Downright Upright

What makes Good Meta Improv?

I’ve talked about how improv is inherently meta before, and all that means is that improv is, by nature, presentational, like Stand Up or late night shows, as opposed to self-contained and separated by a 4th wall like a play or sketch. People can obviously do stuff that’s very real and grounded or simply doesn’t break the 4th wall. However, my small point was that the very fact that it’s made up on the spot creates a meta-y self awareness in the audience, so much so that when a scene is good, we very very rarely say, “Wow, that character was so interesting.” Instead we say, “Wow, that performer is so great!”

Unfortunately, that’s very academic and not very practical, in terms of how you handle yourself onstage. So let’s talk about it a little more.

Posted 1 week ago

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meta improv, my blogs, good meta improv, breaking the fourth wall in improv, don't go meta, why can't i break the fourth wall in improv?, is it okay to go meta in improv shows?,

Fast play

I like playing fast. All my favorite teams play fast. I appreciate slow play, but I don’t seek it out. It’s not to my taste. I’m okay with that.

Miles Stroth told me something very important, when it comes to speed:

“Speed comes later.”

fast play, how to play fast, improv, miles stroth, speed comes later, my blogs,

How do I know if I had a good show?

I remember I oftentimes used to come off the stage anxious or worried. Basically, I wanted to kill and if I didn’t, I’d feel shitty about it. Now, of course, this was problematic, because you can’t kill every show. And I’m not even talking about being bad per se, I just mean sometimes a show is “merely” good. And I would beat myself up anyway.

It’s so dumb and I don’t think it’s healthy. But a lot of us do it, to varying degrees. I think the reason I did it was that I had set “funny” as my standard of whether a show was good or not. Which seems reasonable enough in a comedy show, right? Unfortunately, “funny” is terribly nebulous. I literally can’t see the show; I’m in it. I don’t hear every line as an improviser, sometimes I hear it as a character, and it doesn’t register to me how funny or not funny something is. Afterall, I’m trying not to laugh. Or sometimes I’ll be doing something complicated or physical like dancing around or something and I can’t physically hear the audience in that moment.

playing with confidence, improv, my blogs, how do I know if I had a good show?,

Being comfortable on stage

Here’s a thing, a little thing maybe, but a thing.

Once when I was drunk onstage (okay, I’m not supposed to do that, but I did and I was great, go away), I did something odd. I was having an exchange with my scene partner, and I sat down onstage. Not awkwardly, but I leaned against the side wall and slumped down, continuing the conversation all the while. This wasn’t called out; it wasn’t funny or especially unusual. When I watched the video afterward, it just appeared… natural. The way people talk and they pace and lean and sit and then stand and do other things while still listening. Just natural.

being comfortable on stage, stage confident, my blogs,

Learning Improv From Maria Bamford

Mike Roe collected some choice quotes from Maria Bamford’s Reddit AMA. You can check it out here, but I especially loved this quote:

Just do it. Do what you think is funny. Do it again and again. Fail, try, try, fail, enjoy, triumph, again. That’s all there is. We’re all in the same boat — i’m just as scared as you are.

That’s the whole thing, isn’t it?

I saw Maria Bamford at some random free show in Burbank. I, not being a standup geek by any stretch, had no idea who she was. And she just blew my mind.

improv, maria bamford, my blogs, character work in improv, embodying the character, embodying the game,

Rewiring Your Improv Brain

Ben Rodgers said something really interesting when he was coaching Soulmates the other day. We were working on tags and in doing so, we of course had a few wonky tags here and there. And Anais was worried, as many of us are, about tagging too early in a scene. Ben said, “I don’t want to tell you not to tag early, because sometimes you can help out. But I will say when you tag early in a scene, you want to add clarification.”

Now, besides being a good specific note, what really struck me was the simple idea, “I don’t want to tell you NOT to do something.”

I think in improv, we learn a lot of rules and oftentimes, we believe these rules to be helpful. “Don’t do a transaction scenes.” “Don’t deny your scene partner.” “Don’t do stranger scenes.” “Don’t argue.” I’m not sure they’re so helpful. Mick Napier talks about this in his book “Improvise.” These rules seem fine enough, but they put us in our heads and they don’t answer the important question, “But what do I do?”

ben rodgers, improv advice, improv rules, mick napier, rewiring your improv brain, my blogs,

Competitive Improv

As you may or may not know, my team Soulmates has been winning the iO West Cagematch for 11 weeks now. I haven’t mentioned it too much because I try to keep the plugging to a reasonable amount and, more importantly, I’m not sure I’ve had much to say on the matter that would mean anything at all to anyone other than myself.

But it’s after midnight on Halloween and I’m having one of those moments.

competitive improv, io west cagematch, soulmates, my blogs,

Police Chief Rumble Kept a Sketch Show Journal and It’s Pretty Great

I found this journal for Police Chief Rumble’s sketch show in 2004, “Piece of Bullshit Pie” (they eventually won an ECNY award for best sketch group). They walk through the entire 4-month process, from just doing improv and writing in November 2003 to finally performing the show in early 2004.

improv to sketch, just write, police chief rumble, sketch show journal, my blogs,

Finding the Rules of a Montage

It’s easy to dismiss the montage. It feels like a shapeless “default” form. As in, “What do you want to do tonight?” “Let’s just do a montage.” This quickly becomes a series of scenes with little connection to one another, that may or may not be apparently tied to the suggestion or opening. It feels like a form without rules, a collection of scenes.

But a good montage has rules, just like the Harold or La Ronde or any other form. The big difference is, in a montage, you make them up as you go, which means you have to actively look out for them.

improv, montages, performing great montages, shitty jobs, the rules of a montage, my blogs,

Is Improv Inherently Meta? / Commitment at all Levels

I’ve been struggling with a concept in improv lately. Recently, it occurred to me that maybe improv is inherently meta. We begin each show by saying, essentially, “Hey we’re about to put on a show for you. But it won’t be written. It will be all made up on the spot. It will be hilarious not just for its content, but for the sheer audacity of making up an entire comedy act in realtime.” There absolutely is that aspect of impressing the audience, like a magician or athlete would. “Will they actually pull it off?”

That aspect is both inherent to the artform of improv and also it’s what distinguishes it from other artforms. It is written and acted simultaneously. That fact is what makes it special.

commitment at all levels, improv, improv nerdery, jason mantzoukas, lennon parham, my blogs,

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