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B. Improv Duet Acting

Each pair of contestants shall stand before the judge at the appointed performance time. The judge shall give the team a prompt to be played humorously. Either of the contestants shall use the prompt, as given, as an opening line. No consultation time shall be allowed; the contestants must begin the scene immediately. After the scene has progressed for approximately two minutes, the judge will say "Stop". The performers must continue until the judge says, "Stop". The procedure is then repeated with a prompt to be played seriously, then finally with another prompt to be played humorously. The entire performance, including all three situations, shall be kept under an eight-minute (8) time limit by the judge.

The Five Commandments of Improv

  1. Thou shalt not pimp thy partner Denial is the number one reason most scenes go bad. Any time you refuse an offer made by your partner your scene will almost instantly come to a grinding halt. Example: Player A) "Hi, my name is Jim. Welcome to my store." Player B) "This isn't a store, it's an airplane. And you're not Jim, you're an antelope." The first idea is the best idea…period.

  2. Asketh not the open-ended question Open-ended questions (like "Who are you?") are scene killers because they force your partner to stop whatever they are doing and come up with an answer. When you ask your partner and open ended question, you put the burden of coming up with something "interesting" on your partner - so you are no longer doing a scene together but forcing one person has to do more work than you are willing to do. In fact, questions in general are killers because it forces your partner to stop.

  3. Thou need not be funny. The hidden riddle of improv is that the harder you try not to be funny the more funny your scene is going to be. Why? Because it's the very best kind of improv scene you can do is an "interesting" scene, not necessarily a "funny" one. When you do an interesting scene, a very surprising thing happens… the funny comes out all by it's self. The best ways to go are to stick to your character, stick to the story that is being told, and to stay within the reality of the scene you are playing. The best comedy comes from characters who are dead serious.

  4. Do unto others…thou will look good if thou makes thy partner look good. When you are in a scene, the better you make your partner look the better the scene is going to be and, as a direct result, the better you are going to look. All too often, I've seen players enter a scene and I can just tell they have some really great idea about the character they are going to play or an idea they want to do. This is wonderful, but guess what? Your partner probably has absolutely no idea what's cooking in your evil little mind, and so has no idea how to react. And no matter how brilliant your idea might be, it's practically worthless if the scene as a whole goes bad. I know some brilliant Improv performers who I can’t stand to be onstage with.

  5. Telleth thou a story. Storytelling is probably the easiest rule to remember but the hardest one to do. The real magic of Improv is when we see the players take totally random suggestions (like a plumber and a cab driver selling shoes in a leper colony) and somehow "make it work". If all these unrelated elements are going to come together then it's going to happen in the course of an interesting tale. So that's just what the players are going to try and do, tell us all a story. In other words, you must have a plot. . . a problem to solve. . . a goal.

Those are the basics of Improv… Now…some additional tips…

• “Yes, and. . .” When you get a piece of info from your partner, accept it then add something. “Wow! That’s a beautiful monkey you’re wearing!” “Yes, and I got him at Wal-Mart.” “You mean that sale yesterday? I was there and saw Justin Beiber in the underwear department!” “I got our picture together! Here! Want to see it? Oh…sorry about the monkey. He likes to jump on people.” Do this and you’ll have a whole scene full of interesting ideas to work with. Demo this • Add history. “Oh boy, we’re in big trouble now.” “It’s not my fault. The same thing happened last week when you brought your dog to class.” “You’ve been doing this to me ever since we were in kindergarten. Always getting us in trouble. Do you remember the time the teacher made us get up in front of the class?” “When she caught us passing notes?” Talking about the past shapes your character. Look what we know already: They’ve known each other for years. One of them has a dog. They got in trouble passing notes. They’re in trouble again. Don’t STAY in the past…just give yourselves enough to work with.

• Ask yourself: “If this is true, what else is true?” Take the prompt and make inferences. “Doctor, I have this problem. Last night I woke up with two heads.” “That’s a problem. Do you have two hats?” “No. I don’t mind the second head, but I can’t afford a new hat.” “How are you going to pay your medical bills if you can’t afford a hat?” “I’d like to apply for the job as your assistant.” Again, it gives you a ton of possibilities if you simply ask yourself “What else is true?”

  1. In Improv, be very specific. Don’t simply say, “Nice shirt!” Make it, “That shirt is really red! And what cool stop sign you have painted on it! Don’t simply say, “I want to go somewhere.” Say, “I want to go to Red Lobster now because I have a huge hunger for crab claws.” Specifics are funny. Generalities are vanilla.

