Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation (19 page)

THE RANT

A Rant contains elements similar to the Cocktail Party and Conducted Story. It is built
through individual monologs that eventually connect, but is performed without a conductor
(although one of the players may serve as a conductor when the group is first learning the
game).

Rants consist of the actors delivering loud, angry monologs on a particular aspect of the
theme. Each player breaks his monolog up into "beats," which then intercut with the monologs
of the other players. The basic information in each monolog is given within the first two beats.
After that, the players begin speaking more quickly and angrily, and speeches begin to overlap.
After the second beat, players seldom speak more than one or two lines, instead using it as an
opportunity to make connections with the ideas from other monologs.

Experienced improvisers know how to execute a flashy and impressive ending to the
opening Rant. In unison, the players raise the decibel level of their speeches, giving the
appearance that they are all ranting and raving madly for a brief moment —
which they are!
Suddenly, simultaneously, they cease talking. Then, one player sums up the group Rant with
one quick line that pulls together as many trains of thought as possible.

The Rant provides an interesting spin to the traditional opening monologs; it also sends
the players off on a high wave of energy, so they begin their Harold fully charged, with
adrenaline pumping.

Chris Farley says the first time he ever performed the Harold before an audience with the
ImprovOlympic, his team opened with a Rant. He likened it to his experiences playing
football. "I remember Charna was reluctant to put me on stage because she had never seen me
work
before," recalls Farley. "We did a Rant to open, which is kind of unusual —
teams
usually start with a Pattern Game. I tried to explode and get the first hit, like I used to do in
football, so the butterflies are gone and I can play the game. When I exploded off the Rant, the
butterflieswere
gone. I guess I did a pretty good job, because Charna kept letting me go up on
stage!"

One variation on the Rant is called Conducted Gripes, or, as it was originally called, the
Symphony of Social Criticism.

"Our company invented that game," recalls Tim Kazurinski. "We'd take a pet peeve or a
social injustice. Bruce Jarchow always conducted them so well —
he'd have two people going,
then a different two people, there would be solos,
fortissimo
andsotto voce
—
he did it
wonderfully.

84

"Bruce was always looking for somebody with an 'out,' and if nobody had one, he'd give it
to me. I always had to start working on one in advance, because I knew that son of a bitch was
going to stick it to me again," he laughs.

ROUND ONE (1A, IB, 1C)

After the opening game, the players should have an idea of how their theme might affect
the upcoming scenes. With this information in the back of their minds, they are ready to begin
the first round of scenes.

Experienced players know that since
each of the scenes returns, they don't need to
complete them during the first round (in fact, if a scene is completed, there's really no need for
it to come back at all!).

The scenes in a Harold are usually (but not always) done in three beats, based on a
game
called the Time Dash. A Time Dash is a three-part scene, with an unlimited passage of time
between each of the three beats.

Playersestablish a relationship in the first beat. Since relationships are always in the
process of changing and mutating, after the actors have discovered their relationship in the first
beat, it changes to its
potential
in the second, and comes to a
resolution in the third.

Since there are no limits to the imaginary time spans in between the beats, the players
don't have to live out every agonizing moment of their relationship —
only enough of it to
understand the changes.

The first round of the Harold usually involves three scenes, consisting of the first beats of
three separate Time Dashes (scenes 1 A, IB, and 1C). A large group may occasionally involve
four or even five scenes in the first beat (ID and IE), but only the strongest three scenes are
usually brought back for the second and third beats. In fact, the third beat may only contain one
scene; if it's a strong one, it ties together the threads running through the Harold, or otherwise
proves to be a good closer for the piece.

Whether there are three, four, or five opening scenes, it's important that they all stay far
apart from each other in the beginning; that way, it's
even more impressive when they finally
come together. The scenes may even connect physically by the end of the piece, though this
only happens if they are very far apart at the beginning. Just like a tripod or a teepee, if the legs
are too close together,
it topples over!

After the relationships are established in the first beats of the three scenes, it's usually
time for a game. Taking place between each round of scenes, games are used to heighten the
theme on levels that may not have been dealt with in the individual scenes.

Most games involve the entire company. Even if a player doesn't begin the game, he is
naturally expected to support it.

"I was never much good at initiating games —
I was too dumb for that," jokes Chris
Farley. "Once somebody initiated
it, I loved to jump right in, but I wasn't real good at the
games."

Many games are invented on the spot, with the inspiration coming from the theme. Other
games are learned in workshops. Just about every group exercise described in this book could

85

serve as a game within a Harold, but again, there are no rules. The players might even deliver
three monologs, instead of a game.

ROUND TWO (2A, 2B, 2C)

The relationships have been established in the first round of scenes, so the players further
them in the second. The scenes may pick up exactly where they left off, or they might have
advanced 50 years into the future. There are no restrictions!

