriors wearing colorful costumes with each player possessing a special Improv[fighting] power. The players could activate their power to help a scene move forward.

THE CHARACTERS

Master of Where: Indicates where the scene is taking place, can also change the location if needed

Time Tripper: Moves scenes forward or backwards in time.

Body Captain: Indicates what the players appearance may be. [Clothing,Species]

Judge Justify: Justifies what is happening in the scene.

Dr. Who: Labels the relationship with the space and each other.

Editor: Edits the scene.

X Factor: Does a little of everything.

THE GOOD

It was a great form for teaching all the back wall moves you can do to make the scene better onstage. It helped you strengthen the game with support moves. I feel it helped me tremendously as far as seeing the game. It’s a great teaching form, plus you get to wear costumes and do Kung Fu moves.

THE BAD

It had a habit of being all over the place as a show itself. Everyone coming into scenes to use their powers tended to create more chaos than good scenes. It got to the point the Besser created a new move that I believe only the X-Factor player could do called “GENESIS!”. When things got too chaotic X-Factor would step into the middle of the stage and yell “Genesis!” and we would restart the show. To this day, if things aren’t going well in any situation I’m in, I yell “genesis!” and run away.

THE UGLY

Scenes tended to be augmentative and some of those costumes were rough.

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THE WHY

I’m thinking of this form now because I just saw Mortal Combat 2 in the third row with rumble seats and a medically prescribed gummy. While watching I finally saw how the form should have worked, we would have needed a budget of about 120 million for sets, costumes, and fire balls.

I was thinking which of the characters did me the most good. Each one of those characters delved deeply into the core of where the game of the scene is. The one that changed my perspective the most was Judge Justify. I never played that character but watching other players make the move made me see the finale equation to Game. We work so hard on the Who [character and relationship] Where[location and time], and What[Premise]. The Why ties it all together. It’s the motivation, justification, and provides the inertia to move things forward.

But what do I know, I’m referencing a movie about a video game that influenced an improv form. This may sound stupid…

GENESIS!!!!

Back in the late 90’s in NYC during the Alternative Comedy Boom™️ there was a late night poker tournement played every Wednesday night after the classes had cleared out at the old UCB offices. It was called the Above Malibu Poker Tournament. The office and a couple classrooms the UCB originally started with was a floor above the Malibu Dinner on 23rd street. Sidenote: Do not order a Captains Platter it will not go well.

This is where I learned how to play Texas Holdem and I got pretty good. I learned it was not just about the cards, it was about reading people and reading the situation. The conversations or how you acted during the hands could distract you from what was going on during the play. This is when I found out I had a minor tell. Anytime I had a good hand I would pull out a hotdog from my hotdog satchel and start eating it. Everyone would fold. I couldn’t figure it out until everyone started calling me Johnny-Bag-A-Hotdogs.

I never knew what a ‘tell’ was until I did a scene in a SWARM practice with Andy Secunda, we were play poker in the scene and he kept saying I had a tell. I thought he meant tail. I thought what a weird and awesome gift to give me, I must be some sort of tailed creature trying to play poker. During the notes after the scene is when I found out that a ‘tell’ is when you do some sort of action that tips your oppenent as to what you’re going to do.

WHAT’S SHOW DON’T TELL

Show don’t tell means many things in improv. [most notes do]

It means to physicalize your performance instead of talk about it. Don’t tell us what’s going on in the scene, show us. Use the whole stage, avoid talking heads, use different levels, push the space.

It also means don’t make a big deal out of showing. Sometimes we can fall in love with our own object work and we want to make the scene about all the great work we’re doing. You’re telling the audience to look at your showing.

There’s a balance.

WHAT’S SHOW?

In improv we think up things to say and then we say those things. Sometimes we forget to use the rest of our body, relying only on brain and mouth. This can get monotonous talking about great ideas, not seeing them take action. This is also how we get stuck in planning scenes or scenes that talk about something happening somewhere else. The more we do this the more nothing happens in the scene.

Sometimes when you don’t have an idea for a scene you will go down stage left and start chopping vegetables [You know who you are] this gives us a place, an activity, and something to talk about. That’s a great show, but once the scene gets going, you know what suffers? Those vegetables! What were you making? Was it a salad or a primavara? Do you have pasta boiling? Stay on task while doing the scene, don’t drop the carrots.

WHAT’S TELL?

Using the word TELL as a poker term, reading the other person, means listen with your eyes and your body. Watch the scene and react to what you see as well as what you hear. Every scene has a tell that will clue you in as to where it wants to go. A scene starts with someone typing intently this means there is a deadline and we got get things done, play to that urgency. If they’re typing gleefully then we know someone had a good weekend.

Sometimes when you don’t have an idea you come down stage right and wait for your scene partner to mount the stage. [You know it’s you] You make eye contact and look for an immeadiate tell. Are they nervous? Are they happy to be there? Are their hands in their pockets? Are they avoiding eye contact? Every single one of those moves is an intiation that you should recive as a gift.

SHOW AND TELL

Not every scene requires action.
The trick is to know when it does and when it doesn’t. That means pay attention to every little thing. Listening is so much more than hearing the words. Keep you head on a swivle and see everything on stage. If you talk about something, do it. Act and react with your body, play big, play small, swell with pride, shrink in shame, let it hit you in the gut, walk like you’re on the moon, and above all, never turn down a chance to ride a Jet-Ski.

I don’t play much poker any more, but when I do, I always bring my bag of hotdogs.

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TRUE CONFESSION #1: I was new to LA sitting in on a session, I was excited to be there. New people and some old friends in the committee. But more importantly, Chipolte was being served for lunch! How fancy! What I forgot was what a giant burrito can do to my digestive track. The only bathroom was actually in the audition room. If I used it and butt released my chipotle it would stink up the room for decades. So I feigned illness and went home.

And because of that, I couldn’t stop Alex Fernie from getting on a Sentimental Lady.

WHAT IS FUNNY?

I’ve been a part of 19 Harold auditions over the last 30 years at UCB and I can confidently say I have no idea what it takes to get on a Harold team. This is not to say that Harold Committees and the AD’s that run them aren’t doing an incredible job putting them together, making them fair, giving anyone a chance to be great.

I found myself over the last few auditions getting depressed during, and the a few days afterwards. The reason being… what is actually funny? The term “comedy is subjective” comes to light during these auditions. I will see one committee member laughing their ass off and no one else in the room is effected. I have also been that person, looking around the room and wondering why no one else sees how funny this person is.

A Committee Person is a human animal, they have people they like, dislike, or have never seen and have no opinion whatsoever. They knowingly or unknowingly have agendas and alliances. But they also want to be fair and put the best people they can up on that stage. The hope is with a committee of people that represent the whole UCB, everyone's voice will be heard.

For the most part this works well. But when you get down to the 20 percent, that’s when it gets hard.

THE 20 PERCENT

80 percent of the placements are no brainers, they had great auditions they’ve been in the community for awhile they've had multiple coaches and teachers who all sing their praises. But then it comes down to the last few slots and there are so many people that could fill those slots, so personal feelings start to come out. How can you think that person is better than the other? Wait, have I been teaching game wrong this whole time? There must be another reason you hate that person that has nothing to do with improv. I have seen and been a part of some nasty conversations that got personal. But in all fairness it was when I was in New York and every conversation back then was an argument and personal.

I remember getting involved in a shouting match back in the early years if Game should be found organically or premise based in auditions. Thank god we solved that issue…

Truth is, as I said before, we’re human, comedy is subjective, nothing is perfect. In retrospect my depression I felt during these auditions was not being able to understand this.

TRUE CONFESSION #2: I was entrenched into the UCB/LA system, teaching all levels and performing and coaching on the side. Lunch was served between sessions and this time it was sandwiches from Bristol Farms! It was delightful, never had them before, loved the variety. Unfortunately I ate too much and needed to use a bathroom. The bathrooms were downstairs from where we were, I got locked out trying to get back in. Once I got in the next session it had already started and I missed the opening and first beats. Usually when that happens you recuse yourself. But when I looked at the two players on stage I saw they both had topknots. They looked great together. I based my decision on that fact [also they were both in my classes and great].

That’s how Betsy Sodaro and Ryan Stanger helped form Bangarang!

NOT ALL BAD

As I reread this I sound like it was a miserable experience.

It was most definitely not.

Yes it’s hard to make choices that hurt people, make others angry. I’ve had to make the actual phone calls to people who didn’t make final callback or take them off of teams. I’m not good at this.

But the upside was making those calls to say you got on a team, or getting to coach a new team. It was a joy to watch so many people during the audition process do such great work. I laugh harder at auditions than I ever do at a show. The empathy goes both ways during the audition process, everybody wants everybody to be great and good and happy.

It’s an experience I’ll never forget and I’m grateful for the opportunity. My hope is that everyone who gets on the Committee in the future has the fun I had. But also has scoped out where the bathrooms are ahead of time.

