Comedy Hack: Opposites
all comedy is juxtaposition
If “unusual thing” doesn’t inspire your improv comedy, try “opposites.”
“Unusual thing” is a term that my UCB training hit a lot. Make a “game” out of the “unusual thing.”
Like if a bank robber is more worried about hurting the feelings of the bank tellers than he is about getting away with the money, that’s an unusual thing.
“Unusual” is vague on purpose. It’s what YOU think is unusual.
But in practice, some unusual things hit better than others.
Is A Lasagna The Opposite Of A Scone?
Last week, my group The Bozos did a show where Sarah Claspell and I were people having a date in a coffee shop. Jim Woods was the waiter. Jim and Sarah did a series of unusual things that felt so perfect to me.
First Jim told me he was going to see if the scone I asked for “was available.”
Then Sarah quietly ordered “two coffees.” (for her)
I asked for a coffee also and Jim said he “would check.”
Jim left for a bit, then returned. He gave Sarah two coffees and me a huge lasagna.
All of those moves felt so funny, but the lasagna really broke me. I was trying to figure why, and I think it’s because a lasagna is somehow the opposite of a scone and a coffee.
It’s not just random. A lasagna was the OPPOSITE of what I expected. Pointedly so.
“All Comedy Is Opposites”
I’m reminded at this point of a story!
I’ve told this before but years ago my brother Kevin was doing a long stretch of teaching 5 or more improv classes a week at UCB — a punishing schedule. He was watching dozens and dozens of improv scenes a week.
I worked in the office so he stopped by after one of these long weeks. He came into my office, sat down, was quiet a while and then said
“You know, sometimes I think every game is just ‘opposites.’”
I thought of my favorite sketches: super smart Ronald Reagan, Mother Theresa trashing a hotel room, a man politely insisting a dead parrot was alive.
I think Kevin was right!
It does feel like a lot of comedic scenes are a WORLD (base reality, who/what/where, situation, context) with a WEIRD THING that is somehow opposite of what we expect.
Thinking too much about this stuff can muck things up. Here are some exercises to practice opposites that do not require too much analysis.
Exercise 1: Low Stakes Thing / High Stakes Emotion
Two people play out a low stakes circumstance, but with high stakes emotion. They shouldn’t think too much about it, just commit big.
Person 1: “I bought a pie.”
Person 2: (places hand over mouth): “Oh, my God.”
Once the scene gets to about a minute or minute and a half, they usually will have made it into a “mapping” scene where they’re treating the low stakes thing AS IF it were a PARTICULAR high stakes thing.
I did this in class last week and one scene was a couple treating a new scarf as if it were a sexual affair. They were saying things like “This scarf means nothing! It’s just a scarf! I just like the feel! I don’t love it like I love you!” and “In college I wore scarves but it was just a phase!”
Exercise 2: A Contrasting Energy Enters
Two people start a scene and be “peas in a pod” energy. Copies of each other or at least close.
Then a third person should enter with a totally different energy.
They should all choose to know each other and not be surprised. It’s too easy if one person just says “looks like someone forgot their medication” or something.
Exercise 3: Music Doesn’t Match The Lyrics
Teacher gives a character archetype or a genre. Something like: mean girls, tech bros, wild west cowboys, action movie stars, Hallmark movie romance couple.
Then the players start a scene in that tone, but they should be talking about something very surprising for those people.
Here are some from a practice I just ran (Thank you, Toretto).
NYC garbagemen are unboxing Labubus.
Some farmers discuss the Disney show Hannah Montana.
A tech bro is talking about how he just got pregnant.
Plug: Horror Stories
HORROR STORIES: My friend and comedian Ritch Duncan has started a newsletter / website featuring short horror stories. It’s called DEATHBED and it’s written by a lot of comedy people (hey that’s an opposite right there!).
“Bad Seed” by Dan McCoy was satisfyingly creepy and scary! I recommend!
If you are a writer and would like to submit a story, here are the submission guidelines.
Plug: The And Camp
I will do a bigger announcement about this soon, but myself and the other WGIS founders are the featured teachers at a new “improv camp” next fall. It’s called THE AND CAMP. September 17-20 in the Berkshires. It’s $699 for the whole kit and kaboodle: food, lodging, classes, etc. Lots of great NYC teachers (Shannon O’Neill, Sebastian Conelli, Ray Cordova, Elana Fishbein) in a beautiful setting! Tons of fun classes, shows and improv nerdery will abound!
Plug: WGIS Intensives
If you’re more west coast oriented, WGIS is having intensives several times next year.
last week of Feb, first week of March
last week of April
last week of July, first week of August
Meant for out-of-towners, you come out for a week to LA (class does NOT provide lodging) for 8 sessions and a show of advanced instruction. They will be $375 for a week of classes.
There will be a simple application and if there’s a lot of demand, we’ll pick by lottery. They are not available yet but will be in a week or so. I’ll announce in this newsletter and the WGIS newsletter.
Plugs: More Stuff
The World’s Greatest Improv School: The improv school I run with Jim Woods and Sarah Claspell. We’ve got classes online, in LA and even a few in NYC! You can join our mailing list if you want our weekly announcement of shows.
How to Be The Greatest Improviser On Earth - My improv book, available at Amazon. Kindle or print (also on my web site for more if you don’t want to buy from Amazon). It’s a hodge-podge of advice I wrote in 2016 about doing improv. If you’re short of funds and want a free PDF version just email me and I’ll send it over.