The embedded clip is an Organic Opening from a Harold.
In it, the group establishes a progression through three vignettes: Frat Boys, Freshman and Senior Sorority Girls
They engage the environment and make interesting stage pictures.
They leverage verbal patterns of call and response.
And they follow each other.
Enjoy!
Want to learn more about the why and how of Openings in long form improvisation? CLICK HERE.
The clip embedded below shows the 1A, 2A and 3A scenes from a Harold in succession. It shows how, instead of just following plot through the beats, one character’s emotional behavior – in this case, Matt Newman’s reaction to learning that people close to him are sleeping together – can be heightened through scenarios beyond the initial scene’s. It also shows how the responsibility for initiating subsequent beats is not on Matt, but on his fellow players who’ve been watching from the wings – this helps avoid rehashing the initial scene.
To learn more about the who, what and how behind heightening a scene with subsequent beats, READ THIS.
As said best in Truth in Comedy, “The Harold is like the space shuttle, incorporating all of the developments and discoveries that have gone before it into one new, superior design.” The other way around, Harold’s learnings pack in the lion’s share of what you need to know to do any other long-form, which is why The Coalition teaches students long-form improvisation formats through the lens of The Harold first.
To provide students with an example Harold (Richmond is not, after all, Chicago, New York or Los Angeles where an improviser can see a Harold every night of the week), some of The Coalition’s most experienced players came together to perform the show embedded below. For a group that had never before all done a Harold together, it’s pretty good.
Lights were pulled before we could get to the 3C scene, but several of us had one ready. That’s why improv is a great hobby for people who like to sit around in bars and talk about what they could’ve done.
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Audiences love Musical Improv. LOVE it. They know you’re collaborating in-the-moment to build something out of nothing AND YOU’RE FOLLOWING A TUNE AND YOU’RE RHYMING!!!
Musical Improv is hard. It’s hard to make up with songs in-the-moment. It’s harder still to make those songs a backbone to a compelling story, with rich character and emotion. It’s harder still to do it with only two people on stage (and one accompanist off-stage).
But Karen Lange and Jordan Hirsch‘s Vox Pop make it look easy.
Jive Turkey is Chris Ulrich and Joe Randazzo. They’ve been working on a two-man format where all the worlds connect.
There’s certainly a through-line of a plot here – finding one character’s spouse, trying to have a threesome with said spouses, etc. – but what I like here is that the worlds are more connected by emotional characters and their words than by the plot.
“Buh-duh, buh, buh, buh,…”…enjoy it!
A “Blackout” is a short scene with one big punchline. In sketch, or in improv with a tuned-in booth operator, the lights would go out on stage after the punchline, designating the end of the scene and earning the name “blackout.”
Blackouts are fun. They can help vary the pacing of a long-form show. They can be great when it’s clear there’s not going to be a bigger laugh beyond the first big punchline, but even if there is life beyond the punchline it can be enjoyable to cut the scene “early” so you can bring it back later. Will Hines and I had a scene where, in crossing stage, he asked if I had “a roll of quarters in my pants.” I did, I removed it and that was the end of the scene. Later in the show he asked if I was smuggling a zucchini in my pants; again, I was. Repeat.
I really love this Blackout from Horse Apples’ District Indie Improv Fest Show. Joey Tran kills it by being authentic. Truth is he doesn’t believe he can whistle; that’s honest frustration in his “no” to my question. And the audience believes him. So when he tries – and he legitimately tries because, again, he doesn’t think he can – and, lo and behold, he succeeds!, the surprise is also genuine. Honest, in-the-moment, shared with an engaged audience, emotionally reactive… that’s improv as improv does best, folks.
Seek symmetries. Empower asymmetries. Establish rules of cause and effect. Repeat. These steps help guide a group of improvisers in crafting a collaboratively-established game they can heighten together.
“Simplify,” is my directive to students learning how to build group games organically. If you have more than two or three perspectives each vying to be heard, the game gets messy quick and it can be hard to heighten to an edit.
With this lens, Horse Apples – the corral of Richmond’s Chicago-trained improvisers – courted chaos in the clip below by initiating five different perspectives. But, following Hey Everybody mechanics, they built their scene with emotional reactions revolving around a center while heightening individual, narrowed points of view. And they confidently shared the air.
Watch it and then I’ll take you through it.
This is a fun show. Lots of support. Big group games. Many recurring patterns through the show. Invested characters. Accepted endowments. And some authentic Improv As Improv Does Best moments.
Enjoy!
Horse Apples is Matt Newman, David Pijor, Matt Micou, Patrick Gantz and Joey Tran
Thank you, District Indie Improv Festival for having us and recording this show!
There’s more than one way to build intensity over time.
Both scenes work in an improv context. No doubt. But I prefer the second iteration.
The second scene is more dynamic. Yes, both Bobs are altered by scene’s end and both scenes progress, but in the second scene Bob’s change is clearly delineated to establish a rhythm and to set expectations for heightening repetition with the audience.
It’s one of many improv lessons we can learn from The Clown. Let’s learn more.
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The Johnsons’ suggestion was “Cat Food.” Thus, Cat Videos.
The whole show is worth watching and is included at the bottom of this post. But first: Mr. Mittens.