Dear Acting Diary: Improv Acting Tips

I noticed a few people find my Acting Tips page by googling “Improv Acting Tips.” So I thought I’d share some.

I first started studying and performing improv comedy around 2000. There are various ways to improvise on stage, here are the main ones that come to mind: short form (sometimes called “Theatre Games”), long form (typically a 20-45 minute show based off a suggestion or two), stand-up comedy/hosting (ad libbing or riffing with a crowd), and improvising in a play when something goes wrong ( a dropped line, a misfired sound effect, scenery falling, etc.)

Whatever way you end up improvising on stage (or even on camera), here are some techniques/tips I’ve learned/ try to use:

Agreement. Agree with whatever’s given to you by either your scene partner, uncontrollable events, or whatever it is you’re playing with. If you’re in a play and someone calls you by the wrong name you can mention that it’s your middle name, you can say you haven’t been called that in ages, etc. Audiences love when a snafu is addressed and incorporated. You can’t lose. A common way to teach the technique of agreement is “Yes and” where you say “yes” to what your partner offers you and then add to it. This is a good way to make party chit chat more amusing.

Don’t Go Crazy/Don’t Try To Be Funny/Reacting Vs. Creating. I learned this out through crash and burn. In improv its easy to have funny ideas in your head that don’t go with what’s going on in the scene. It’s OK to use your ideas to start a scene or to fix a problem, but I find it’s always better to go with the flow of a scene instead of trying to overpower it with your ideas. If you think your idea fits into the scene use it, if it doesn’t–save it for another scene, another show, a comedy sketch, or amusing email forward. For example if you’re doing a scene and you think it would be funny to just start yelling in French and making poop gestures, its going to look more out of place than funny. Save it for your Fringe festival show. A good technique is just to react with what’s in the scene by listening and not worrying about generating material. You’ll be surprised at the ideas that come to you if you just listen and react. One of my favorite improv class exercises is the “Boring Scene” where two people do a scene and they can’t do anything they consider amusing. It sounds dull, and a lot of these scenes take place at bus stations and waiting rooms, but they always come across as hilarious to me. I think because it removes the pressure of generating ideas and you just focus on reacting. This may not seem like it applies to Stand Up and Hosting style ad libbing or improv, but sometimes riffing with the audience can be as entertaining as a few bits.

Singing, Music, Dance, Movement, Mime Work. It’s easy to improvise with just two people talking. Any way you can get out of this mold is a sure fire way of amusing the audience.

Use Your Audience. Some audiences are timid, some aren’t. If you’re audience seems cool nothing pays off like using a suggestion from the audience, dropping names of members of the audiences, or commenting on noises coming from the audience (when someone sneezes, God Bless them). Audiences like feeling involved.

Eye Contact. Make eye contact with your scene partner (and in some cases your audience), this will help focus. You don;t have to keep it for the whole scene but you should start a scene by making eye contact with your partner.

Names. Give your scene partners names if they don’t have one already.

Do Stuff. If you give yourself things to do in a scene (tie shoe laces, wash dishes, any action) it will help the scene. It only works however when you don’t talk about what you’re doing. For example tie your shoe laces and talk about what a great lunch you had. Comedy!

Relationships. Keep the scenes about you and your scene partner, don’t make them about things the audience can’t see. You can add details but keep the scene about your relationship with your scene partner. Do you guys like each other? Is one of you high status? Decide these things early on.

Juxtapose. I think it’s always easy to get a laugh with juxtaposition. If you play against the audiences expectations you’ll probably get a laugh. A example I can think of is that I have a character Sealegs McGoo who’s an old sea captain and grumpy. As a gag, I made him the author of an advice column, so during shows he pulls out letters asking for advice. Or another example I have, my character Chuckles The Birthday Bear is always looking for a pack of smokes he lost.