Improv Tips

by josh

I think most improvisors who've been doing improv a while are uncomfortable giving notes or tips or anything. We don't want to seem full of ourselves and I don't want anyone every watching me thinking he's not following his own instruction. Fact of the matter is improv is hard and you have good shows and bad shows. I'm going to step out of my comfort zone and list a few things I personally try, though fail often, to follow.
1,Everything your partner(s) says is gold. You might think that it's actually crap, but it really is gold. I've watched great improvisors take lines I thought were awful and turn it into a hilarious scene. I no longer think there are any bad lines and it's only helped me.
2, Don't be defensive. If someone says "you're an idiot" then good news you get to be an idiot. Call it gifts call it whatever you want, but listen to it and think yes what if I was an idiot. Improvisors are so easy to defend themselves as if they were actually in real life. You can still be real in a scene an accept what someone throws at you to the n'th degree. "You're a loser" -its just as fun to be a loser as it is to be a winner. "I've never won a bar fight in my life" or some crap like that.
3, Feel some way. Have a want. How ever you say it it's important that you have a direction. Weather it be trying to get laid or trying to ask your son if he's on drugs cause you hate drugs just feel some way and stick to it. It's much more fun to watch action oriented characters than it is to watch someone with no emotion or POV.

That's all I got for now. Improv is hard so imbedding these things in your head takes time and its easy to fall back into bad habits. If you stay focused on doing good work then the payoff will be huge.