Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation (16 page)

"I'm psychic."

"I'm desperate to make a friend."

"I'm going to commit suicide."

"I'm illiterate, and scared others will find out."

"I always fall in love at first sight."

Two players each pick their own secret, which is revealed to the audience, but not to each
other. The players are then given a location which is, of course, unrelated to any of the
preoccupations. As always, the players create a scene, but with their secrets in mind. They
discover that their responses are motivated by their characters' preoccupations. Those
responses are therefore different than usual, and the players discover how they are affected by
these new attitudes.

WARNING! This is not a guessing game! Players should not try to discover each other's
secrets —
only be affected by their own. If the players reveal their "subtext" (although strictly
speaking, there is no "text" in improvisation), they cheapen it and render it impotent. Having
these secrets in mind gives the players the most subtle responses on unrelated matters.

It is interesting to see how these separate preoccupations combine to create an exciting
dynamic in a scene. An
intuitive actor easily sees the preoccupation of his fellow actor and
plays right into his hands. Although this isn't the purpose of the game, it is always interesting to
watch.

One example of this exercise was performed by Jim Car-
rane, who had the secret, "I'm
planning to commit suicide."

His scene was set in a bowling alley. Without mentioning his plan, he internalized it in
everything he said and did. He knew he was a lousy bowler, and carelessly threw the ball
without aiming. Solemnly, he would say, "It's just a game. Who cares?" When keeping score,
he wrote much more than just a number —
indicating that he was scribbling bits and pieces of
his suicide note. After adding up the final scores of the game, again writing more than
necessary, he asked his date if he could borrow her car for a couple of hours. Throughout the
scene, however, he never mentioned his motives, even though he was completely driven by
them.

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Every director has heard the dreaded, familiar "My character wouldn't do that." There is
nothing a character won't do. When an actor discovers a new character in his personality,

he must find what will make him go further —
to do the unexpected. Developing
characters proved to be one of the most useful elements of the Harold for Chris Farley when he
moved on to
Saturday Night Live.

"I was able to come up with many different characters. In one Harold, I could do five
characters, and maybe hone those just a little bit and try 'em again," says Farley. "There are so
many different characters you can do in one given Harold —
five characters can easily
emerge."

KEY POINTS FOR CHAPTER NINE
*Commit to the physical.

*Let your environment affect you.

*Be specific with your objects.

*Reveal yourself through your character.

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CHAPTER TEN

Responsibilities of a
Harold Player

An actor has more responsibility in improvisation than any other theatre form.

In a movie or a play, the performer must follow the orders of his director and give the best
performance possible. As long as he remembers his lines and delivers them as well as he is
able, he holds up his part of the production and does his job.

With improv, however, the actor is responsible for nearly everything. There is no one else
to plan sets, props or sound effects. Although he is trained by a director, once
the actor steps on
stage, he is editor, choreographer, composer, singer, dancer, writer, director and improviser.

This is quite a bit of responsibility for an actor, but fortunately, he is not the only one with
those jobs.

He is part of a team.

HOW TO BE
A GOOD TEAM PLAYER

The Harold is just like football, baseball, or any other team sport —
no one player is more
important than anyone else.

Each player must share the responsibility. On an eight-
man team, each player should do
one-eighth of the work. If one person tries to lead a Harold, it is doomed to fail —
the Harold
must be followed by the group.

The best Harold player thinks of himself as a tool for the Harold, and tries to find his
function in the piece, sublimating himself to the needs of the work.
He is always thinking of the
Harold, and what is needed throughout every moment of the game. He should not be thinking
of himself. In fact, it is just
as important for the player to know when he is
not
needed on stage.
He should always believe that "seeing Harold" is more important than being seen by friends
and family in the audience.

Many times, the best Harold players will do very little in an improvisation simply because
they do not see a part for themselves. When the major tasks are taken care of by other team
players, they are naturally there to provide support and back-up for whatever ensemble work is
required. Although they are standing by and ready if needed, they do not get in the way of the
game if they are not.

Bill Murray understands the importance of listening to others when improvising.
According to Del, Bill's willingness to listen made him invaluable whenever he played a
supporting role during a scene, although he was equally adept at taking the lead (his ability to
listen was partly developed, according to his brother Joel, while growing up in a large family
and trying to hold his own during conversations at the dinner table).