TRUE CONFESSION #3: UCB/NY one of the early auditions in the late 90’s, It was not as gigantic as it is now, we just hoped we had enough good people to fill out the teams. Someone brought in a bag of Circus Peanuts for us to snack on during the sessions. That’s all we ate, of course I start feeling a little ill and ran to the bathroom to realize my illness. As I was walking back into the room a young auditioner in a plaid long sleeve shirt and tight Jordache Jeans walked up to me and asked if I liked the circus peanuts that he bought for us. I vowed to put him on the worst team ever created.

And that’s how Will Hines got on MonkeyDick

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In 1998 I was in Jacksonville Florida at a new sandwich shop that just opened up, it was called FireHouse Subs, I heard good things. The line was a little long but not too crowded, I ordered whatever their special sandwich was and proceeded to wait. I waited 10 minutes, started to get a little antsy something was not right. It shouldn’t take this long, another ten minutes, I got up and asked why this supposed great sub was taking so long. The cashier half heartedly said we’re backed up we will bring to you when it’s made. I sit and aggressively eat my chips, stewing in anger. The sandwich maker finally comes up to me with the sub, looks me in the eyes and apologizes for the delay. If I needed anything else to let him know. I was immediately defused by his apology. It was important to him that I was happy.

I remember that moment, that one encounter to this day. The earnestness I saw in his eyes is what I remember. It wasn’t life or death, there was no shouting, nobody got fired. It was important for him to make things right.

When we do a scene we need to find something that at least one of the characters will remember 20 years from now. If not, why are we even seeing this scene? Every scene written in a play or movie serves a purpose. The same could be said for improv.

WHAT IS IMPORTANT?

Importance is why the scene exists, but it’s not necessarily what the scene is about.

A Classic Comedy scene: Dad trying to give the Birds & Bees™ talk to his young son. The comedy of the scene is fumbling with words and uneasiness from the father. The importance is that this is a teaching scene. This will shape the child’s views for the rest of their life. Knowing this keeps the scene grounded and allows the father to try again and again.

WHAT’S EARNESTNESS?

Earnestness can found in the pathos of character, or playing the truth not the comedy.

Another Classic Comedy scene: This is a stickup!™ The comedy dictates we do the wackiest robbery ever. But without some sort of earnestness to the fact that someone could die, or that peoples lives will be changed forever, this scene will lose its edge.

I used to ask students in class when we talk about gunplay in scene work to raise your hand if you've held a gun before? What did that feel like? For me it felt tense and heavy. I had butterflies in my stomach, but also, a little fun. Then I ask, raise your hands if they had a gun pointed at them in a real life situation. I remember having police point a gun at me[who hasn’t], I made sure I was very precise and clear that I was not a threat. I was earnest in my importance of not getting shot.

I no longer ask those questions in class because too many hands go up now days.

JUST BECAUSE THEY’RE LAUGHING DOESN’T MEAN YOUR DOING IT RIGHT

I used to do finger guns all the time and always got a laugh. Anytime I pulled them out I would say “Pew-Pew Got you Fucker!” Then hold for laughter. None of those scene are memorable. My reasoning was the audience wasn’t here to see violence.

I do remember one scene from 20 years ago. It was a bank robbery scene started by one of the most earnest improvisers I’ve ever played with, DB. I don’t want to divulge his name because I haven’t asked permission but I wanted to use the initials because I don’t want you to think it was Will Hines.

DB enters the scene with a crazed look on his face and tells everyone this is a robbery and put your fucking hands up in the air. We do, but he keeps screaming it, his face was fraught with fear and anger. He keeps waving the gun around to whomever was talking, the way he was acting truly had us feeling uneasy. We quit talking, waiting for him to tell is what to do next. Long pause. DB then asks, are you all still here? We all make the realization he’s blind. My first thought, let’s play around with him, make fun of him. A

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wiser player stepped in and asked why he would do this when he clearly can’t see. He talked about losing his site in the war and how much of a struggle it was just living day to day. It was beautiful. So we helped him rob the bank.

ASK YOURSELF

When you’re doing your hilarious scenes there is no need to stop the hilarity, just ask yourself:

What is this scene really about?

What would I really do in this situation?

This is where the importance is, act on that.

If it doesn’t work out you always got the finger guns.

Pew-Pew!

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NOTES REMEBERED

You get a lot of notes throughout your improv career. Some you agree with, some you disagree with, others seem ridiculous in retrospect. But every now and then we get that specific note that changes your outlook on your work, how you approach improv, and how you live your life.

It was at the end of The Swarms run at the UCB-NY, we kept losing people to LA and instead of swapping out people and keeping the name we decided to start a new team. That team became The Stepfathers. We started rehearsing with the new group, hired a coach [something The Swarm hadn’t done for years] and started working on a new form. I came into this as an alpha, I was confident in my work, some may even say a bit of a blowhard. As we worked on a new form I found myself forcing, disagreeing, seeing the mistakes of everyone around me.

At the end of one particularly bad set the coach stops us, pauses for a moment, then says “If you Want to Be A Good Improviser, Be a Good Person”. The note was about our tendency to play mean characters and argue. We were finding and playing game, but no one was happy about it.

I didn’t take the note to heart at the moment but on the subway ride home it hit me. I had just finished a 7 year run with a group that sold out shows, did great work, sometimes incredible work. But that’s not who I was, that’s what the team was. I expected greatness without doing the work.

BACK TO BASICS

My first lessons in Improv blew me away with how simple it is.

Give gifts, Yes And gifts given, Don’t deny.

It was a fun game to see how far you could go by saying yes. The problem always came when you would try to make it funny, the instinct is to say no, or argue. Your instincts are right, you're trying to create conflict. All great scenes have some sort of conflict in them. But conflict doesn’t always mean fighting, it means change. Your character has changed from where it was at the beginning. Something new was learned, a mind has been changed. One of the people in that scene will remember that moment 20 years from now. This can be considered scenic conflict.

This is something I teach from 101 on up. When we try to be funny we naturally go for conflict or argument scene.

WHAT TO DO IN AN ARGUMENT

Be a good person.

Lose the argument. Empathize with what the other person is trying to say. Learning from them is change or conflict.

“Oh my goodness, you know what, you were right! Olives are not just salt bombs that destroy the pallet. When used correctly they can change the entire flavor profile of pizza! I don’t think you're an asshole, you just wanted to make me happy. I love you!”

Don’t fight, philosophize. Don’t just disagree to disagree, have a reason, or a history or philosophical belief that makes you stand your ground. This can take a lot of the hostility out of the argument.

“I understand that I might be coming off as a bit of a hard ass but my grandfather had an olive garden at his house and every summer we would go visit, we would help him pick the olives have picnics under that tree. One day we found out Grandpa was the Olive Tree Killer, a serial killer who would bury his victims under that very same tree. Every time I taste an olive, I taste dead people. I love you for trying.”

If You Say What You Don’t Want, Say What You Do Want As Well. If you find yourself stuck in a disagreement give options to get out of it.

“I don’t want olives, I don’t like them they’re a stupid stone fruit. What I do want is to be with you, I can just pick them off. I love you! Too Soon?”

Compromise. There doesn’t have to be a winner or a loser in the scene, solve the argument. Don’t worry there’s always another one around the corner.

“ Let’s get half with olives and half without, sound good? Cool, now about our divorce…I still love you!”

IN SUMATION

There are many scenes that require no goodness at all, wonderful villains, politicians, crooked southern judges. Play them all with the gusto intended. But if you find yourself stuck in your scenework try going back to those basics. Ask yourself what would a good person do in this scene. Also, I keep forgetting, do this in real life too.

I love you!

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THE 10,000 HOUR RULE

Anytime a student asks me how long it takes to get great at Improv. I used say “It takes ten years to be an overnight success”. Someone said this to me 30 years ago as I was trying to get an agent. I thought, if it’s going to take ten years I might as well have this bong hit and watch an episode of M*A*S*H*, I have the time.

The same can be said for Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule. It takes 10,000 hours to be an expert in anything you try to do. But how do you spend those hours? You're telling me how long but not how. It means put in the work, but what is the work?

5 DAYS A WEEK

Don’t think in years or hours, think in days. How many days a week are you willing to commit to be a master of your craft, whatever that craft is. Each day you work on one element. Taking time out for sleep, work, eating, and explaining to your partner why you have to go improvise… that should give you 2-3 hours a day left.

Each day should work on a different modality of creativity. These modalities may change depending on what you want to do. But for what we want to do it would be Learn, Watch, Discuss, Practice, Study.

DAY ONE: TAKE CLASSES

No matter how experienced, you can always learn something new. If you have the time and the money, take as many classes as you can from as many schools or teachers that you can. Once you find the style of Improv that best suits you, take all the classes. Be humble, if the class is going over something you already know, do it again, if you are invested you will always find something new. I was a big fan of taking classes twice. The first time was getting the gist, the second time was understanding what the fuck gist means.

