Harold Audition Advice: Initiation Etiquette
Labelling Your Partner And the Magic of the "Gentle Yes"
UCBT Audition Week
It’s UCB Theatre audition season in both New York and Los Angeles. Invite-only auditions for a round of house teams are happening.
If you were wondering “Does the UCBT still affect the emotions of the improv community like before Covid?” The answer is a resounding YES. All of my students are obsessed about their auditions. Enrollment in workshops are bursting. The weekly UCB jam here in LA this past Sunday had a completely full house.
Caution: I’m about to invoke my right as a self-appointed improv know-it-all to give advice on auditions. If you are auditioning, please do not read the rest of this article! It won’t help. Just practice the audition form if you can. Be confident and loose and do your best.
Be warned even further: My advice is not inspirational! It’s a bloodless mechanical tip from a former computer programmer who likes to reduce art to a recipe! I’m honestly wondering if it’s worth writing… except that I have no other ideas this week.
Eh, let’s do it.
Initiation Etiquette
My advice for doing premise improv in an audition:
When you initiate, tell the other person who they are.
When you respond to the initiation, give only a gentle yes.
I call this initiation etiquette. It’s the single biggest thing improvisers can do to improve their premise improv.
Let’s delve into a far too-detailed example!
Example: Face Tattoo
Let’s say in the opening there’s a monologue about a boss at a corporate day job who had a prominent tattoo on his face.
A tough initiation off of this idea would be coming forward and speaking, as if into a mirror
“God, why did I get this tattoo?”
This is asking for trouble because you’re not talking to your scene partner. The responder will be nervous and make a big choice that you will not be ready for. They might go “It’s me! God! I gave you that tattoo! Pretty cool, right?”
Maybe that sounds funny, but it’s a nightmare response. The scene will fall apart. If this were an audition, you would resent your scene partner and yourself for a year.
Instead, do something like this:
“Charlie, can you step into my office?”
You’re telling your scene partner they are “Charlie” and they are your co-worker. You can see someone relax when they learn even just a little bit about why they are in a scene.
But wait, there’s no premise, right? Right. That’s where the second part of my advice comes in. The hard part.
Response: A Gentle Yes
If you are the person responding to the very first thing said, do not assume you know what’s coming. Instead, give what teacher and performer Jim Woods calls a “gentle yes.” Like this:
“Charlie, can you step into my office?”
“Sure, what’s up?” (gentle yes)
“Do you think people care that I have a tattoo on my face?”
Nice.
What’s you don’t want to do is this:
“Charlie, can you step into my office?”
“I know what this is about. The tattoo that’s on MY face, right? But you told me to do it! And it’s for my religion! I quit, dad!” (or whatever)
This disrupts the initiator. And now you’re doing improv with someone who is rattled.
After you’ve given a gentle yes, you can make bigger choices.
“Charlie, can you step into my office?”
“Sure, what’s up?” (gentle yes)
“Do you think people care that I have a tattoo on my face?”
“Well, it’s pretty crazy. It’s a huge skull on your forehead with the word ‘death’ written under it.” (bigger choice)
That’s fine.
Think about the big premise shows: Harold Night, Asssscat, Armandos. An INCREDIBLY COMMON template for the starts of scenes is this:
Initiation: Establish base reality
Response: Acknowledge base reality
Initiation continued: Reveal premise.
The “gentle yes” is simple but still very difficult for people to do! They can’t WAIT to make a big move in the second line! Maybe they feel pressured to “and” (as in “yes and”).
Thus, the “gentle yes” takes practice. But it’s worth it! It turns nervous initiators into confident scene partners.
Yes-And The Base Reality
Mind you, you can still flesh out the base reality within your gentle yes. Just don’t make guesses about the comedy.
In other words, just … be normal?
“Charlie, can you step into my office?”
“Sure, Jane. I was just getting some coffee in the break room. What’s up?” (still a gentle yes)
“Do you care that I have a tattoo on my face?”
Gentle yeses can be emotional, if the initiation calls for it.
“Kids, I’ve got bad news. We’re not going to Disneyland this year.”
“What! Aw, dad, why not? We really wanted to go!” (emotion, but still gentle yes)
“I know. But I just remembered that this is the one with Mickey Mouse. And he is my nemesis.”
