The Many Metaphors for Long Form Improv

When I describe long-form improv, I always start with the idea that it is more of a theatrical experience, but that description is an insufficient explanation. I always try to find a comparison because, especially in Cincinnati, the artform of long-form is new to most audiences.

A music metaphor would compare long-form to an evening of jazz, sophisticated and complex with artistry. Short-form is more like an evening at a dueling piano bar, more concerned with entertaining and bringing joy to an audience. Another great comparison to long-form improv is the true storytelling phenomenon sweeping the nation, filled with raconteurs who are often funny but also captivating, surprising, and emotionally textured. That would mean that short-form is more like stand-up, primarily funny but also true.

The upcoming show on July 11th at Urban Artifact will be our third in that venue. UA is a place that supports jazz, true storytelling, and in our case, long-form improv. People who have been to these types of shows know that when they are good, they are jaw-droppingly good. On the flipside, when they are bad the bitter taste can stay in your mouth a while. Our goal is to bring you a burst of complex and tasty flavors.

There is one true storytelling event at UA that I attended and recommend: Brain Beans. I attended their first event to give them support and practice my skills at spinning an honest yarn to a captive audience. I put my name in their giant martini glass and was picked to speak. I told one of my favorite memories of visiting Japan.

It's nice to have a place where you can try something like storytelling or long-form improv. Not all the local true story events have a component where audience can participate. I applaud Brain Beans for opening their stage to amateurs. C.I. also tries to give amateurs a chance to try long-form with our free workshops. Without this important component, the community that we are trying to create can't blossom into the thriving atmoshpere that we intend. Art must be accessible. OTR Improv has been doing this for years, mostly with their short-form jams that are fun and safe for everyone.

If you want to get started with storytelling, you would be smart to attend a workshop by our freinds at Rebel Pilgrim. See how it's done by checking out this video by improviser and true story producer Joe Boyd...

Ultimately, the styles of long-form and short-form both have qualities that make them worthwhile and fun for an audience. One style is not inherently better than the other... just different. What matters is that as an audience member, you understand the context of the show you attend. Whether it's a jazz bar or a dueling piano bar, you will have a good time, but you need to give yourself permission to process both styles differently.  

If you are the type that appreciates jazz and true-story events, you will love Coincidence Improv and you will love Urban Artifact. Come check out the many shows they offer.

Two Truths and a Lie with Matt Jent

Two Truths And A Lie with Matthew Jent...
1. I have visited every state in the continental United States.
2. I learned how to ride a bike at age 23.
3. I live on a farm.

Which "fact" is actually a lie? The answer will be posted on Thursday, but in the meantime... give your best answer!

"I Got Your Back"

Improvisers often say the words "I got your back" before a show, but what does that mean exactly? Is it just an arbitrary sentence? Do we say it out of habit without seriously considering why the phrase is helpful? 

Our workshop student Kevin Habich brought our attention to this video featuring Keegan Michael Key. No, not THAT video. This one...

Keegan is a hero of mine ever since he gave my college team a private improv workshop at Western Kentucky University. When I moved to Chicago, I purposefully found a job as a host at Second City where I was able to watch Keegan perform every night on the e.t.c. stage.

One night, Keegan asked me to help him move into a new house, which was a BIG DEAL to me then, even if it isn't now. You know what I said? "I got your back!"

Later, I felt comfortable enough with Keegan to ask him to give my new Chicago improv team a workshop. Do you know what he said? "I got your back!"

The improv mentality is that you say yes to your teammates' ideas and you support them (get their backs). But, back to the question. Is it helpful to say "I got your back." before a show? Yes, if you really mean it and think about it. No, if it's just a habit that you don't really process. Second City Toronto veteran Rob Norman, co-host of the Backline Podcast, is not a fan of the phrase because he calls it a superstition that performers don't take the time to process. Check out the 16:00 mark of this episode...

So, don't just go through the superstitious motions of slapping your teammates on the back with a throwaway "... got your back, dude". Actually mean it and live your life that way too.

"The Highlight of My Week"

The end of our "Fundamentals of Improv" class marks the beginning of Coincidence Improv Academy (or the CIA). We now move to the next phase where we continue to develop our students as they transition into the "Scenic Improv: Character and Relationships" class, while we also welcome a batch of new students who will soon enter the halls of Dramakinetics.

Are you thinking about registering as one of those new students? Are you on the fence because you're unsure if this is the class for you? Our student Kari Kelly was kind of enough to share her thoughts about taking her first improv class. This is the first in a series of interviews provided by the recent Level 1 students. Take a look...

"What is the Coolest Thing That Can Happen Right Now?"

I spent last weekend playing games.

Way before I was an improviser, I was a role-playing gamer. I started playing Dungeons & Dragons in 5th grade, running games for James and Craig at lunch time. I barely understood the rules, but I was the one with the rulebooks -- they were my older brother's -- so that made me the Dungeon Master. In high school, my gaming group was made up of other marching band weirdos. We had ponytails and wore jewelry from the Renaissance Festival. We listened to Pink Floyd and Iron Maiden. We were those kids, oh my gosh we were 100% those kids.

