amosvernon:

alexpereira:

Don’t pretend.

This feels weird to say as an improviser, but I try to never ever pretend.

Pretending everything is great is how you lose your point of view and your unique perspective. Also, I personally don’t want people lying to me, nor do I like watching people bullshit each other.

…

Great post from my buddy and teammate Alexis (reigning Mr. Crime anchor boy!). I’m going to assume, mainly because I’m a monstrous narcissist, that it was at least partially inspired by a post I wrote the other day that brazenly told people to pretend (the buzzword in question!).

I very much agree with Alexis’ post. When it comes to pretend vs. don’t pretend, I think it’s largely an issue of semantics. I said, “pretend to like people’s moves, even if you don’t”, Alexis said “find the value”. Admittedly, I prefer the phrase “find the value” (I plan on stealing it THANK YOU ALEXIS), as it implies a certain level of improv empathy and “pretend” hints at disingenuity, which I’m not advocating. It all comes down to that mantra of treating your fellow performers as geniuses. It is the GOLDEN RULE OF IMPROV. I mean that literally. Like the biblical golden rule. Improvise with one another like we’d like to be improvised with. This doesn’t mean be a blind YESYESYES MAN; if bullshit happens on stage, by all means feel free to call it out, but call it out like you’d like to be called out (i.e. if you’re going to say no to a move, do it in character, with a sense of play, and in service of the scene, not to make yourself look good).

Or here’s another way to think of it: perform with everyone as you would perform with your greatest improv hero (sans the shit-your-pants nerves). The respect/value/massive benefit of the doubt that one would give to a crazy move Poehler/Lutz did in a scene deserves to be bestowed upon everyone we perform with. This is what treating our teammates as geniuses means. And this also goes for what happens offstage and in rehearsal. Rehearse as if you were on a team with your improv hero. Discuss things you didn’t like about the show in the tone you would use with your improv hero.

Empathize.

ALL OF THIS SAID, I agree with Alexis that we shouldn’t be disingenuous happy go lucky ass kissers. It can lead to that kind of make-no-choices-woo-yeah-lets-all-fly-kites-woo-yeah!-improv makes our skin crawl. It feels fake. I’m an improv realist. I’m not into balancing our improv chi. When I say “pretend to like moves you don’t like” I basically mean “don’t let it show that you don’t like a move while you’re on the stage”. I’m almost exclusively referring to the dudes (almost always dudes) in early level class shows that feel it’s necessary to show their friends in the audience that they’re totally above the bad improv that’s going on. It’s the eye rolling, sighing, frowning, head shaking in scenes and on the back line. It’s self-preservation. What it communicates is, “I value the way I look to the audience more than I value these other people onstage.” It is, quite simply, throwing teammates under a bus. The non-improvisers in the audience might fall for it and leave saying, “That show sucked but man that ONE GUY was so funny!” But the improvisers in the audience know who the real jerk is (NOTE: I’m approximating/stealing that quote from Gethard’s UCB podcast interview). To these people I say, boldly and proudly: “PRETEND”. Or as Alexis puts it, “DON’T BE A DICK.”

P.S. Hey everyone, come see Alexis and I put our money where our mouth is next Tuesday at UCB! Haha, JK, it’s impossible to find the value of moves made by ZACK WILLIS.

P.S. Alexis, you know I’m always ready and willing. WINK.

look at these two idiot dummies.

(Source: alexispereira)