Without forcing the connections, the players may notice their scenes affecting other
scenes in minor ways. They may occur at the same location, or they may be encountering
similar problems. Again, there are no limits to the ways the scenes connect.

After the second beats of the three scenes are completed, it is time for a second game. Just
as the scenes may affect the game, the information generated in the games may also end up
affecting scenes. Everything can connect.

ROUND THREE (3A, 3B, 3C)

This is the final beat, although all three scenes may not return. Some may have completed
themselves more quickly than others, so
if they seem to have achieved a logical ending, there is
no need for them to go on.

Things are tied up in the final scenes. The third beat is usually the shortest of the three, as
well. This is not the time to bring in new information or start a new adventure, but to wrap up
the existing matters.

Here the scenes must resolve individually, and reflect each other's ideas to the fullest. On
a good day, there will be major connections among the scenes at this point in the Harold, and a
group statement will emerge; the scenes may even tie together naturally.
But...
if the players try
to force scenes that really don't belong together, it can be as jarring as fingernails across a
blackboard.

It isn't always necessary to physically connect the scenes. It can be just as enjoyable to see
them reflect ideas or opinions derived from the group mind.

A SAMPLE HAROLD

Describing the structure of a Harold is important, but seeing how an actual Harold
develops may be even more helpful. This is a synopsis of the Harold that grew out of the
Pattern Game described early in this book, based on the theme of camera.

Opening Pattern Game: "Camera"

"High school...
high speed . . . dope .. .
Indy 500 . .. Most likely to . . . crash and burn ...
In Memoriam . . . Viet Nam . . . Don't
write on the wall. . . smokin'...
I caught you ... Smile!...
I think I got it. . . Clap ...
I think I got it.. .
The answer is . . . Let's see what develops ...
I think
I got it. . .
photo-finish ... by a nose . . . buy a vowel...
by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin . ..
buy a bond . . . propaganda . . . buy it. . .
Viet Nam . . . bye bye . . . dope . . . speed ...
it
happened so fast...
Indy 500...
highspeed... high school."

86

Round One:

1A —
Two high school boys smoke dope in the restroom, while searching for their names
in the graffiti on the walls. Finding their names, they proudly read their sexual exploits, as well
as those of others. One girl in particular seems to be prominently mentioned in every message.
They find a line reading, "Sue has V.D.," and
look frightened.

IB —
A married couple packs their belongings in preparation for their move. They are
leaving the country. The man finds his old high school yearbook. He looks up his picture and
proudly reads his stats: track star, All-American, voted most likely to succeed. He seems guilty
about moving.

1C —
News commentators report events of the day, including car wrecks, racing results,
and photo coverage of casualties in Viet Nam.

First Group Game:

The team improvised a game which they called "A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words."
The actors performed their own "slide show," freezing in position to depict historical events
which reveal ironic truths about political and social issues.

Round Two:

2A —
The same boys from the high school scene are now in a foxhole. They aren't as
cocky as they were before, and one of them abuses cocaine to overcome the pain from a
wound.

2B —
The man tells his wife that the president has declared amnesty for draft dodgers,
and they decide to return to the U.S.

2C —A newscast still shows reports from the Viet Nam era, while making connections to
the other scenes and the game.

Second Group Game:

The team presented a narration game, where they were presenting an inside view of the
workings of the C.I.A. The game dealt with surveillance techniques and conspiracy theories,
ranging from Watergate to the assassination of JFK (connections to the theme included
information on the C.I.A. doctoring photos of Lee Harvey Oswald).

Round Three:

3A —
One of the two boys sits in front of the Viet Nam Memorial in a wheelchair,
searching for the name of his buddy on the wall, and then proudly reads it out loud.

3B —
The couple is photographing their new baby. She notices a man on TV who seems
to look like one of the guys they went to high school with (the boy from the first scene).

3C
—
The newscasters are now showing the Viet Nam Memorial. This becomes a
three-way split scene; the video
of the wall has the guy from 3A looking for his buddy's name.
The couple is watching this on TV —
the husband is not surprised that his wife,
Sue,
recognizes the guy. She knew
all
of the guys in that school!

87

The lights fade after the boy sits in silence at the Memorial, and the newscaster closes
with a final remark: "That's the news. Tune in at ten for an interview with the winner of the
Indy 500."

ENDINGS

Scenes do not have to end in the same order that they began. In the third round, an organic
ending usually appears. Perhaps one of the scenes emerges for a fourth time, or all of the
players find a natural way to be in the final scene. A third group game or an improvised song
may evolve out of the last scene. The players may even break out of the last scene and do
monologs that sum up the proceedings and connect back to the opening monologs. As seen in
the above example, the three scenes may all physically connect.