All In One Line Initiations
What if the initiator does what lots of people do when they’re first learning premise and cram a big huge idea into one line?
Still give a gentle yes. Let the audience (and you) digest what’s been said.
“Charlie, can you step into my office? I feel like people are talking about the tattoo on my face. Do people not like skulls? And blood?”
“Boss, they really don’t. Not here.” (a gentle yes)
“Why not?”
“This is an elementary school.” (big choice, which is on-game and safely after the gentle yes.)
Responder Is Unusual
What if the initiator is asking you to be the “weird” one? STILL give a gentle yes. Simply agrees you’ve done the weird thing.
“Charlie, can you step into my office? I need to talk to you about the tattoo on your face.”
“You don’t like it?” (a gentle yes)
“The skulls and blood are a bit much.”
That’s my advice! Initiator, tell your scene partners who they are. Responders, give a gentle yes.
And don’t worry about any of this this week.
This Week In My Improv
The Bozos (my group at my school WGIS) did a Harold with no opening this past Friday at our weekly show Clubhouse Fridays (with Beth Appel, Ryan Rosenberg and Allyn Pintal). A few weeks ago, I criticized the Harold in this newsletter for being too long to be a good show. This is an idea I have been ridiculed for by —I estimate — 100% of my improv friends. So The Bozos let us try one with no opening. It was really fun! Maybe this is the antidote to me being sick of The Harold. More later.
I also did a premise improv show this past Sunday with “The Sober Show” at UCB. This is where myself and other non-drinking improvisers tell stories of our drinking days and do scenes inspired by it. A very full house. I was surprisingly nervous! Starting with premises got our scenes going fast, but I also felt rusty at this approach. Happy to have gotten some practice at it. Our next show is October 15.
The Sober Show at UCBT Two weeks ago I was in DC for the District Improv Fest and had a great time. Jim Woods and I did a set that felt really fun, and we saw a bunch of great teams! Thanks, DIF!
Plugs, Fresh
Answering The Humons - This is a podcast episode where UCB co-founder Matt Besser and I discuss my essay “The New Silliness Of Improv In Los Angeles.” We get into some Chicago improv history, recent UCB history, my recent frustration with the Harold and more. Really fun, really nerdy. It’s behind a paywall as part of Besser’s new “The Rule of 4” podcast network. I recommend joining!
Friendship Buddies - I’m doing stand-up Sunday night at Verdugo Bar. What if I just talked about initiation etiqeutte the whole time? Will the crowd of patrons sitting at picnic tables and sipping their beers immediately erupt into a standing ovation? We shall (not) see.
Das Improv Fest - Sarah Claspell, Jim Woods and myself are going to Berlin next week for the Das Improv Fest, hosted at the Comedy Cafe Berlin. If you’re in that area, come see us! Also appearing are Craig and Carla Cackowski, Monika Smith and many others great performers!
The Authentic Comedian - The is a substack from my friend Caroline Clifford, a comedian in Berlin. She’s a rare example of someone who does a lot of stand-up well and also does a lot of improv well. Her essays are thoughtful and practical and honest and interesting!
Plugs, Ongoing
Screw It, We’re Just Gonna Talk About Comics - Comic book podcast, hosted by my brother Kevin and I. This week, Kevin and I continue reviewing Grant Morrison’s 1990s run on Justice League of America. We are loving this series, even as it gets too complicated to summarize with human brains.
Clubhouse Fridays - WGIS’ weekly improv show. Fridays 7pm at The Clubhouse. Free! We are doing a Harold tonight to teach me a lesson!
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!
How to Be The Greatest Improviser On Earth - My improv book, available at Amazon. Kindle or print. It’s a hodge-podge of advice I wrote in 2016 about doing improv. If you’re broke and want a free PDF version just email me and I’ll send it over.
Skimmed this article. Like your advice for people who audition to get face tattoos. Will help them stand out.
If I really wanted to spend the time on it right now, I could probably write a companion post to this about how every bit of advice you shared here can be applied in everyday conversations and make you a better listener. I try to apply simple “yes and” principals in work zoom meetings to gently add in my ideas for something.
Also, I think more scenes need a nemesis.