Improv Jam

Okay, generally I focus on Improv as performance, typically comedy improv. However, this just caught my fancy, and I felt like it needed to be shared. It involves an additional (or more correctly, an occasional) pastime of mine.

The public announcement is so well written, I'm going to be lifting direct quotes from the webpage:

The Fallen Fruit collective will conduct a Public Jam, in which they collaborate with the citizens of Los Angeles in a communal jam-making session...

The kinds of jam we make will improvise on the fruit that people provide...

This will be happening in LA on Sunday, August 20.

Another interesting exercise ...

Hmm, another interesting exercise from Bill Arnett at I.O. I really like the way he deconstructs improv and gets to nice little nuggets of improv insight. In his short article, he talks about the tendency to overly focus on coming up with a funny line, rather than staying true to the character we are creating. The lines and actions of our characters are what define them to the audience and they should come from the context of the character. To work on this, his exercise is to ask a player to name 6 things a character might say given their job or relationship. What are 6 things a mother would say? An elementary school teacher? And be specific. Don't give a line that someone from ANY profession would say.

Plan on seeing something based on this next Wednesday...

Puppet Improv

Okay, how the heck did I miss this?!? Apparently, at ComicCon, the folks at the Jim Henson Company put on a performance called Jim Henson's Puppet Improv. Here's a clip from the show. After the introduction, they do a translation improv game. The sound isn't great, but you get the idea. I was astounded at their ability to do a nice improv scene, do the puppeteering, and keep those characters physicalizing their reactions. Sweet!

Bomb Scare Actually Second City Prop

This is a goofy story with an improv twist. Apparently, a discarded prop from a Second City improv show was mistaken for a bomb in Chicago.

Auction Complete

That group auctioning off the right to name their performing troupe has successfully completed their auction. The GoldenPalace.com (an on-line gambling site) had the highest bid ($1,385) and has named the group: The GoldenPalace.com Ha Rollers

Ouch! Well, the publicity probably made it all worthwhile.

Back in Town

Whoa! It's been over a week since my last post. I've been hosting family and traveling so no time for keeping up on the latest improv news. I went down to the San Diego ComicCon, and in addition to all the geeky things that happened, I ran into several improvisers. A couple from Vancouver are working in LA, and they'd been meaning to come up to Santa Barbara for some R&R. Hopefully they'll drop in to play sometime. I missed the class last Wednesday, but Victoria took center stage and I'm sure it was a fun night. When I get the low-down, I'll make another post. Maybe someone else was better at getting a few pictures.

In the meantime, several items of interest have come across my screen, and I'll try and get them up over the next couple of days.

Hammer & Tickle

Okay, Improv is not about the jokes. We work to avoid "going for the joke" in a scene. The humor comes from the situation, interaction, and relationship. We all get that, right? Good, because now I want to talk about an interesting article that won't really help your improv skills, but instead discusses jokes ... communist jokes. As in jokes told IN communist countries. Wow, did they have some dark sense of humor. This is the lead joke from the article:

A man dies and goes to hell. There he discovers that he has a choice: he can go to capitalist hell or to communist hell. Naturally, he wants to compare the two, so he goes over to capitalist hell. There outside the door is the devil, who looks a bit like Ronald Reagan. "What's it like in there?" asks the visitor. "Well," the devil replies, "in capitalist hell, they flay you alive, then they boil you in oil and then they cut you up into small pieces with sharp knives."

"That's terrible!" he gasps. "I'm going to check out communist hell!" He goes over to communist hell, where he discovers a huge queue of people waiting to get in. He waits in line. Eventually he gets to the front and there at the door to communist hell is a little old man who looks a bit like Karl Marx. "I'm still in the free world, Karl," he says, "and before I come in, I want to know what it's like in there."

"In communist hell," says Marx impatiently, "they flay you alive, then they boil you in oil, and then they cut you up into small pieces with sharp knives."

"But?� but that's the same as capitalist hell!" protests the visitor, "Why such a long queue?"

