This is where our two straight men, instead of pointing out how unusual the wacko character is, choose to protect the freakish choice by subverting the logical rules of reality. By bending to the freak’s world view. The straight men specifically do NOT call out the freakish character as unusual. They react to the freak as if he/she/it’s completely normal, totally correct in point of view, and perhaps even the paradigm of how one should act in this world! It is fun to subvert the rules of reality like this. The easiest way to achieve this is to elevate the status of the unusual character. For example:
- Batshit crazy initiating character charges the stage, screaming, “Burn them all! My enemies shall perish in the fires of feces!”
- The other two improvisers respond with, “Mister President, an excellent idea!”
Now we have established that the freak is a high-status genius who is the epitome of how a leader should act. Anything the freak does or says we will protect and elevate.
While this approach may seem like it’s going against the grain of pointing out the unusual thing to find the game of the scene— this is actually creating a unique game in its own right, with our normal world logic turned upside down. This allows the freak to be what it is without fighting to justify its weirdness, and the two straight men can enjoy supporting and protecting the unusual choice, rather than putting baby freak in the corner.
Round 2
This is a more usual situation that 1 person is a freak, and the other 2 people straight man hard against you. In this case the freak should up their freakish deal and “say yes” for example:
Freak: “Oh what a gullumphing, giggly, goody-goody morning! I can’t wait to lick every person I see on the street and pee in the river!”
Straight Man 1: “Your son thinks he’s a dog again, Dan.”
Straight Man 2: “I know, we’ve been taking him to therapy — no use. He still thinks he’s a dog.”
Freak: “Woof, woof, look at me — Yes I da biggest bitch of all! I wrote a rap today! It go, ‘Bow wow wow, yippee kay-yay! Who let the dogs out? I let the dogs out!”
SM1: “Ugh, how is he ever going to get through eighth grade? He’s going to be held back if you don’t do something.”
SM2: “We’ve tried taking him to tutors, but he just humps them instead of studying Shakespeare.”
Freak: “You are right! I hump…therefore I am!”
SM1: “He meant to say, ‘I think therefore I am.’ What a dumb boy.”
Freak: “Yes, I am the biggest boy idiot of all! My tutor tried to tell me which way was up, but I don’t believe in gravity! Only the force of horniness!”
SM2: “I can’t even follow him anymore.”
Freak: “I can not follow myself! I chase my own ass for hours! I’m one horny boy!”
Not a great example scene, but perhaps you get the point. The freak can heighten his or her agenda without fighting back, thereby avoiding an argument and allowing the game of the scene to heighten.