DAY TWO: WATCH SHOWS

Watching improv shows that practice the technique you’re learning is key to your growth. Seeing people perform at a high level lets you know what your goals are. But more importantly I would always tell my UCB students to watch new house teams to see how they grow, you can identify with them, struggle with them, and then watch them get better.

I still watch shows when I can, not because I enjoy them, I’m looking for moves to steal. In all honesty, it’s an absolute joy to watch my friends play. As we get further into our journeys we forget about watching that first improv show that changed our lives.

DAY THREE: CREATE YOUR PERSONAL COMMUNITY

You learn how to do Long Form Improv as a group, find your group. The people you take classes with, see shows with, Jam with, this is your immediate community. After shows and classes talk about what you liked and didn’t like, what blows your mind and what are you having difficulty with. These will be the people you first start doing bits with, they will get what you trying to do. You try to do bits with norms you get blank faces. Your personal community helps you develop your own comedy as you help them with thiers.

DAY FOUR: PRACTICE

Create or join a practice group within your personal

community, go to Improv Jams, get reps. I put this as a one day a week thing because too many practice groups can pull you in different directions.

As you start out, join as many as you can, winnow it down to the one that is best for you. As a teacher I can tell who is in a practice group and who isn’t, it takes longer to get into the rhythm of class if you haven’t practiced scenes outside of the class.

DAY FIVE: STUDY

Study everything! Study the history of comedy, theatre, clowning, musical theatre. Study famous actors, directors, and teachers. Read books on film and biographies.

Study history, politics, sports, early medical procedures, capitols, flags, queens, and kings, geographical oddities. Study like you're going on Jeopardy.

Every night before you go to bed, go online and watch at least one sketch. At the end of your 10 years you will have watched 3650 sketches.

DAYS SIX & SEVEN: TAKE A BREAK

Go bird watching, cook wonderful meals, raise your kids. Stay in touch with real life. Improvising 7 days a week can not only cause burn out, but you work starts becoming insular. You find you doing scenes about doing scenes. You call out what you're doing as you do on stage. Your scenes become increasingly meta.

Your need the outside would to draw you observations on real life. It’s hard to have a voice of reason if the only reason you can draw from is improv related.

DAY EIGHT: BREAK RULES

Everything I said is but a suggestion, some people thrive seven days a week, some people excel with just one day week. For most of my career I pretty much lacked structure, I simply followed my fun.

I turned out brilliant!!

In retrospect, if I got rid of my bong sooner and quit referencing M*A*S*H*, I would have been an overnight success in 5 years instead of 20.

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When I was a youth I was an underachieving member of the Boy Scouts of America, now known as Scouting America™. I liked the uniform but didn’t commit to a lot of the activities. One of our field trips took us to Shark Vally in the Everglades, sounded cool but alas, no sharks. We went to learn and practice animal spotting. How to look for alligators, frogs, turtles, deers, snakes, and birds.

We all wore our cute outfits and had binoculars as we walked the Shark Vally trail with Park Rangers. Not an animal could be found. Seems 20 screaming, wheezing 11-15 year olds was not conducive for animal spotting.

That was until I looked through my binoculars out to a marshy area near a bunch of lily pads, a Clown Bird! Purple with an orange, yellow, indigo, red multi-colored head and beak and big yellow feet. The Ranger came and confirmed the sighting and got real excited, it was not called a Clown Bird, apparently it was a rare sighting of a Purple Gallinule. The Ranger pulled out his North American Bird book and checked it off his list. I was mildly hooked, I would go on to be a recreational bird watcher.

SIMILAR SKILL SET

In order to make this an improv article I’m required to make a comparison to Birding and Improvisation. They both require a focus and stillness, a grounded ability to listen and see what everyone else doesn’t notice. We go through our day encountering hundreds of birds everywhere we go. Not knowing if they're Sparrows, Swallows, Mocking birds, Scrub Jays or Clown Birds. A Sparrow isn’t just a Sparrow, there are over 50 types of Sparrows, obviously I’m going to say the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow is my favorite, thanks for asking.

Similarly, I ask my students to observe and report unusual occurrences in everyday life that could have a premise or even game applied to them. These life moments are happening around us all the time, we don’t notice them because we have things to do, lives to live. As I type this here at a delightful Panera Bread™, I noticed that one of the employees has been cleaning the dining room for the last 30 minutes, the dining room is not dirty. That’s a good premise, why is she doing this? Is she avoiding someone behind the counter, is she super high, is she enamored with my boy scout uniform? [still fits!] Just overhead the Manager say “I appreciate your attention to detail Rebecca!” The plot thickens, the game is she’s good at her job.

In Improvisation, as in Birding, you need to train yourself to have the ability to see everything and hear everything that’s being said or chirped. Everything is a clue.

HOW TO WATCH BIRDS OR PEOPLE

I’m a recreational Birder, I’m not a Lister. A Lister is a Birder that has to check off every bird they see, and they can become fairly competitive about it. There’s the “Big Year”, all the birds you can spot within the year. [840 in the lower 48 states is the record] It’s a big competition that takes a ridiculous amount of commitment.

I tend to go for the “Big Sit”, sit in one location and count the birds that go by. I’m inspired by laziness but as you settle in you start to see the birds tell stories. In my back yard are mockingbirds, jays, and sparrows. About twice a day a murder of crows comes through about 20-30 of them. The mockingbirds sound the alarm and the jays and sparrows dive bomb them till the crows leave.

Watching people is a little different, people can hit you if you look at them wrong. It’s not something you do competitively or aggressively. You can’t win people watching. There’s an exercise I’ll give students to help with their observing skills, try watching in Harold structure. It’s a “Big Sit” for people watching. Sit yourself down in a public area or coffee place of your choice. Get a coffee and a scone don’t be a freeloader. Sit yourself down and observe in a structured order. Take notes.

Beat 1A. Watch the counter where the cashier and the barista are standing observe their story, their status with each other, how they handle customers.

Beat 2A. Then turn to the tables and see what’s going on, people writing screenplays, friends catching up, first dates.

Beat 3A. Then check out who's waiting to get into the bathroom, what’s their story?

1st Group Game: Get the vibe of the room, is it loud, is there music, are people aware of each other.

Beat 1B. Check back in at the counter, how have things changed or stayed the same.

Beat 2B. How have the conversations progressed? Is the first date going well?

Beat 3B. Is that same person still waiting to use the bathroom?

2nd Group Game: Ask someone if they were trying ot read your diary.

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What Do You Want?

When looking for an instructor for your Improv/Sketch/Clown/Water Ski project, what is it that you’re looking for?

Do you have an idea of what you want to work on? [Performing a Harold] Then you need someone to run you through your paces. That’s a coach. You tell them what you want and they should coach you through that.

Do you want to learn something the group hasn’t done before. [Learning a specific Genre] Then you hire a teacher. They bring concepts you’re not familiar with and make it understandable.

Do you want to put up a show? [Putting up a Show] They provide a vision you all can agree with. They should focus on content, pacing, blocking. They should prepare you for the show.

These can all be the same person but they should know ahead of time what’s expected of them.

Types Of Teachers And Coaches

Like most humans, teachers/coaches have different personalities and different approaches. Different teachers teach differently you can learn differently. It’s also good to know the type of teacher you have so you can get the most out of them.

1. Fun: They make your sessions easygoing, lot’s of laughing and you always walk away happy. If you have a new group, or a shy gang, these are good facilitators.

2. Serious: Silent but heady, every scene gets a note and they are not afraid to say what’s wrong. For when you want to get down to the work. It’s great to switch back and forth between fun and serious coaches.

3. Angry: They're a normal coach till someone mentions another school, coach, team or city/state. Then a chip appears on the shoulder. Listen to the rant, something can be learned.

4. Inanimate Object: You guys are just staring at a statue of Goethe's face. It’s a bust.

5. Old School:They have great experience and a plethora of notes they can give. They’ve seen a lot and they can tell you about it… for a long time. There’s a lot to learn from the past. It teaches us that we aren’t reinventing the wheel.

6. Teddy Bear : You love them on stage and you're excited to have them coach your session! They’re not comfortable at first but as they relax they have great insights and techniques to share. Unfortunately they showed up late, don’t have a pen, and they're eating a burrito as they coach.

7. Allstar: They do it all. They read the room and give what is needed. They come prepared with a lesson plan but willing to drop it if the group needs something else. They have an old school story that comes with an improv note hidden in the telling. They laugh with you and don’t talk shit about others, but give a knowing glance at the bullshit we all deal with. They come with a satchel of burritos for everyone!

I’ve been each and every one of these types of teachers, I was once a bust of Goethe for about 4 months.[Research for a play]

What To Look For In a Group

All of those attributes I gave to coaches, teachers, and directors works just as well for describing groups and players that you may coach. It’s important for you to adjust accordingly.