Like all the best improvisers, Bill Murray is as talented supporting others during an
improv as he is at leading scenes. While working with a group of professional actors during a
week studying with the ImprovOlympic, Bill was performing on a seven-person team one
afternoon. Instead of directly involving himself in the first three two-person scenes, he stood
back and let them develop. It wasn't until a scene moved to a high school prom that Bill

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suddenly grabbed a partner and started slow-dancing in the background while the scene pro-
gressed downstage (naturally, another pair of dancers immediately joined the background to
provide more support and atmosphere).

Few ImprovOlympic performers have been better at support than Chris Farley of
Saturday Night Live.
He is able to grab one line and make a meal out of it, as he did in his role
as a security guard inWayne's World.
Del says Chris can get more out of one line than anybody
he's ever known. "I have to," jokes Chris about his
SNL
work. 'That's all they write for me!"

Mike Myers is also an excellent ensemble player; while working with the

ImprovOlympic, he was always adding color to other people's scenes. When somebody got an
idea, Mike would be the light bulb above their heads; when someone was stabbed, Mike
provided the spurting blood.

The best Harold players know that it is much more satisfying to have a small part in
creating a great Harold, than sacrificing the Harold so they can be seen.

Unfortunately, some bright, funny players aren't able to keep their egos in check. They
enter a scene and lead it in a direction that suits their ideas, rather than follow it in the direction
it is heading. They try to control the Harold —
as if they could be the star without destroying
the Harold! If one person controls the Harold, it is no longer a
group
effort, and thegroup mind
is destroyed.

As intelligent as some of these players are, they can't (or won't) trust in the concept of
team players —
as a result, no one trusts them. Such players discover that no one is willing to
play with them, because they consider themselves more important than the game.

When an improviser goes on stage to play Harold, he must be willing to be a saint for the
duration of the performance. Their off-stage lives may be radically different, but on stage, the
best players must strive for sainthood!

THE PLAYER AS EDITOR

To edit a scene, a player walks onto the center of the stage and initiates the next scene or
game. He simply waits for the right moment, then crosses in front of the existing scene, thus
beginning the next one. The scene being cut slowly fades back upstage, where the remaining
Harold players are waiting and watching for their roles to become apparent.

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Learning how to edit a scene is easy. Knowing
when
to cut a scene off requires a little
more effort.'

Players have to respect the length and timing of the individual pieces that make up the
Harold. If a scene or a game goes on for too long, not only does it detract from that piece, it
zaps the energy of the entire performance. A Harold should rarely run longer than 35 minutes.
Since the opening alone can take six or seven minutes, the entire Harold becomes unbalanced
if one scene rambles on without being cut off by other players.

By using a cinematic approach, the player is responsible for seeing that his fellow players
are edited at the right time. This is really very easy to do, since most of us have seen thousands
of hours of TV and movies —
it's almost instinctual! Based on how much film and TV we've
seen, most of us have the equivalent of advanced degrees in film editing.

Any player paying attention knows when his teammates have established their
relationship in a scene clearly enough to be cut until a future time. It will be obvious when a
scene reaches its end, and the players will need to be cut so that they can retire their brains.
When improvisers work together for a while, they will recognize the tone in another player's
voice asking to be edited.

Much of this is pure instinct. If a player has an impulse to cut a scene but isn't quite sure if
the timing is right, chances are that his impulse was the correct one. He can't worry about being
polite —
it's more polite to edit a scene too soon than too late, because they can always return
with their ideas later. That's the beauty of Harold!

THE PLAYER AS DIRECTOR

When a player edits a scene, this means he's decided it's time for another
scene, or
perhaps a game or monolog. The ball is in his court, until the next editor/director deems it
necessary to take over.

As a director, a player may choose to enter a scene, rather than cut it off. "Walk-ons" are
appropriate if a performer has an idea to help move the scene forward in the same direction that
its players are moving it. Often, actors in a scene call for another player to enter, so the team
members should always be listening for that call.

Good walk-ons enter, give their initiation, and then exit. A walk-on
must remember that
the scene is not about him; he shouldn't re-direct ttie scene or become its focus. And
he
shouldn't enter in the first place if He doesn't have an idea to help the actors move their scene
forward, because he only causes further confusion. Don't throw an anchor to a sinking ship —
someone else will help.
Don't fix it if it isn't broken!Players should never invade each other's
scenes if they are going smoothly and don't call for assistance.

As a director, a player may even initiate an idea for a split scene that enriches or
illuminates the scene currently being performed. To do this, a player begins the split scene on
the other side of the stage, instead of walking in front of the
ongoing action and cutting it off.
By
beginning the new scene next to
the old one, instead of crossing
in front
of it, the other
players realize they are about to see a split scene. If there's any confusion, an actor can simply
call out "Split scene!"

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