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Sam Jenkins' "Rules" of Improv - Part 3

Laugh-Masters Academy is proud to bring you this 3-part series outlining some of the “rules” of improv by Sam Jenkins. His list is a great reference and we look forward to reading his forthcoming book on the subject soon. In the meantime, if you want to learn how to put these rules into practice, or simply polish up your skills, an LMA Workshop is the way!

If you missed Part 1, click right here.
If you missed Part 2, click right here.
If you want Part 3, move your eyes slightly downward.


Hello Laugh-Masters!

I’m Sam Jenkins. I’ve been invited to write a guest blog on my Rules of Improv. A list of simple rules that will (on average) make your scenes more enjoyable. This week, you get 400% more rules, and 400% less explanation! By now, you’ve surely got the gist.

31) Focus On One Offer – Keep coming back to the same offer. It’s your motivation.

32) Avoid Side-Tracking  – Occurs when you overload with stimuli, and lose the main offer

33) React – Survived a black hole? React! Not reacting is a block.

34) Be Bold – Emotions are bold, 100%, not 10%.

35) Have An Opinion – On everything. Doesn’t have to be verbalised.

36) Change – Be affected. Be changed.

37) Listen – “Listening is the willingness to be changed”

38) Your Character Is Always A Good Improviser

39) You’re Intelligent – Not drugged, stupid, confused, incredulous or uninformed.

40) You’re Always An Expert – Don’t know it? Make it up, confidently, you’re always right

41) Differentiate – Come on as a different/opposite character to what’s onstage

42) Make Others Look Good – Make others interesting & skilled, they’ll do the same for you. Make the scene about other people

43) Don’t Add Problems – Life is about building relationships, not problems.

44) Create Difficulty – Don’t add more mountains, lose your icepick.

45) Find Solutions Here – Use what you already have to solve or step toward solving.

46) Succeed – Success is more interesting that problems.

47) Know Your Motivation – You’ll always have one, when you complete it, leave.

48) Name The Stakes – What happens if you don’t succeed? This makes us care.

49) Leave – If you’ve accomplished your motive for being onstage, leave

50) Two Is Easiest – If there’s two already onstage, you’re probably not needed

51) Deploy – Add people gradually. If you want to be in a scene, you probably shouldn’t come on. If you don’t want to be in a scene, then you need to help.

52) Make Eye Contact – This triples intensity and communication

53) Make Your Partner Look Good – Listen, accept, heighten their status. Everyone plays support.

54) Make Your Partner Happy – Make offers your partner wants.

55) Your Oxygen Mask Is First – Save yourself first, then you can save your team

56) Support If New, Lead If Old – On average it’s up to you to lead scenes if you’re experienced.

57) Mime Slowly And Clearly – Actually perform the action, in real time, slowly and clearly

58) Mime It, Even If You Have It – Need to use a cell phone? Mime it. Take off clothing? Mime it.

59) Mime It, Don’t Be It – Hold the gun with your hand, don’t make your hand the gun.

60) Mime In Sight – If your partners can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.

61) Fight In Slow Motion – This is safer for you, and exciting for the audience.

62) Face Forwards – Everything you interact with should be in front of you, onstage

63) Be Downstage – Play at the front; playing at the back shows a lack of confidence

64) Be Visible – Sleep standing up. Crawl while kneeling.

65) Be Audible – Project for the person at the back of the room

66) Be Physical – Be doing something. Don’t just play talking heads.

67) Don’t Talk About The Physical – Chop melons, but talk about your relationship.

68) Don’t Preplan – The only thing you get to bring onstage is your character

69) Don’t Play For Narrative – Narrative kills play. Focus on the now. Listen. Be.

70) Don’t “Perform” – Look, listen, and respond naturally.

71) Don’t Corpse – A great story can be ruined by a smile

72) Be Boring – The boring scenes are the most engaging.

73) Be Truthful – Don’t layer it with a smile. React and act in a real way.

78) Don’t Gag/Play To Be Funny – Gags are throw away lines that end a scene. Play for the art.

79) Place The Chair Definitely – Make your actions definite and (appear) meaningful

80) Commit – You’re always right if you commit

81) Make Strong Choices – Be old, french, hypochondriac, onfire, want world peace

82) Keep Being – Keep your traits over time

83) Flanderize – Exaggerate your character and traits over time

84) Never Too Late To Be French – If you’re suddenly endowed with a trait, become it. If you realise you should be sober, or facing forward, be it.

85) Return – Leave home, slay dragon, return home. It’s satisfying to watch.

86) Happyendificate – Audiences prefer happy endings.

87) You Can Break The Rules – But you need to learn them before you break them. It takes a number of rehearsals to make just one of these second nature. So practice rather than break.

88) Play! – Relax, and do what you want!

 

Opportunities

89) Physicalize Your Character – A huuuuuuge area. Accents, movement.

90) Use Status – Emphasise status. Swap. Steal. E.g. Lion becomes the tamer.

91) Use Song – If you can’t sing, commit!

92) Use Silence – Words mean more when you use less.

93) Use Subtext – It can be more powerful just to imply what you mean.

94) Use Cuts (edits) – Cut to the action. And vary up your edits: tags, cut to’s, swipes.

95) Use Your Rolodex – If you actually know a lot about an area, use it.

96) Start In The Middle – Start in the action, this is even better than jumping to it.

97) You’re Not Perfect – Your character has a flaw/s. Play with them.

98) Find The Tilt – What’s unusual? Extend it.

99) Find The Irony – Name them, tiptoe around them, play with them, justify them.

100) Find The Game Of The Scene – Find what’s fun to do, and keep doing it, then move one.

101) Find The Genre – This will make your ‘writing’ simpler, and relatable.

102) Hint At The Real World – Use sparingly; this is often a gag.

103) Pimp – Playfully get others to do something difficult/uncomfortable.

104) Callback (come full circle) – People love callbacks even more than Killbot loves people.

 

Meta Rules

105) Be On Time – To calls/rehearsals. The single skill most people lack!

106) Be Diverse – No musical games tonight? Play one.

107) Reject Crude Offers – Say no toilet/gynecologist scenes. Your audience won’t mind.

108) Find Justice – Traumatic offer? Reject it, or you better do the victims service.

109) Change Your Pattern – Recognise what you do, and expand beyond it.

110) Take Risks – Do things that make you uncomfortable. This is how you grow.

111) You Only Get One Pass – Once per night you can say “I’ve got nothing”.

112) Don’t Diss Your Audience – Make them want to take you home.

113) Say “Thank You” – Think “… for saying that” if you don’t agree with a compliment.  To reject their compliment, is to insult their opinion.

114) End On A Positive Note – I love you.

That’s it my friends!

We’ve come to the end of our list. Now it’s time to practice, practice, practice. Once you’ve got the rules in your body they’ll come to you naturally onstage, so you won’t even need to spend your precious seconds thinking about them. And when you’ve mastered them, you can start intentionally breaking them.

Some of the most enjoyable scenes I have seen have included people being completely inaudible, non-stop blocking blocking each, and strings of negative offers that were so sad they were hilarious. These scenes worked because the improvisors broke specific rules purposefully, over and over, and that became the game of the scene.

If you want more information on any of the rules, or exercises to practice them, get in touch at [email protected], or twiddle your thumbs until my book is released!

– Sam