Groups create their own personality on stage and off. The first thing that tends to gel for a newly formed Harold team is the Group Game. The team works together as one mind performing a scene none of them thought they could do. It’s wonderful to see and you expect them to act that way in rehearsal. Then when they get off stage they act like a bunch of 1920’s beauty queens that have traveled through time to modern day Los Angeles to solve each other’s murders. Typical.

I’ve been in and worked with groups that got along great off stage but maybe didn’t do as well onstage. I’ve also been involved with grumpy groups that do incredible work onstage.

I think knowing how to handle the personality of the group when being coached verses when they perform was the biggest hurdle while developing as a coach. Thank god I always brought a satchel of burritos to practice.

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Since the dawn of humankind the battle between Organic and Premise has existed. Our ancestors hunt [premise] and gathered [organic] in order to exist. The very first premise recorded was found on the cave walls of Gibraltar “ Fire Hot Burn!”

At UCBT the first two improv levels [101 & 201] spend the first couple of classes focusing on organic play, getting a word and building a scene using the basic tenets of improv, labeling the who and the where, and yes anding to build the scene. It’s a great way to show beginners how to create a scene just off of a word.

After a few weeks we switch to performing monologs and pulling ideas off them. This is an introduction to premise. It teaches you to listen to and pull ideas from an opening, crafting them into full blown premise. It’s a great way to learn how to find the funny and it leads into playing the game of the scene.

This is where the battle begins.

PICK A SIDE

As you progress on your Improv Journey™, You’ll start to hear the term Premise-Based Improv or Organic-Based Improv. As if there is a side you have to choose. Premise-Based is about finding the funny, heighten, knocking it out of the park! Organic-Based is about exploring the space and the relationship and letting the funny come from that.

Back in the late NYC 90’s, during the Alternative Comedy Boom ™, the term used was Slow-Play Vs Fast-Play. At UCBT I was on one of the top 16 improv teams of all time, the SWARM. We were clearly a Slow-Play Team, maybe it was just me but I never went into a scene with a clear premise, always found one in the scene. This took more time then coming into the scene with the Who/What/Where ready to go. This helped the SWARM to create the Monoscene Form when we graduated out of Harold night.

At the time I remember getting into conversations at McManus, the bar of choice for discerning NY improvisers, about our style of play versus other teams. Some who had a faster playing stlye like Respecto Mantalban [one of the top 17 improv teams of all time] the conversation turned into an us versus them when it should have been about how both styles are great.

It goes back to a previous substack that I wrote about how we can get defensive with our own comedy. They do it that way, but we do it this way, the better way.

None is better, its all good.

THE GOOD AND BAD OF ORGANIC

Organic teaches you to be at peace with the scene. Listen, watch and build. You become much more in tune with your scene partners and you're in a constant state of discovery. This is helpful for longer scenes and monoscenes. You are letting the scene come to you.

The problem is it can become rudderless. At times it can feel like the scene has no purpose. Can easily lose the audience.

THE GOOD AND BAD OF PREMISE

Premise gives us hope! It is the engine of the scene. It can make a show about something as opposed to a bunch of scenes with no connection. Pulling premise from a monolog or interview creates something the audience can follow.

The problem is it can get very one note. A premise can get predictable and a little forced.

EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING

Truth is, every scene you do is different, be prepared to do everything.

Suggestion is opening, opening is form.

Once you get the suggestion the group will organically decide what it means to them and act accordingly. If it makes someone want to tell a story, then you pull premise from that story. If the suggestion makes you want to do a sound and movement, then organically discover what’s it all about.

If you start a scene with a strong premise and it plays out or becomes stuck, look around you, use the space, discover something else to talk about… then come back to the premise.

Fast-Play your organics using repetition.

Slow-Play your Premise by hiding it in the middle of the scene instead of up front.

Don’t limit yourself by playing only one way.

If you can play both ways you play more balanced.

.

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PLUGS: I will be in Los Angeles from 8/30 - 9/8, I have slots open in these two workshops below, all others are sold out.

Follow me on IntstaFaceGram for when and where I’m performing!

https://linktr.ee/BillyMerritt

It’s called Longform Improvisation, not linear scenes with no connection. We learn Harolds, LaRondes, Monoscenes, Improvised Movies, Pretty Flowers not to just do them but to learn how they function to tell the story.

Certain Longforms take care of the narrative so you can focus on playing the moment, not playing to the next scene or talking about what happened in the last scene. This is what the note being too plotty means. The comedy gets lost in trying to explain what is going on. Our personal stories happen as we live our lives, whether we plan them or not. If we do grounded scene work with game in each scene the story will take care of itself.

DIFFERENT LONGFORMS, DIFFERENT STORIES

The Harold, the Grandaddy of Longforms, uses the A/B/C storyline that converge at the end. When done well the third beat connections confirm the story all along. I first noticed this structure watching Northern Exposure, then Seinfeld, then I saw it everywhere.

Pretty Flower, the Hot Aunt visiting for the holidays of Longforms, is a form that a lot of us like to slide into because it’s easy to learn. Create a main scene and fill it with a buttload of cut-toos/cut-backs. To tell the story you need to make sure the cut-toos inform the main story. The TV show Lost was the best example I use for class. The main story is the island, The cut-toos filled out the character back stories and motivations. We don’t talk about the last season.

MonoScene, the GrandMother on the porch of Longforms, appears simple and formless just one long scene. But what you structure within the form helps tell the story. RoadTrip is character driven, One Act is genre driven, French Scene, is a Harold within a Monoscene. It tells the story of the location. The most pretentious MonoScene comparison I can think of is My Dinner With Andre.

LaRonde, the Chatty Cousin on meth of Longforms, the story passes from person to person similar to the 1981 porn film Ring of Desire, where an erotically charged ring is passed from lover to lover creating a… LaRonde of Desire.

GAME OF FORM

Just like looking for the game of the scene by recognizing the unusual and building a pattern around that, you want to do the same with Form. You want to “Find The Form” as you play.

SUGGESTION IS OPENING / OPENING IS FORM

Your suggestion should inform what kind of opening you’ll do. Let’s say the suggestion is “letter” and one of the players starts a correspondence opening. A rotating series of messages/emails/owls sent back and forth from one side of the stage to the other. You notice each message sent goes to a different character heightening the opening to an edit. This inspires the team to do a LeRonde structure to start the show, two person scenes with a series of tag-outs.

FORM IS NOT FORM

Once this form gets going and the pattern becomes restrictive to the players and recognizable to the audience, change it. Go into a group scene, then follow with another LaRonde, or not. Go where the story wants to go not where the form wants to go. In scene work it can be called resting the game, in Forms it can be called shifting the game. It can be called many things, it’s the Drunk Uncle of improv moves.

DON’T THINK

You shouldn’t be thinking about these moves as you’re in the scene as much as you should feel the moves. Then ask yourself after the show, What did we just do? I’ve been lucky enough to play with great improvisers that have done enough longform to not think just do. My favorite conversations were after shows trying to figure out what we did and why.

HOW TO PRACTICE THIS

Forms can be used as a whole or you can chop them up and use parts of them as needed. You can plan to merge forms ahead of time or do it on the fly. To get good at this use you time onstage wisely. If you’re doing a 15 min indie set it’s hard to do a complete Form so give yourselves assignments. Like doing second beats, or LaRonde the first five minutes then use those characters in other scenes, or Pretty Flower the first scene. You’re doing this under the auspices of doing a Montage but it’s not linear and there are connections. It will give you something to talk about after the show.

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BARRON VON PLUGSTEEN SEZ-

“Check out these classes you can take with Billy Merritt!”

I have online classes at The Worlds Greatest Improv School https://wgimprovschool.com

I’m doing 2 different one day improv workshops in LA at UCB-LA

https://ucbcomedy.com

Tuesday, September 2nd, 1-5pm, Pirate Robot Ninja

&

Friday September 5th, 3-6pm, 2 Games, One Scene

MISSING THE SECRET

I have a hilarious recurring joke that I do to the delight of all my students. If someone comes in late while I’m in the middle of explaining something I immediately say “And that’s the secret of Improvisation!” The class then applauds and cheers enthusiastically and we all laugh for minutes.

I don’t want the worthless late student to feel bad, but I do want to project an air of mystery. What was happening before they got there? Maybe I really did say something that could change your approach to Improvisation. Probably not, but what if I did? I wouldn't, but I could have. MYSTERY !

WHERE IS THE MYSTERY

In Michael Shurtliff’s book Audition one of his guideposts is Mystery.

He stated: “No matter how much we know about the other person, there is always something going on in that other heart and that other head that we don’t know but can only ponder. And no matter how we explain ourselves to someone else, no matter how open we are, there is always still something inexplicable, something hidden and unknown in us, too,”

Every Improv scene has mystery. That’s the excitement of it. We don’t know who, where, what, or why at the beginning and we fill in all the blanks to find the scene. The further we go into the scene, hopefully, the more mystery we can find. We tend to look for it in each other on stage. What is this character hiding that I need to know. This is how we sometime get bogged down with questions. If you find your in a scene that’s bogged down… CONFESS!

