Andrew Park is Learning Improv

[Asian Andrew]

So it's been a little over six months since I started my first improv experience taking 101 over the summer. I just want to keep this journal because I want to note some of my ideas on what I believe contributes to creating good improv and how I see it. Whether I am right or wrong is not what matters here but rather explaining why I believe certain things and why they are a part of good improv. Perhaps I will look back on this journal if or when I become a good improviser and be like "wow... I was so different back then" or "wow... I was so naive back then"

Now there are many ways to make people laugh. Whether it be through game or through other means. Today I was thinking about how bringing in context to a scene can help push a game or create a quick laugh through which people can edit.

A lot of times when people are building a scene there are many areas that have yet to be touched. A lot of times a scene does not necessarily elaborate on the Who? What? Where? When? Why (motive)? How (this scene occurred)? You don't see many scenes where the first line of dialogue is

Girl: Husband, I thought you were very brave in helping that old lady cross the street where she could have been very hurt.
Guy: ...

Usually you'll see something like

Girl: I thought you were very brave.
Guy: Well someone had to do something at that all you can eat buffet.


I saw that scene at Diplomat a few months ago and it was hilarious. And went on to see a sequence of dialogue which will help the audience discover how these events came about. What I like about the girls opening is that it makes it so that so much is possible and that there is a lot of room to explore where this scene could go. A who, what, where, when why, how context can be brought in and change peoples contexts at which they'll laugh as long as it stays relatively unexpected. I believe the reason this was funny was because most of the audience members were expecting something like

Guy: That monster was over 20 feet tall
or
Guy: I didn't want to see you go!

That quick change in peoples perception of the scene was what create that laughter in the audience. Context was added and in some people changed. That on top of it made sense and stayed within peoples range of belief. If the guy had responded in an unrealistic or crude or overly contrasting way it may not have gotten the laugh that it did. And certainly there's no true way of knowing whether or not something falls in the range of what will make people laugh or not until you've tried it.



Girl: I mean when they say All-You-Can-Eat most people don't take it so literally.
Guy: I almost died!

[Asian Andrew]

Improv - Heightening
One of the key components to good improvising is this idea of heightening. When I first started doing improv at DSI I took Improv 101 which emphasized the concept of “Yes And,” which in my theory of improvisation is closely connected to heightening but they belong to different categories. Someone can “Yes And” and not heighten the game. A good improviser will always find a way to heighten the game.
One of the many problems I find with beginning improvisers is that they can be good at “yes and”-ing and after a bit of practice can be quite good at finding some game of the scene (whether it is one of the best games to choose from within that scene takes a lot more time to hone as a skill). But this idea of heightening and knowing the best way of heightening the game of the scene is something a lot of people neglect. Knowing what the game of the scene is really is only a quarter of the battle. The other half is heightening the game because it will do two things:
If you heighten the game your scene partner should have a clearer picture of what the game is. If not, then you either aren’t heightening well enough or your partner hasn’t trained enough his improv brain to find these things.

Heightening well is somewhat of a difficult task. In a Harold you can heighten with tag outs and walk ons. In a two person scene you can’t heighten too fast or the audience won’t have time to enjoy each segment of the scene. In the same way you can’t heighten too fast you also can’t heighten too much. Novice improvisers (such as myself) often get so excited when they find the game that they want to heighten it to the max.

Here’s a scene I saw some time ago by some expert improvisers:
A-Look man I’m a vampire hybrid, gimme back my glass of cow blood I need that cow blood.
B-No son, I will not stand for this. *takes away glass*

There can be multiple games in this scene. And the improvisers I saw had a few that they were playing up but we could gradually see a progression of different assortment of foods that a hybrid vampire would eat.

(second food)
A-Look man I want to eat that hamster gimme that back…
.
.
A-Look man I want that severed head give it back.
Now this wasn’t in the scene but if it were the first or second thing he said it would be way too strong and a bit too drastic of a heighten and you wouldn’t have any where else to go. Unless you throw that contrast in. What actually happened in that scene:

B-*takes away something*
Blackout Line-Come on man gimme back my coke.

Heightening is what creates all the drama in improv and makes great scenes great. Knowing what to heighten and how to heighten is an invaluable knowledge to have for the aspiring improviser.

In the end, heightening is within the same vein as "the keys to comedy," which are repetition and contrast. But if something as complicated as heightening could just be understood with three words, I wouldn't need to take so many improv classes.