(no subject)

[danceboy]

roozle and I were talking at Diesel the other night, and she mentioned four rules of improv theater. The ones that I recall were

1. "Make the other guy look good."
   
2. "Don't say 'No', say 'Yes, but' or 'Yes, and'"
   
3. "Listen to what's going on." (I think this was one)
   

One that I got from my time with I Sebastiani was "When you stop being funny, get off stage.". Well, actually, what Sebastian said was "Don't suck.", but this was what I got out of it...

Anyone have any other favorites? A quick google got me this and a few other like things, but I'm looking for more specific things (e.g. "Don't suck." wasn't very helpful to me in itself).

Comments

[gyzki.livejournal.com]

Also from I Sebastiani:
There are things that are funny once. There are things that are funny three times. There are things that are funny twenty times. Things just aren't funny in two's or four's.

[roozle.livejournal.com]

As told to me by folzgold:
1. Go with the flow
2. Don't say No ...
3. Make your partner look good
4. Violence kills the improv

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

There's also "Ducks are funny. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inherently_funny_words)" :-)

PS: Hi!

[moonshadow.livejournal.com]

It's been a while, but I would suggest

5. Think outside the box.

If you accept the action that's going on too much, you will be less likely to do the amazing thing that will give the scene another layer of depth.

Let me know if you don't know what I'm talking about.

[yagagriswold.livejournal.com]

6. God is in the details; the devil in questions

[(Anonymous)]

I AM IN LOVE WITH THEATRE SPORTS!!!
We Just won the St George Regional final!
WOO GO NEWTOWN!

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

Similar to yagagriswold's, perhaps: Don't ask open-ended questions. You almost always know the "answer" that you're looking for, and the other person doesn't, so they'll be forced to stop and think. Make statements or ask yes-or-no questions. Of course, like all rules, you can break this one if you know your fellow players well enough that you know they can handle it.

[dietrich.livejournal.com]

CARIBOU!

(Hi, I added you. :)