"Well," sighs Marx, "Sometimes we're out of oil, sometimes we don't have knives, sometimes no hot water?�"

The article is somewhat academic, discussing the history and reasons for the jokes. But it is peppered with examples of the jokes being discussed, and most are of the type that cause you to cover your mouth as you chuckle. A bit surprising, a bit tragic, self deprecating, and definitely funny.

I guess it appeals to me because the humor lies in THEIR experience, although it is recognizable to me. And that it is humor coming out of the difficulties that they face. There's some parallel with the humor that comes out of really good improv: a reflection of the difficulties in life that are absurd, but recognizable. At least, that's what I find most memorable in really good improv.

So maybe this was more about improv than I realized.

Auction to name a NY improv group

Okay, this is wacky. A recently formed New York improv group is having trouble coming up with a name, so they plan on auctioning off the right to name the group. You can read their info at their website, nameourimprovgroup.com. The auction will take place on eBay, starting Monday, July 10, and run for 10 days. I'll keep an eye on this one.

Ask a Ninja

Here's an interesting site where my worlds collide. Ask a Ninja is a site of very funny videos put together by a couple of LA improvisers. Each video is from 2 to 5 minutes long, and consists of the NINJA answering a submitted question. A new video comes out every couple of weeks. I've watched these for a while, but I recently heard the creators talk about their start at the LA Second City, and how much of their work is improvised. They're a pretty successful web content site and they report a viewership of about 350,000. Their stuff is very creative and funny, and they put it together on a shoestring. Check it out.

Stephen Colbert and Yes-And

On June 3, 2006 Stephen Colbert gave the commencement address at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. You can find the complete transcript, at Alternet. Towards the end, he said the following:

So, say "yes." In fact, say "yes" as often as you can. When I was starting out in Chicago, doing improvisational theatre with Second City and other places, there was really only one rule I was taught about improv. That was, "yes-and." In this case, "yes-and" is a verb. To "yes-and." I yes-and, you yes-and, he, she or it yes-ands. And yes-anding means that when you go onstage to improvise a scene with no script, you have no idea what's going to happen, maybe with someone you've never met before. To build a scene, you have to accept. To build anything onstage, you have to accept what the other improviser initiates on stage. They say you're doctors -- you're doctors. And then, you add to that: We're doctors and we're trapped in an ice cave. That's the "-and." And then hopefully they "yes-and" you back. You have to keep your eyes open when you do this. You have to be aware of what the other performer is offering you, so that you can agree and add to it. And through these agreements, you can improvise a scene or a one-act play. And because, by following each other's lead, neither of you are really in control. It's more of a mutual discovery than a solo adventure. What happens in a scene is often as much a surprise to you as it is to the audience.

Well, you are about to start the greatest improvisation of all. With no script. No idea what's going to happen, often with people and places you have never seen before. And you are not in control. So say "yes." And if you're lucky, you'll find people who will say "yes" back.

Now will saying "yes" get you in trouble at times? Will saying "yes" lead you to doing some foolish things? Yes it will. But don't be afraid to be a fool. Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don't learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying "yes" begins things. Saying "yes" is how things grow. Saying "yes" leads to knowledge. "Yes" is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say "yes."

And that's The Word.

Welcome Back!

Wow! Three years, one month, and 20 days later - a new post!

Actually, the whole blog has gone through a revision. A lot has change in both blogging technology and blog culture over the last few years, so it's time to step up and see what can be made of this little stagnant pond.

The Santa Barbara Improv Workshop has been active all this time, and is still meeting on Wednesday nights at 7:30 pm. We're now at Jefferson Hall, and you can visit our website for more information. Yes, yes...the website is still stuck with 2003's look and feel (and it wasn't so nice then, either) and I'll be updating that, next.

Caught in the Act is still performing. The last show was Saturday, June 17th 2006, and although we haven't scheduled the next one, it should be within the next two months. More about that group in a later entry.

In fact, this is enough of an entry to test the new look and feel, so I'll sign off for now.

Hello World!

Today is the start of the Santa Barbara Improv Blog. The intent is to post summaries and photos from each workshop, announcements for upcoming shows, and any other announements of interest to the SB Improv community. Well, that's the intent, anyway. Alan