Now Ye're Talking - to an Improviser

Boards.ie: Niamh · 03-11-2015 12:24pm #1

Our next AMA victim volunteer is one of our long time members, faceman

Faceman is an improviser or improv artist. He walks out on a stage with nothing, no script, no co-stars and no idea of how a show will go and creates improvised shows, plays and comedy completely off the cuff for the audience's entertainment.

One of his shows involves taking an audience member who has never seen improv and making them the co-star :eek:

Faceman also teaches improv to anyone who wants to step out of their comfort zone and runs Improv Fest Ireland, Ireland's only improv festival which is coming up later this month.

Ask him anything!

Dozen Wicked Words · 03-11-2015 12:35pm

Hi,

Did you enjoy Who's line is it anyway? when it was on television

Any particular heroes from the improv world of comedy?

faceman · 03-11-2015 3:40pm

Dozen Wicked Words wrote: »

Hi,

Did you enjoy Who's line is it anyway? when it was on television

Any particular heroes from the improv world of comedy?

Whose Line is what got me first into improv. I used to watch it all the time, back in the VHS days. Ryan Stiles was my hero. I'd re-create the games with friends (I was a teenager) without realising the skills behind.

Whose Line is what brought improv to the mainstream, particularly in Europe. However it is also only a small representative of what improv is and can be.

Some of my improv heroes, aside from Ryan include:

Colin Mochrie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q961dViRof4

Susan Messing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VdSJH7HKKU

TJ & Dave

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnuohnCNUY4

The Maydays

The wonderful thing about the improv community is how the big names are all approachable and friendly people. (even the famous ones) I've been fortunate enough to host Susan Messing and The Maydays in Dublin to teach and perform and hopefully will have the opportunity to bring TJ & Dave to Dublin at some stage too.

Most recently I got to hang out with Scott Adsit and John Lutz from 30 Rock. Friends of mine have performed with Robin Williams, Kate Walsh, John Cleese and Martin Short.

miamee · 03-11-2015 3:53pm

So - even though you have *no* script going on stage, do you usually have an idea of how you will steer things? Or do you have what you could call 'templates' for a show, a few ideas of 'do this, then maybe this, then this' or is it completely dependent on the audience or other people on stage? I'd imagine ain a group scenario that there are certain things already planned ahead of time, however loosely. Are there?

Mars Bar · 03-11-2015 3:55pm

Have you watched Drew Carey's Improvaganza? It's hilarious. It's more musical than WLIIA IMO.

Have you watched the new version of WLIIA?

faceman · 03-11-2015 4:23pm

miamee wrote: »

So - even though you have *no* script going on stage, do you usually have an idea of how you will steer things? Or do you have what you could call 'templates' for a show, a few ideas of 'do this, then maybe this, then this' or is it completely dependent on the audience or other people on stage? I'd imagine ain a group scenario that there are certain things already planned ahead of time, however loosely. Are there?

No defintely not. Planning ahead is a recipe for disaster. You genuinely have to go in with nothing and see where it goes. In improv we look at finding the "truth" in what we do which means very much being in the moment and being present.

From a "long form" improv perspective, which is more theatrical than the "short form", Whose Line style of improv, there are show formats which may have a structure to follow however the content is always completely improvised. And sometimes, the structures break anyway!

The more I improvise the more i prefer the organic approach of just seeing what happens, especially with formats that traditionally have a structure.

faceman · 03-11-2015 4:26pm

Mars Bar wrote: »

Have you watched Drew Carey's Improvaganza? It's hilarious. It's more musical than WLIIA IMO.

Have you watched the new version of WLIIA?

I have seen some of it, its similar to Whose Line and uses similar casts.

Incidentally I love musical improv. Improvised musicals are a joy to be part of and I often tell my students, they can be so much easier pull off than a non musical show if you practice enough.

Earlier this year I guested in an improvised musical called "When X Meets Y" in the Florida Studio Theatre, Sarasota. The theatre is a fantastic high profile theatre in Florida and we had a 3 piece band as backing, including a drummer. (Most musicals just have 1 musician playing keyboard and sometimes guitar) It was one of my favourite shows to be part of.

thelad95 · 03-11-2015 4:28pm

Have you ever received a nasty heckle and absolutely owned him/her with a response?

Gaspode · 03-11-2015 4:58pm

Which of the A-team did you find it easiest to work with? How come you never got hit by the bad guys bullets?

GLaDOS · 03-11-2015 4:59pm

Ever have an absolute blank on stage?