CONFESSIONS

We are taught early on that when you don’t know what to do in a scene confess something, the scene will become about that. Two players portray a couple sitting on a park bench. The scene is running out of things to say and a mild panic sets in. After a pause, one blurts out “I’ve been cheating on you!” Hilarity! Now the scene has something to talk about.

That's great advice for starting out but as you start getting better your confessions should become better, more infused with what is going on in the scene. You should use them to solve the mystery you’ve created. It’s not just a confession, it’s a secret. Two players portray a couple on a park bench, they’re having a conversation about what they see around them, talking about the playground and how much they've changed since they were kids. One confesses “ I don’t want kids, I’m too scared!” Hilarity! The conversation about playgrounds gave one of the players a secret to use in the scene… DISCOVERY!

DISCOVERY IS CONFLICT

I’ve always taught scenes should have conflict. Something has to happen or why are we watching in the first place. The biggest mistake we make is equating fighting with conflict. I believe, in improv, the result of conflict is discovery. Something has changed for one or all the players and how they deal with that change is what the scene is really about.

Be on the lookout for discovery, your scene is a mystery until you find the secret, once the secret is revealed, discovery takes over.

HAVE YOUR OWN SECRET

Just for shits and giggles always go into a scene with a secret that no one knows but you. For instance, A lot of my characters are wearing capes I don’t mention it unless needed. This makes me feel special. I know someone who always has a cat in her scenes, if things get boring on stage she picks it up and pets it.

The Smokes from UCBT-LA was doing a monoscene years ago that took place in a lobby of a weird hotel. It was good show but it wasn’t really going anywhere. At the end of the show a few of us were wanting to check out of the hotel and Brian Gallivan the front desk clerk said, “You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave”… BLACKOUT! That one secret tied the whole show together. From that moment on every Smokes show was haunted, we just choose not to tell you.

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PLUGGY PLUG PLUG!

I’m teaching online and in person this August and September at UCB-LA and WGIS.

Check out these websites!

I have 3 online one-off “1000 scenes” workshops, Fridays in August: https://wgimprovschool.com

I have an online 301 Saturdays starting August 9th, and two in-person one day workshops Sept 2nd & 5th: thhttps://ucbcomedy.com

Longform Improvisation is littered with a melange edits throughout time, from inspiring to distasteful. The edit is one of the most impactful tools you use in a show. It controls pacing, shows the audience where the funny is, and it can help shape or theme how you want to tell a story.

There’re a lot of fun and fanciful edits you can use, but they all had to have started somewhere. Someone did it for the first time and it would have been so impactful that people copied it and made it canon.

TOP FIVE EDITS OF ALL TIME

1. SWEEP EDIT: Chicago, October 10th, 1871. “Chicago Styled” improv had just taken off. Great scenes, grounded relationship-based and long, incredibly long. Some scenes would last for hours, some for days. In a barn next to the theatre a cow kicks over a lantern setting the barn ablaze. Ms. Charna O’Leary, the owner of the barn and cow ran next door and onto the stage screaming “FIRE, my fucking cow did it!” Everyone left the stage and lives were saved. From that moment on anytime Chicagoans who wanted to stop a scene they would run across stage and say “FIRE! Ms. O’Leary’s fucking cow did it!” Over time the dialog was dropped and now we just run or sweep across the stage.

2. CLAP EDIT: San Diego, May 4th , 1947. World War 2 was over and the country wanted to celebrate the best way it knew possible, Long Form Improvisation! Gladys Austin, a former Navy [WAVE * ] veteran started an all female improv group called the Nantucket Divas. Gladys had a precocious son named Gary she brought to rehearsals. He would run around and climb all over the theatre as the group practiced. Anytime Gary would do something a little too dangerous Gladys Austin would clap her giant meaty navy hands and that thunderous clap would stop everything that was going on. The group decided to use it in their show. Anytime they wanted to walk-on, cut-too, or edit a scene they would clap their hands and yell “Gary get down from there!”

   That boy was Gary Austin, he would eventually move to LA and open The Groundlings Theatre, home of the clap edit.

2. COCK IN A SOCK EDIT: NYC, June10th, 1999. The Alternative Comedy Boom™ was at its peak. White male dominated Improv teams were all the rage. The Del Close Marathon, a 24 hour nonstop improv-a-thon, was playing into the 4am slot. The origanal UCB Theatre was hosting the DCM, it was hot, humid, and had a strong body oder. All the players on stage were drunk, tired and sticky. The audience drunk and sleepy. It looked like the DCM was going to be a big failure and this would be the last one. Three unknown improvisers hanging out backstage realized they needed to get the tired players offstage while also invigerating the crowd. They decided to strip down naked, put one sock on their genitalia, and the other sock covering their eyes. They ran out on stage blindly and chaos ensued. The whole place erupted in laughter, cries of rage, sobbing. Some say they heard The Red Hot ChiliPeppers playing, but the sound tech said the music was off. Did we dream it? Did it really happen? No one knows, but the DCM was saved to run another 20 years. Every one of those DCMs had at least one Cock In A Sock edit.

   

3. HAWK EDIT: NYC, October 8th, 2004. The SWARM was playing at its zenith. This improv cadre was reinventing improv every sold out Friday nite at the UCB Theatre. The show was called Slow Waltz Around Rage Mountain and was already nominated for a PeeBody Award™ and had a sandwich named after them at the 2nd Ave Deli [The SWARMa]. The scuttlebutt from fans was there was nowhere for them go. You can’t heighten when you’ve toppled rage mountain. Could they get any better? Then it happened, Andrew Secunda had been left on the edge of a cliff in a scene and there was no room for another character, [some say that’s what Secunda wanted] he was alone and the scene was dying. You could feel the tension from the audience, this may not go well. Out of nowhere you hear a screech and see a giant hawk come into the scene [played brilliantly by William Merritt] the hawk grabs the character out of that scene and flew to the other side of the stage and dropped him into another scene. The great Katie Roberts was on that side of the stage and validated the entire move by saying “That’s crazy, but all right”. And just like that, the greatest edit of all time happened.

4. THE CUBE EDIT: Location Unknown, Date Unknown. The cube sits on a rock on Mars, now it’s at the bottom of the Great Blue Hole off the coast of Belize, now it in Central Perk. It’s everywhere, all the time, all at once. Inside it are untold scenes trapped waiting to get out. If it shows up onstage during your show, you and your scene will be sucked into the cube. Another scene is then released, as you are trapped inside. This goes on till the end of time. Some say it’s a horrible way to go, others think it’s the perfect edit.

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When I was a sweet plump little boy I was bone-crushingly shy. Making new friends was hard, eye contact was unbearable. But once I made a connection with someone I was hilarious! I knew every line to every Monty Python episode, had a great impersonation of Mork from Ork, and was always up on the latest catch phrase from SNL. If I could make them laugh I knew that they would like me.

It’s common during bad situations to use comic relief to ease the moment. Making light of a bad situation lets people know it could be worse. “At least it’s not raining” Comedy deflects, puts things into perspective, and can ease the pain. It’s a defense mechanism that allows you to sooth the pain for a little while. Put a barrier between you and the truth. But if you use it all the time you could be putting yourself in denial.

ART IMITATES LIFE

Acting is the art of imitating life, we study ourselves and everyone around us so that we can represent and interpret the story we want to tell. This is true for all art forms like music, painting, dance, cup stacking… that’s about it. When we use comedy as our medium whether it be stand up, sketch, improv, cup stacking… we are all representing and interpreting the human condition. This is the beginning of your subjectiveness.

Comedy is observational by nature, that is clearly an oversimplification, it would take 6 hours to explain what comedy is and my turkey pot pie is done cooking in 45 minutes so let’s simplify. We tend to pull our comic ideas from what we observe in our lives. This makes our humor relatable to an audience. Subjectiveness is how we interpret relatability and that is where we our find funny.

We all have different lives so our interpretations should vary with our unique experiences. When people don’t understand your interpretation is when we become defensive. This is where I hear “Comedy is subjective” all the time. [Cup stacking is funny to me, and I stand by it]

Relatable Set up: Dating online is so hard…

Old Man’s Interpretation: In my day we mail ordered our brides, and we were happy!

Idiot’s Interp: I’m so tired of kissing the screen.

Cup Stacking Interp: Once you meet in person the cups are never the same as their picture.

There are many interpretations, these are closest to my world.

IMPROVISING DEFENSIVLY

One of the keys to good scenic improv is vulnerability. Allowing yourself to be open enough on stage to truly see and hear what’s going on and react accordingly. In Improv, to be vulnerable is to have absolutely no idea what you are going to do until you're initiated upon. This keeps you completely open to all the Pastabilities™ of where the scene can go. When we lose vulnerability we tend to go to our bag of tricks, start arguments, use our fall back characters, or we go meta and comment on the scene. When we think we don’t know what to do we protect ourselves with moves that we know work.