  2. BEGINNING SCENES Cut to the interesting stuff as soon as possible. Why do this? “Hi.” “Hello.” “What’s your name?” “Bob. What’s yours?” “Janet.” “What’s new?” “I’ve got one month to live.” Instead: “Janet, I’ve got one month to live!” “That’s terrible! Can I have you locker at school?” Get to what’s important and funny in the first two lines. “I’ve only got one month to live!” “That’s terrible! Can I have your locker?”

  3. Begin with characterizing actions. Actions DO speaking louder than words in Improv. If your prompt is, “Hey, Dad left the keys in her car! Let’s go for a spin!” .. don’t just talk about it. Get in the stupid car. If it’s, “Oh no! We’re trapped!” .. . .don’t just say it!... Drop to the floor, throw your arms around your partner, lay down flat on the floor.

  4. I know we’ve covered this, but it’s the number one sin in Improv. DO NOT DENY! Denial is trashing what your partner has set up to do. Many types of denial.. ---Mime denial. Someone spends time setting up a table then their partner walks through it. ---Character denial. “Hi! I’m your dentist!” “No you’re not! You’re my mother.” ---Location Denial: Contradicting what location your partner has established. “Okay! Start the engine!” “I can’t! We’re sitting on a horse!” There’s a difference between bad denial and denial for the sake of comedy. For example, “Okay, Start the engine!” could be followed by, “Grandma, this is your wheelchair. I keep telling you that.” A couple of ways to break the denial habit: ---Deny everything that’s said to make each other conscious of your bad habits. The denial game. ---Do the opposite: The Agreement Game…Ways to sell a product. Demo?

  5. Enter and exit with a purpose. Don’t just leave or enter a scene…give a reason. Not, “I’ve got to go,” but “Stay here a minute. My hamster is crying.” And by the way, don’t be afraid to exit a duet. . nice variety, helps set up the next bit. . . allows the character left onstage to talk to himself.

  6. Your goal is not to “Win.” … This is a real temptation. I probably have more trouble with this than any other bad Improv habit. Even some of my best Improv students must fight this.

  7. Be a character….get an attitude. This is so much easier to sustain. Comedy of character is easier than comedy of plot. The character may not be indicated by the prompt. Make one up! Demo: prompt suggestion from the audience…

  8. Go against the voice of reason. In real life if your friend says, “I’m ugly,” you’re likely to respond that they are not. Instead, go against reason. Say, “You know, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that.” If someone says, “Let’s rob a bank,” you’re likely to decline. Go against reason. We don’t watch theatre to see things as they’re done normally. This is just another form of denial.

  9. Simplify Improv…you can almost guarantee a good Improv if 1) a character says just one line and 2) the second character bases her line on the last thing their partner said.

  10. Don’t make jokes. Humor comes from clear relationships and simple plots.

  11. Maintain your character’s point of view. If you begin by saying you love spider monkeys, keep loving them. Don’t change your mind. It confuses the audience and your partner.

  12. Get physical. Talking your way through Improv is doing it the hard way. Think in terms of action.

  13. Work on playing the opposite emotion. Two characters with the same emotion gets boring. If one is excited, make the other relaxed. If one is worried, play the other one calm. This is the basic comedic structure of many TV shows.

  14. Provide information about the other person. If your scene is going nowhere, tell the other character something about himself. Get specific. “You know, you’re the strangest dog catcher I’ve ever met.” “My mom said that you were my strangest cousin.”

  15. Raise the stakes. If your scene is dying, put more at risk. Turn “If you buy me that piece of candy I’ll eat it,” into “If you buy me that piece of candy I’ll turn into a magic frog.”

  16. If an Improv actor isn’t sure what he’s doing, the audience will become uncomfortable. We want Improv actors to succeed. The moment you start an activity or get a real emotion, then the audience becomes comfortable and enjoy themselves. Famous Improv teacher said, “Improv is the art of being completely okay with not knowing what the hell you’re doing.” . . appearing completely confident even when they don’t know what’s going on.

  17. What to do about questions. Questions should GIVE more than they TAKE. Don’t put your partner on the spot. Any question can be turned into a statement. QUESTIONS SHOULD GIVE MORE THAN THEY TAKE The difference between: “What are you doing?” and “How do you like my new monkey suit?” Between: “Where should we go?” and “Don’t you think that a trip to Disneyworld would be great?” If an actor persists, just have his partner answer, “That’s a good question.”

  18. Establish the scene immediately…Who we are, what we’re doing, why we’re doing it. Who? What? Where? Tell your kids we need to know this in the first 20 seconds.

  19. Famous book on teaching called “Catch them being good.” That’s the way to coach. Adolescents want attention. . .they want to be noticed. . .they want to be somebody. When you see positive things happen shout it out….the others will want that to happen to them.