Loughc · 03-11-2015 5:03pm

What was your worst & best experience on stage?

kneemos · 03-11-2015 5:14pm

When will an improv artist say something funny?

faceman · 03-11-2015 5:17pm

thelad95 wrote: »

Have you ever received a nasty heckle and absolutely owned him/her with a response?

Heckling is more a stand up thing, with improv the audience is more supportive, even a drunk audience! Its infrequent with improv but we do often take suggestions and ideas from the audience.

In my own show, Neil+1, I take someone out of the audience who has never seen or done improv before and make them my co-star. In a way its the ultimate way for that audience memebr to heckle me. I even tell them at the start of the show that he/she can say and do what they want, its up to me to make it work. Its challenging for me as a performer but a chance to to give someone the rush of playing on stage. And sometimes the audience member will try mess with me. I even had someone flee the stage during the show! So I continued the show from the audience!

That being said, a number of years ago I was doing a show at TedFest on the Aran Islands. It was a daytime gig but there were one of two drunk audience members. During our finale musical number, a person dressed as Father Jack in a wheelchair with a bottle of whiskey dangled on a fishing rod tried to storm the stage. We took him on stage and sat on him until the song ended!

faceman · 03-11-2015 5:43pm

Gaspode wrote: »

Which of the A-team did you find it easiest to work with? How come you never got hit by the bad guys bullets?

Colonel Decker. He was always clear with this intentions. The rest of the A-Team were ego maniacs.

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Ever have an absolute blank on stage?

Not that I can remember, you tend to get lost in your character and in the scene when you are on stage. This comes up alot as a question when i teach and getting back to finding the truth in the moment, i tell people to say how they feel when it happens and use the line, "I have no idea what to say right now". It works in any situation!

Loughc wrote: »

What was your worst & best experience on stage?

I have had so many wonderful moments:

The improvised musical I mentioned earlier, "When X Meets Y", in Florida. That show was a joy.
Guesting on the main stage in Second City Toronto a few weeks ago. (Its the theatre where much recruiting for Saturday Night Live happens. Bill Murrary, Tina Fey, Mike Myers, John Candy etc are all alum)
Playing on stage alongside Paul Vaillancourt in Pennsylvania last year. While no one will know Paul, he performs with an infamous improv group in LA called "Beer, Shark, Mice". You will recognise some of his co-stars from movies and TV here.

I'm quite lucky in that I get to perform in numerous theatres and cities around the world when the opportunity arises.

I haven't had terrible experiences, some shows, especially my own solo show with an audience member, can be extra challenging. I've done shows at non-improv festivals that were tough because we didn't have enough microphones so much of the crowd didn't hear us. But as the cliche goes, the show must go on!

kneemos wrote: »

When will an improv artist say something funny?

Improvisers aren't comedians. We don't do jokes. Comedy is a by-product of the improv. Nothing we say is funny intentionally, but often the audience will find it funny.

faceman · 03-11-2015 5:48pm

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Ever have an absolute blank on stage?

Just to add further comment from my previous point, the improv mantra is the rule of "Yes, and..." We accept everything that happens, even if they are mistake as reality and build on those ideas. An example as follows:

Improviser 1: Hi John, that's a nice dress you are wearing
Improviser 2: thank you, I'm going on a date tonight and wanted to try something different

So the above scenario isn't funny, but Improviser 2 has accepted the reality of the wearing the dress and has further developed the idea by adding he is going on a date. Now we have the beginnings on a scene, both improvisers have no idea what will happen but they are in agreement with what is happening.

Its about supporting and accepting.

In improv we also accept that things can and will go wrong. One of my teachers used to tell us that a mistake is just the new right way of doing things. There is so much value both on and off the stage with what she was saying!

kneemos · 03-11-2015 6:04pm

faceman wrote: »

Improvisers aren't comedians. We don't do jokes. Comedy is a by-product of the improv. Nothing we say is funny intentionally, but often the audience will find it funny.

Hmmm.

Teafor two12345 · 03-11-2015 6:30pm

Is this your full time job and if so when did you start to make a living out of it?

Teafor two12345 · 03-11-2015 6:33pm

faceman wrote: »

Improvisers aren't comedians. We don't do jokes. Comedy is a by-product of the improv. Nothing we say is funny intentionally, but often the audience will find it funny.

Jesus I have found my calling.

So how does one start out?

GLaDOS · 03-11-2015 6:35pm

What do you do (if anything) to prepare for a big show? Any rituals you like to follow before going on stage?