MANAGING YOUR DEFENSE

Sometimes defense moves are just what a scene needs. Sometimes you find yourself being defensive and you can’t get out of it. Here are some Pastabilities™ of what to do.

ARGUMENT: You don’t know where a scene is going and you put on the brakes by sayin no, stop, I don’t like this. You are within your rights to feel that way but I always say if you state you don’t like something, you must state what you do like. “I don’t want togo to the beach, I much prefer the library” This will fill out your character a little more.

The other tip, is to just lose the argument. When a character realizes they were wrong they're in a moment of discovery. That characters life has changed, they will see things differently. Scenes are about conflict, but conflict as in change, discovery, where we started the scene is not where we ended. “I never thought of it that way, the beach is like a library of the ocean!”

SAME CHARACTERS: We all have our go-to characters that we let take over the scene. We all say the same things we have before, We all smoke a giant cigar, We all walk with a cane, and We all play a southern lawyer. Hilarious ! The problem is it can deaden the scene to doing the same things over and over. Keep your characters open to discovery let them be effected, always find something new about them every time you pull it out.

The other tip: Mirror your scene partner’s character, when two people mirror the same character it morphs a little differently for both of you, likeminded yet slightly different characters.

IRONIC DETACHMENT: This is the biggest red flag of defensive improvistion. Going meta or detaching from a scene to the point that you’re commenting on the scene. We comment by widening or rolling our eyes, delaying response, responding condescendingly while fixing a perceived mistake onstage. We all do it at varying levels. Our defense comes from the scene going poorly but I’m not the problem. Maybe you are. Tuff love! My tip is, don’t do it!

The other tip: Whom am I kidding, we all are going to do this at some point. Sometimes it turns out really well. But if you rely on it, it’s a problem.

I remember doing a Harold with the SWARM where the whole Harold devolved into all of us getting into a tiny ship and being injected into Andy Secunda’s veins to look for his funny, all we found was black goo. This worked because I feel we were celebrating the detachment, we went off the rails joyfully and “If That Then What Else” it. I feel if you go Meta organically it’s deserved, if you use it because you think you need it to save the moment it’s defensive.

This was a very hard article for me to write, there’s too much to say about this.

Me not write good all time, so it hard to get out.

I think subjectiveness deserves its own article, in it’s own way it’s a giant defense mechanism. But it is so much more! Just think of the PastaBilities™!

Love,

William

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I took a little break recently and it was delightful! It was 8 days away from the Teaching and Improv, lounging on a balcony, gazing at the ocean, intermittently going to the buffet. Just like Hemingway did.

I wasn’t so exhausted or distraught that I needed to get away or I would mentally implode, it was just a break. A chance not think about anything in particular. Allow the mind to wonder. When I came back to teach I was much more focused and the lesson plans came easy. This is what breaks/vacations do. I made a realization I don’t do this enough. Usually when I travel I’m looking to teach workshops or sit in on a shows, I tell myself I do this to help pay for the trip. It’s not a vacation it’s a “Working Vacation”. I love doing this but it’s not a break. I believe this comes from my hobby being my job. How can you not do what you love doing?

IF YOU LOVE SOMETHING, SET IT FREE!

Early during my Illustrious Improv Career™, my fear was if I was away from improv too long I would lose a step with others, I would get rusty, or worse of all… I would lose interest. What if I realize that these are childlike pursuits and it’s time to put away childish things and become an adult. Maybe that’s the most important reason to take the break, it’s a truth we all need to find out on our own.

Sometimes taking that time away confirms this is what you should be doing. For me I would come back wanting to do more, always having a new show idea or, god forbid, a new Longform to teach. [Metallic Pretty Flower anyone?] Walking amongst the real people in the real world would inspire me to bring it back on stage.

MANY REASONS TO TAKE A BREAK

My reason for taking a break comes from someone who is fully entrenched in the Improv world. I teach, direct, coach, produce and perform improv stuff 6 days a week. I try to have one day off to look at birds or something, but I find myself giving them notes. Mockingbirds are great character actors but have difficulty staying in one character, too flighty.

The majority are not full time improvisers, this is a hobby that has turned into a passion. For some, vacations are going to Improv Festivals or Summer Intensives. You have real lives with real jobs and real children. This is your break!

I’ve heard from a few of these players who’ve said they need to pause their Improv for these real things in their lives. I let them know that this is bullshit and they will never be good at this. We have a good laugh and I never see them again. But sometimes I do. Sometimes years later.

Sometimes the break is financial, I had that issue early on when I first moved to NYC. I found myself volunteering at theaters for free classes or practices. This is not feasible for everyone, time is money, offering your time is harder than it seems. I’ve done some Hobo Improv in the park with others, it was filled with fond memories, and a crazy park people love to join in! But the honest answer for me was, if this is what I want to do, then find the money. So I embezzled from the bars I was working at, unfortunately they all went out of business, so I can’y pay them back, I don’t know why.

Maybe it’s political/philosophical . You’re on a team and you don’t mesh well with the another player or players, or the coach, or the style. The shows aren’t as fun as they used to be. You think is it me, or all of them? A lot of times people will quit that team and join another immediately, causing gossip and scandal!! Not really but it can feel like that. But what if you do this and you feel the same way about your new team? Take a break. Walk away and don’t do any improv for a set amount of time, then start up again from a distance. Watch shows, see how that makes you feel.

Another reason I get from students is that they’re just so overloaded they can’t do everything they want to do. They take classes, have a practice group, play on another team, host a jam, take another class, and coach a group. They want to do everything all at once, it comes with the “Yes And” mentality. We don’t want to say no to any opportunity so we sabotage ourselves by saying yes. Part of your growth as an improviser is knowing when to say no. We may use the term “I’m taking a break, I’m just so busy right now”, but you know that this break may be permanent and that’s okay. I think saying taking a break in this context means I love my time with you but I need to move on, but, incase it doesn't work out I might come back. And that’s okay!

HITTING THE WALL

The biggest reason people need to take breaks is they hit that wall. They can’t seem to get past a certain level, maybe it’s finding game, maybe it’s not feeling funny, or why the fuck do I have to keep doing Harolds? There many ways to handle this. Talking to your coach or teacher, talking with someone in your group, changing schools or theaters. The fact is, it’s on you, you are the wall. We get that little hitch in our brain that refuses to do what you know you should do in a scene, or that little hitch stops you from listening and reacting to the right thing in the scene. This is perfect “Take a Break” material. Don’t quit, step back. Spend some time away from everything improv, then slowly step back into the water. As a teacher, if I say this to you it sounds like I’m saying quit improv. I would never tell anyone to quit improv, that’t the opposite of what this art form is. You need to do this on your own.

TAKING CHARGE OF YOUR BREAK

Make the decision to take the break, give yourself a certain amount of time for the breakage. Check in after that certain amount of time and see if you are ready to come back. If not rinse and repeat. I’ve had so many students come back after months or years away, they are always better for it. They always showed growth.

Take as much time as you need, we’ll all be here waiting for you.

Unless I’m on a break.

If that’s the case, leave me alone.

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BEING ON TIME

In 2007 I moved from New York to LA as one does. You're not going to believe this but the two cities are totally different. One is on the east coast and one is on the west coast. One has great pizza and one has great tacos. One is faster and one is slower. Even how you audition is different.

In New York I always took public transportation to a big building, got in an elevator and got out on the floor I was auditioning on. I was good at this, I booked some good work and also some prank shows. I was always there on time and ready to be funny. But in Los Angeles they have this thing called a “Lot”, a giant sprawling landscape with office buildings, writers bungalows, main street Americas and old western towns all in the same place.

I got my first big audition in LA and it was on the Fox Studio Lot, no worries, I heard about how big these places are I will give myself an extra 30 min to get there. By the time I made through the front gate and parked I was already late. I started walking around looking for the building and was in a mild panic. By the time I found where I supposed to be I was already 40 minutes late. I walk into the room, the casting person was sitting behind the camera, pissed off, with a salad in front of them. I apologized explaining how I got lost, this is my first time here and I’m from New York. This made it worse. They said “Comedy is Timing, If you can’t show up on time you will never be funny… slate your name.” they then proceeded to angry eat a chicken caesar will I flubbed my lines.

Lesson learned, I became a Lot Master™ after that. One hour early, know the parking situation, and download a map of the place. There is so much you can’t control in the show businesses, so control what you can. When I took acting classes at Atlantic Theatre they had a policy to lock the doors 5 minutes after class started. I thought that was harsh at the time, but I get it now. Control what you can control.

In my classes I tell this story to get people to respect the class and the people in the class. There are always going to be reasons for being late, completely understandable. But if you’re constantly 10 minutes late for every class, that is about you. You may be talented, but you will always be considered a shitshow that everyone has to work around. [I’m looking at you Ke$ha]

There is always an exception to the rule. I had one student come to class 10 to 15 minutes late every class, and he would be dripping wet when he came in. After the third class I had to stop everything and ask what the deal is. He said he was taking swimming lessons and the YMCA down the street and it ended right when our class started, so he would rush and put his clothes on over his swim suit. As a class, we all said he could take his time to dry off. The class made sure this student was caught up with anything he missed, it was great to see.