When I played D&D in school I was interested in stats, collecting magical gear, and describing my character's topknot ponytail in exquisite detail. This weekend was a little different. I met up with other (actual grown-up) friends at the Origins Game Fair, held every summer in Columbus. We stayed up very late every night playing story games, and then we got up very early every morning (stopping for coffee atNorth Market) to go to the convention to play more story games. 

Story games are different from traditional board games. There's no "winner" at the end. The goal is to craft a fun and compelling narrative with your friends. I playedJuggernaut, where you're a scientist in 1950 trying to figure out if the supercomputer spitting out commands can really tell the future; I played Lady Blackbird, a steampunk/sci-fi mashup about getting an air-pirate to her pirate-king consort; I played Sagas of the Icelanders as a Norse witch with strong opinions on the future of her clan. 

My secret to success when playing these story games is that I'm just improvising. I say yes, and... to my partners' ideas, I try to make the other players look good. We laugh a lot, and sure, the dice rolls can make unexpected things happen, but during some games we would just stop and ask ourselves, "what is the coolest thing that could happen in the story right now?" Then we did that thing.

My secret to success when improvising is that I'm just playing games. I try to make sure my partner is having fun, I ask myself what is the coolest thing that could happen right now?, and then I do that thing. 

Prince has a song called Calhoun Square that starts off with a little in-studio direction, and he says, "Listen to the drummer, but you still want to have fun -- it shouldn't be work." 

It's something I try to keep in mind when improv feels hard. Sometimes it is hard! But you still want to have fun. We're playing games with our friends -- it shouldn't be work.

"Walking Backward"

Don't Think Twice, Mike Birbiglia's movie about improv + improvisers + an improv group, comes out in July. Keegan-Michael Key (of Key & Peele, of Second City) is in the movie, and a video's been making the rounds of him talking about improv. He says:

"People think that improvisation is moving forward. What improvisation really is, it's walking backward. While I'm still looking you, I'm going, I'm here with Sam Jones. As I back up I see there's a light there. What's the light? Oh, I'm on a set. Sam Jones must be a person who works on a set. I keep backing up, I see this chair, I see that chair, I go, Oh he's an interviewer! I keep backing up to Nate -- That's the soundman! What's this room? Oh, it must be a small show! It's backing up that gives you discovery. As you back up, you can create a larger worldview."

He goes on to talk about playing game (or, "the game of the scene"), but that's a whole ball of spiders that I don't mean to get into today. My ears perk up when he says discovery. He's talking about asking yourself, "If this is true, what else is true?" If you are talking to a man and surrounded by lights, you are on a set. If you are on a set and talking to a man and there are two chairs facing each other, you are in an interview. If the other man is asking you questions, you are the one being interviewed. If you are being interviewed, you have done something worthy of being interviewed for.

And that can be a scene! It doesn't have to be a complicated crazytown premise with the cleverest of wordplay and broad characters. If you and your partner have established a reality and lived -- fully! -- in that reality for a few minutes, then you have created a successful improv scene. And all you had to do was be there together. None of that is invention -- it's already there when the scene begins, you just have to see it.

"Don't think fast," Key says. "Just listen to the last thing (your partner) said."

The Secret To Improv...

When I took my first improv class -- I was living in Baltimore and I gave it to myself as a birthday present -- I would experience some very intense social phobia. It was a welcoming class, a safe space, and expertly run by the wonderful Dave LaSalle of the Baltimore Improv Group, but I am a shy, introverted doof by nature, and I was hella uncomfortable with being asked to perform -- in any way -- in front of others, even a supportive group of classmates. 

I would tell myself, in the midst of a mirroring exercise, You are going to finish this class, you are going to exit class, and you never, ever have to come back to class.

But after class, and over the course of the week, my confidence built back up, and my curiosity. I was back in class and I was telling myself, Just have fun in class, it's not like you ever have to go on stage and perform.

Well. Not only did I finish my Baltimore classes, but I took more, and I took some in San Diego. And I wound up going on stage. It was easy, because I found a few partners who were interested in playing the way I wanted to play (with patience, with vulnerability, honestly). 

What I noticed then about going in front of an audience, and what I noticed this month when Coincidence put our show up in front of a Cincinnati audience for the first time, is that, in the moment, it's not about the audience for me. I'm up there with my improv partners and my scene partners, just like I was in class in Baltimore. That's not to say the audience doesn't matter -- laughter, rapt silence, shouts of surprise are wonderful reminders that Yes, you are doing it right! -- but what I mean to say is, I don't get nervous about going out in front of an audience when I have my partners with me. I'm up there connecting with them more than I'm performing for an audience. 

If we make that connection, magic will happen. If magic happens, the audience will be entertained. 

The secret to improv? Find people you love and play with them as much as you can. That's the secret to life, too.