Loughc · 03-11-2015 6:37pm

Teafor two12345 wrote: »

Jesus I have found my calling.

So how does one start out?

This would be a good start.

http://www.lowerthetone.com/dublinimprov/

I have to so say I'm really interested in giving this course a go sometime, improv has always interested me even if it's wayyyyy outside my comfort zone!

C.K Dexter Haven · 03-11-2015 10:13pm

Do you feel you need to be a good actor, to do improv well?

(btw, do provide links on improv in general and the festival- looks great- thanks for sharing)

Teafor two12345 · 03-11-2015 11:36pm

C.K Dexter Haven wrote: »

Do you feel you need to be a good actor, to do improv well?

(btw, do provide links on improv in general and the festival- looks great- thanks for sharing)

Following on from this..do you think you need to be a good writer to do improv well :-)??

faceman · 04-11-2015 2:17am

Teafor two12345 wrote: »

Is this your full time job and if so when did you start to make a living out of it?

It's not my day job but it is a full time job, if you get what I mean. Between running a festival, teaching and performing, it keeps me busy!

But as wonderful as it is, it's tough to make money from it unless you are working in corporate training. Fortunately my business background combined with the improv credentials has helped me fair well in the corporate space. But I did train in how to be a trainer and coach to ensure I can be the best I can.

faceman · 04-11-2015 2:18am

Teafor two12345 wrote: »

Jesus I have found my calling.

So how does one start out?

Take a class or do a course! Then if you like it do more! I'm constantly taking classes with other teachers when I can. You never stop learning and developing. Plus it's shed loads of fun!

faceman · 04-11-2015 2:23am

ScienceNerd wrote: »

What do you do (if anything) to prepare for a big show? Any rituals you like to follow before going on stage?

Good question. Every performer and troupe is different. Most troupes will do some sort of warm up to build up the energy and shake off the day's cobwebs! Some troupes will just hang out and shoot the breeze.

When I'm preparing for Neil+1 it's a little different as I'm on my own. I usually do a vocal warm up and take a few minutes somewhere private to do some relaxation techniques.

I tell my students that when they form a troupe to make sure they hang out off the stage to build up their chemistry and repoire with one another. Karaoke does wonders for this!

faceman · 04-11-2015 2:28am

C.K Dexter Haven wrote: »

Do you feel you need to be a good actor, to do improv well?

(btw, do provide links on improv in general and the festival- looks great- thanks for sharing)

It's not necessary but it does make a huge difference. Performances can be become more authentic and 'real' and it opens the door to creating more drama on stage and not to mention the polish that you would expect of actors. Some improv schools and theatres make it part of their curriculum.

Flip side of that is actors taking improv classes also benefit greatly. In the US most actors have taken improv classes. In fact many well known actors have either taken improv classes at some level.

Give me having no script over having to learn lines any day!

faceman · 04-11-2015 2:34am

Teafor two12345 wrote: »

Following on from this..do you think you need to be a good writer to do improv well :-)??

No it's not necessary. Remember with improv we are creating and discovering in the moment, pulling from our subconscious. I've often done a great show but can't remember much from it because I was in the moment. That's quite common.

The flip side though is that improv is a wonderful tool for writers. From a sketch perspective Second City uses improv as a tool for students to develop their sketch writing. Most of the other improv theatres offer variations on this too.

I'm not a huge fan of sketch as I feel it lacks the magic the spontaneity gives. But most shows in Second City are sketch and were derived for the most part through improv.

This happens a lot on SNL too.

faceman · 04-11-2015 2:35am

C.K Dexter Haven wrote: »

(btw, do provide links on improv in general and the festival- looks great- thanks for sharing)

Will do! Will post some more links and videos throughout the day.

faceman · 04-11-2015 9:18am

So first link of the day is an article I just saw this morning about how the rules of improv can apply to real life. Enjoy!

http://thoughtcatalog.com/kim-quindlen/2015/11/15-improv-rules-that-anybody-can-follow-to-live-a-more-fulfilling-life/

locum-motion · 04-11-2015 8:23pm

faceman wrote: »

... I usually ... take a few minutes somewhere private to do some relaxation techniques...

"Relaxation techniques"
Ha!
That's a euphemism I haven't heard before!

AnonoBoy · 04-11-2015 8:56pm

I thought I hated improv and then I started listening to Comedy Bang Bang and, more recently, Spontanenation which I love.

Is it just that I hate bad improv?

Now Ye're Talking - to an Improviser

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