USING TIME IN YOUR IMPROV

I’m sure we’ve all heard and understand the phrase “Comedy Is Timing”. Using pace and rhythm to heighten the comedic effect. It tends to revolve around the joke or punchline. I feel there’s more to timing than just that. In Improvisation it surrounds the whole scene or form that you’re doing. It provides pace of show, characters, editing, and genre. LETS TALK ABOUT IT!

PACE

How quickly you get to what the scene is about [Game] can dictate your pace. Do you get to premises in the first or second line out of your mouth [Quickplay] or stand in the place that you are and let the premise evolve out of information you’re creating [Slowplay]. Both are great, they can give you different paced shows. Quickplay works great in a Harold or Montage structure, Slowplay works well in the Monoscene. When you know the form you’re doing ahead of time you adjust the pace to the form. As you grow as an Improviser you will see tendencies as to which way you prefer to play. Keep working both styles, don’t abandon one for the other.

EDITING

One of the biggest mistakes I see teams do during 15-20 minute sets is to let the first scene go too long. It creates an off balance show, and can lose an audience. Know how much time you have and prepare to edit accordingly. This can happen if the group is deconstructing the first scene, this means pulling ideas from the first scene as if it were the opening. One way to fix that is to deconstruct the first three scenes instead, keep each scene at 1-2 min each. The pacing of the edits will become ingrained into the set.

Having said all that, also remember to vary the timing of your edits. You don't just automatically edit at the 3 min mark. Every scene has a different lifespan. If you’re editing, pay attention and anticipate the end. You want to kill that scene 7 seconds before it knows it’s dead. Be the Ninja.

CHARACTERS and RELATIONSHIPS

Just talking fast is not a character. Talking fast because you’re afraid of something is the beginning of finding a character. Use timing and rhythm to find a character, then find the justification of why they are the way they are. This will get you further into the scene. If your scene partner talks and moves very deliberate and careful, try matching it. You will find like minded characters working towards the same goal.

I often ask my students what the rhythm of dialog was between two characters. How they talk and listen to each other rhythmically dictates how they are connected. If it’s already established they’re on a date, the rhythm will let you know. If it’s their 3rd date, every line is considered and listened to. You can see them building the relationship right there on stage. If they've been dating for 5 years, the dialog goes right through them as if it’s been said a thousand times before.

GENRE

The first genre that you ever do on an improv stage is probably Film Noir, you get to talk fast, smoke cigarettes and say neat words like Gams, Dame, High Hat, and Why I oughta! Playing Genre is a little more then just talking fast or slow, it’s about cadence, stage presence, motivation. I’ll get into Genre in a future post but right now let’s talk cadence.

In Mamet plays the cadence is quick, to the point, confrontational. In Tennessee Williams plays the dialog is slower, methodical, lots of metaphors. They both have tension, they achieve it differently. Knowing the cadence lets you know when to talk and when to let the silence playout. When to fill the scene with genre-specific flowery words and when to say exactly what you mean and let it sit. If you can truly surrender yourself to the genre’s cadence the words come out all by themselves.

Learn to play fast

Learn to play slow

Learn to play diffrently

And Finally, because The Time was one of the great backup bands of the 80’s

Morris Day and The Time.

In the early aughts the UCB opened a new theatre in the NYC Chelsea neighborhood in a basement under a Gristedes Grocery store. It was bigger than the old space but musty, with pipes that dripped water over the stage and three giant poles that blocked some of the seats views. We had an all-theatre meeting to introduce the new space and there was a bit of grumbling, the theatre was not ideal.

The UCB 4 were on stage taking questions and the poles came up several times. Can they be removed? Are they load bearing? The general feeling amongst the players was this is not a great space. Matt Walsh responded rather abruptly during the third reference to the poles, it was up the you to “Bend The Space”. Yes the poles are there but how can you use them, how can you work around them, or better yet make them a part of the show. It was your job as a director and performer to make any space you perform in work for you and the show. From that moment I started looking at the theatre like it’s a suggestion to get a scene going. Your opening starts with the space itself.

The first UCB Theatre was a former strip club called Harmony Burlesque Theatre, it was shut down by Giuliani in 1995. This was not a fancy club, this was the last option if you were a dancer. I remember mentioning to a stripper friend that the UCB took over the Harmony and they said, “Oh Honey, No”. I was lucky enough to be part of the volunteer labor force that helped turn that space into a comedy theatre. We ripped the mirrors down off the walls, reshaped the burlesque stage into a comedy stage [no pole, no catwalk] built a tech booth in the back, and cleaned out all the used condoms in the bathrooms.[Oh Honey, No]

It wasn’t great, but the theatre found a way to exist within it. The stage had no wings, so you couldn’t stand offstage you had to stand along the back wall. Eventually this became the tradition at all the UCB Theaters, even the ones with wing space. When I’m directing an Improvised One Act, or a MonoScene I have to point out to the players that there are real doors on the back wall, use them use your entrances and exits. We’ve become so accustomed to standing on the back wall that we’re willing to eliminate a third of the stage, often giving the note to not drift upstage into the backline the audience will be confused as to who is actually in the scene.

Having said that, I’m a Back Wall Boy, ain’t never gonna change! What Matt Walsh said changed the way I see any space that I play in. Before a show I like to sit in the audience seats and see how the audience sees the stage. What are the site lines, how much room do you have on the stage, how does the space handle sound. These are things any professional performer should do. But as an improviser I look for ways to bend the space. Is there a way to go into the audience, is there a balcony, a way to run into the lobby and come out through the backstage. How is the audience watching the show? Are they far from the stage?[UCB Sunset] Are they on the stage?[UCB Franklin] These things should affect how you play. You must mold yourself to the location.

Audiences are part of the space as well. When I moved from NYC to LA I noticed the difference in the way the crowd would laugh at my hilarity. In New York it sounded like they were in on the joke, like a low guttural “heheheh..you got that right”. In LA the laughter was mildly judgmental “ Hah, oh honey no” I noticed the Assscat shows were different because of the space and the audience put together. In LA the Franklin space is smaller and the audience is right on top of you, a lot of the scenes were premise based standing or sitting with tagouts a plenty. In NY the stage is bigger and wider, the audience sits on the floor in both shows but in NY there is still plenty of room. You tend to see more characters, split scenes, bigger cacophony scenes.

Improv is what you make it, you can do it anywhere, but you need to know the space. A park, a laundromat, on a bus, Carnegie Hall. I’ve seen shows at all of these places. They all require that you adjust to the environment. Some places will have distractions, in a park there are birds a chirping, frisbees a flung, and hobos, thousands of hobos. Some places will require extra tech, or not. I recently saw a show in a beautiful older theatre, it was built before sound systems, all the performers wore mics and the sound bounced all over the place, they would have been better without the mics. Some places will literally be the suggestion, I love a good improvised bus tour guide. Make sure you think about these things before the show. Not during the show.

Don’t be afraid to change your Improvised Form based on the location. Some places are great for big broad forms like the Soundtrack or Improvised Musicals with fantasy dance sequences, solos in the audience, kick lines and jazz hand gang fights. Some places are made for a Roadtrip, set up a few chairs and drive. If you’re in a group that has played together for a while, it’s always good to keep trying new forms. The more forms you try the more techniques you can pull and use in other forms or locations. If you just do montages, then that’s all you do.

TIPS FOR MOUNTING THE STAGE

Treat getting on stage like mounting a horse.

1. Check the saddle. Make sure it’s secure.

2. If unfamiliar with horse, introduce yourself to the beast.

3. Use one smooth motion to mount the horse. No sudden or jerky movements. This can spook the horse or an audience .

4. Have a good idea of where you’re taking the horse, avoid places that may be difficult to traverse for the horse you have. You wouldn’t take a Clydesdale showjumping.

5. Don’t bring a horse on stage. Unless you’re doing the play Equus or Warhorse, then your horse would be puppetry. Also, small service ponies are acceptable.

LATE START

I didn’t get into acting until I was thirty and really didn’t get into Improv till a year or so after that. Up until that time I didn’t think I was allowed, I did the senior play in high school, loved it! But for some reason I didn’t think I could identify as an actor, much less one of the top 16 funniest people in Longform Improv Comedy History©️.

A lot of this came from being a shy and awkward teen, trying to be something I was not and feeling no one was buying it. Turns out that’s what everyone was doing at that age. Who knew.

PERMISSION

I grew up watching and memorizing every Monty Python sketch and movie, couldn’t wait to talk about SNL Monday morning in middle school with my comedy nerd friends. I just spit out what I saw, and tried to do it exactly like they did. I didn’t give myself permission to do my own comedy, just repeated what I saw. What I didn’t realize was I’m already training myself about comic timing, repeating the punch lines ad nauseam, imitating characters.

