Practicing being funny is tough. Here’s an exercise designed to reward you when you do something that is both funny and still productive for an improv scene.
4–6 people up on the back line. They are the “samurai.” They will be doing the scenes.
Another 4–6 people along the side walls. They are the “sensei.” The sensei will only be watching the improv, not doing it. (“Sensei” isn’t the historically accurate term, but I find it more palatable than “master” and also more cool to say.)
Give each of the sensei five playing cards and assign to them one of the samurai.
If Erik is one of the samurai on the back line, you assign Gwen, who is on the side line and holding five playing cards, to be his sensei.
The samurai get a suggestion and do an improv set. Normal improv set: they edit, they tagout, they do walk-ons.
But before they start, you give the samurai a mission (examples below). They can all have the same one or maybe they have separate ones. Whenever a samurai accomplishes their mission, their sensei steps out right then and hands them a card.
Sensei should err on the side of being generous.
Keep going until all cards have gone out.
FIRST ROUND: ACCEPT OFFERS
First time I do this, all the samurai have the same mission: ACCEPT OFFERS. Every time they explicitly yes-and something that was just said, their sensei steps out and gives them a card.
If Sam says to Erik, “Sergeant, I’m exhausted,” and Erik says, “You look exhausted,” then Erik’s sensei Gwen steps forward right then and hands him a card.
Then if Erik keeps going and says, “You should be, having been on watch all night,” and Sam says, “I was out there, but I’m not sure I did a great job,” then Sam gets a card because he’s acknowledging he was on watch.
It gets tricky/helpful/funny when people make accusations and the recipient has to make them true.
If Arnie steps out and says, “Clarissa, you jerk!” and then Clarissa goes “Shut up, asshole!”
Clarissa would get a card.
It is somewhat subjective what merits a card. The teacher should confirm or deny the first few times cards are given out (“Yep, that’s right,” or “No, he’s not confirming anything,” or even “Where’s the card on that?”), but then try to back off.
Once the cards are all out, switch sensei and samurai.
SECOND ROUND: SPECIFIC MISSIONS
Once everyone’s had a chance to do the “accept offers” round, do one where each samurai has separate tasks.
FUN TASKS TO ASSIGN:
Emotional reaction: Get a card whenever you make a pronounced emotional reaction.
Toys: When someone uses an object that you created, you get a card.
Specificity: Whenever you are surprisingly specific, you get a card.
Made-up proper nouns: Any time you make a specific reference to something that is made up (“You guys seen the new Jules Candy film?”), you get a card. Justification: Any time you explain something that was contradictory, you get a card
Playing against type: Any time you play someone who is not your gender/age/general energy, you get a card.
You can still give “accept offers” as a mission here, too.
These missions are supposed to be easy, fun things that an audience enjoys. They’re no heady logical things like “playing game” or “taking an idea from the opening.” They are things that the audience likes the moment they happen and that generally enrich a scene.
THIRD ROUND: GROUP MISSIONS
In addition to the sensei who are up on the side walls, you can assign students watching to be sensei, looking for missions that anyone in the group can accomplish. These are optional missions that are not any one samurai’s responsibility, and some are accomplished by the group together, as a whole.
When the group sensei see their mission accomplished, they should throw a playing card in the air and shout the name of the mission, to indicate it was just accomplished. Some group missions are:
Stage picture: Whenever the group strikes a good stage picture, this sensei throws a card in the air and declares, “Stage picture!”
Truthful moment: Whenever someone in the group says something that is surprisingly truthful, this sensei throws a card in the air and says, “Truthful moment!”Moment of silence: There’s so much frantic talking in improv that an audience appreciates committed silence. Whenever there’s a nice, pregnant moment of pause, this sensei throws a card in air and says, “Moment of silence!” (This ironically both celebrates and ruins it.)
True love: Improv also has so much scattershot meanness and snarkiness that any time there’s a moment of genuine vulnerable sweetness—someone saying “I love you,” a father complimenting his son, a friend helping a friend—this sensei throws a card in the air and says, “True love!”
These missions don’t all have to be completed—meaning these sensei don’t need to get rid of all their cards for the round to be over. It would take too long.
This can be a chaotic exercise, but if you build up from the first, simple “accept offers” version, it can be a fun celebration of the types of moments that make improv shows fun.
The sensei are watching more closely than they are maybe used to.
The samurai focus their awareness down to just one useful task.
The businesslike action of handing a card to someone is an oddly pleasing punchline for otherwise mundane improv moments.
It rewards being fun and funny