So I did what anyone who has honed these particular set of skills would do and became a bartender. I gave myself permission to be as funny as long as I was behind the bar. I also gave myself permission to do a lot of Drink-N-Drugs©️.

I burned out, as one does, after a few glorious years of ribaldry that I don’t remember. Went back to school, walked into what I thought was the college cafeteria turned out to be the Duncan Theatre and I never looked back. They gave me permission to do tech, then take classes, then act, then become one of the top 16 funniest people in Longform Improv Comedy History©️.

SACRED IMMATURITY

I was always at least 10 years older than anyone I was working with, but luckily it wasn’t much of a factor because I was immensely immature for my age. There’s a kid inside you that finds joy in doing comedy. This isn’t about “finding your inner child”, it’s about “Connecting with your Stupid Kid”. We have this Stupid Kid inside us that laughs at all the stupid stuff you shouldn't. Example: Someone is talking about the best year for classic rock albums and they mention the year 1969. You laugh and exclaim “Heh, 69!” quietly to yourself. That’s your Stupid Kid.

As I continued to play, I continued to keep getting older. Funny how that works. Being immature at 30 is expected, being immature at 40 explained my divorce, being immature at 50 my inner stupid kid was getting a little sad. I was afraid to initiate scenes with big characters or extreme premises like I used too, partly because to do that you need to lose control a little and let instinct drive those scenes. I didn’t trust myself at my age, I was afraid to be accidentally offensive. So I focused on using the voice of reason in my scenes. My comedy changed for the better… for my age.

Immaturity got me far, it kept me humble knowing I wasn’t better than the comedy. It allowed me to see past the first joke and let scenes heighten to absurdity. But Immaturity doesn’t always look good on a graying actor on stage. For the first time I understood that you need to play the role you are given not the one you want. The wages of aging.

ADJUSTING

Most of what was funny to me thirty years ago is not funny to me now, don’t get me wrong, I do look back on those years fondly. I remember the response to the comedy was positive, I enjoyed myself, but it’s just not as funny to me now. I’ve evolved, not to something better, but to what I find interesting within my life now. My base reality has changed so my comedy has changed. My life experiences are different now, but the absurd still exists.

Game has no age limit. Maybe what’s deemed the unusual, or the justifications, have changed but framing the Game still works. The comedy is in the specifics. My specifics have changed so that appeals to an audience that shares those specifics.

So I ask myself: Am I aging out of comedy? For an indie basement show in Greenwich Village? Probably yes. For Paul’s Fish Fry, South Florida’s best kept secret in fish and comedy, I’m nailing it.

TIPS FOR THE YOUNGER PLAYING WITH THE OLDER

1. Your music, tv and video game references may be unfamiliar with an older player, be prepared to explain. Keep in mind if a player doesn’t know the reference there’s a good chance some of the audience won’t know.

2. Don’t make your older scene partner a grandparent in every scene. They should be allowed to play any character that is needed for any given scene.

3. You aren’t doing your scene partner any favors by playing down to them. I see a lot of older players with less experience being pushed aside in scenes. It’s your job to make that person shine, find a way to do that.

TIPS FOR OLDER PLAYING WITH YOUNGER

1. No one else watches History Channel but you, be prepared to explain your references. We call these scenes teaching moments. To explain your reference is to explain who your character is.

2. If you are a 65 year old man, don’t make active choices to play seven year old girls. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

3. Allow yourself to be vulnerable enough to ask questions as far as technique goes. There are so many schools of thought in improv now, you are never too old to learn.

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THE BEST IT’S EVER BEEN

I’ve just finished the great nature show in the vein of Planet Earth called The Americas narrated by Tom Hanks [no relation]

Over the last 10 years nature documentaries have reached new heights. With camera technology, drones, and state of the art comfortable shoes documentarians are getting some of the best footage ever seen of the savage natural world.

We’re seeing things we never thought possible. A school of swordfish actually catching fish with their sword, 40,000 flamingos doing a mating dance in Bolivia, a scarab beetle cheating on it’s taxes.

The footage is raw and beautiful but it doesn’t really tell the story. The secret to shows like Planet Earth or The Americas is the editing and narration. Out of thousands of hours of camera work, only 3-4 min is pulled to tell a story. The narrator makes the story relatable. You're watching 10,000 crabs crawl across an island just to mate in 3 feet of water but Tom Hanks is making it sound like a journey of self discovery and love for one particular crab.

Spoiler Alert: He finds love!

THE 3 F’s

You basically see three storylines in every doc.

Will the animal find food?

Will the animal successfully defend its territory?

Will the animal find a mate?

Feed Fight Fuck

All three of these elements can exist on their own or can be intermingled. A penguin couple take turns hunting for food to feed its baby. Two grouses compete in kickass feather dance to win the affection of the hottest grouse in the prairie . Two wolf packs fight for territory to call their own.

These are animal stories, but they’re also human stories. It reminds us that we are the human animal and all our base needs and wants are as animalistic and pure and instinctive as a herd of female elephants forming around the young when perceived danger approaches. Just like moms at playgrounds when I walk by.

HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO IMPROV?

Improv is acting and acting is the art of imitating life. Our lives can be truncated down to these three categories. It’s not always as primal as eating, fighting and screwing. Unless you’re at the local sports bar eating the hottest wings they got while your team wins the game and you let the table next to you know that your team is better then their team [some shoving involved]. That makes you think of Rebecca, you'd come to this bar when you dated,

you text her with a “you up?” Primal as a Saturday night.

Spoiler Alert: She was not up, and the wings gave you dirreaha.

FINDING FOOD

Finding food not just about eating, its about nourishment, substance, resources. We feed our body, we feed our minds, and we feed our souls. A feeding scene isn’t about the food, it’s about what your character is taking in at that moment and how is it affecting them.

A Sunday dinner scene is not about the salty ham Gayle always cooks, it’s about who she cooks it for and why. She is the penguin, putting her own needs aside to feed her young, yet they are never satisfied.

A scene in a classroom the knowledge is the food, is the teacher a good provider, are the students accepting it ? Knowledge is power, in a teaching scene, someone must be affected or nothing has happened. The power is gone.

Feeding the soul is a broad spectrum from goat yoga to church pancake breakfasts. In a scene I feel you need to define what your character’s interpretation of soul is before you try to nourish it. I still remember a communion I received as a 6 year old, it was Nilla wafers and cold grape juice. Kept me in the church longer than i needed to be.

FINDING THE FIGHT

In Michael Shurtleff’s book Audition there are a series of guideposts that can help us with any scene we may be working on. One of the main guideposts is CONFLICT

What are you fighting for? What is your want? A character has a want to move the scene forward, a want for recognition, a want for love, a want for wealth, peace, a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200 Shot Range Rifle. Without this want there is no story. No inertia to get the scene from point A to point B.

In the animal world it’s much more basic. Animals literally fight to stay alive. They play with the highest stakes. They fight for territory to protect their resources. They fight each other so that only the strongest can procreate. They fight to protect their family. We fight each other over politics, poor driving skills, and how much the Celtics suck.

FINDING THE F*CK

Vin Diesel said it best, “It’s about Family”. It’s in an animal’s DNA to want to procreate, to connect, to produce. Nature docs do a great job of showing the lonely crab/ tree sloth/ burrow owl looking for a mate, you hear a sad oboe playing as the dejected searches and gets rejected. Until, all of the sudden, cue the flute music… a mate presents itself and they get it on. Happy ending!

To broaden this for us, it’s about relationship. It’s the search for love or acceptance, to be with the people who make us safe, who think and feel like we do. We are always looking for the right nest.

I was told a long time ago that most relationship scenes are about Love or Hate.

Loving someone who hates you.

Hating someone who loves you.

Loving someone who loves you.

Hating someone who hates you.

Obviously there are varying degrees of how much you hate or love, this is probably what the scene will be about.

I don’t know, you figure it out.

*u

BEING STILL

Lately I’ve taken to sitting quietly by a lagoon near my house [it’s a really a big pond, let me have this] I guess you could call it meditating. I just sit and listen, slowly I start to hear more and more, the breeze, birds, squrrils. The nature sounds become louder and more specific whole stories are happening.

The mockingbirds and scrub jays are warning each other the crows are coming. They chased one crow out of their territory now that crow has come back with his murder. There’s going to be a bird fight!

Two squirrels [mother/son] scampered down a pine tree maybe three feet from me. The mom looked right at me to see if I was one of those food giving humans. I was not. Momma squirrel told its kid that I was not worth it, and should focus on getting an education rather than depending on handouts.

Two Egyptian geese parents waddled their three remaining [there were 5 orginally] teenage goslings by me. The goslings looked old enough to be on their own. The parents were super protective, would not let the kids go too far, and if they got close to me the parents would hiss at me. Clearly Jehovah Witness geese.