Improv Shortcuts: Initiations That Always Work
I guarantee 100% success
Wally Wood was a masterful comic book artist of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. He drew dozens (hundreds?) of comic books. A big part of a comic book artist’s job is taking a story -- one that he wrote or maybe someone else -- and breaking it out into panels.
At some point, Wood developed a list of types of panels that tended to keep pages interesting visually. He called this list “22 Panels That Always Work.” It’s an illustrated list comprised of example panels one could use. They have a title which describes what’s important about them. “Big Head” is one. “Extreme Closeup” is another. “Full Figure, Open Panel” yet another.
Even though I’m not an artist, I love this list. It reveals something about the mechanics of telling a story. Variety, contrast, depth, movement -- you can see it all in the 22 Panels.
So I thought I’d come up with something similar for improv. 22 Initiations That Always Work. But I couldn’t think of 22. So here’s some number of Initiations That Always Work.
“Band meeting.”
Not a music rehearsal, but a band talking about the business of being a band. Trying to improvise music in a non-musical show is a trap (See “Traps”), but the band members talking is always fun. I’ve honestly never seen this initiation fail. It’s a nice group scene, and you don’t have to know anything about music to do it.
A fun and surprisingly common gimmick to play in this scene is having too many drummers. I suppose too many guitarists should also happen, but it’s always drummers.
“Son, your mother and I have something we want to talk to you about.”
We know who everyone is, and it’s going to be personal and important. You don’t even have to know what it is you want to talk about when you start with this.
“Company meeting. People are complaining about the [product].”
Pitch meetings, the “we need ideas to sell X”, are hit and miss. But presenting a piece of news to a group works better — especially if the group all starts off having the same reaction. Any piece of news works, but something designed to get a reaction is the best. “Guys, I’ve got news: no one likes the logo.”
“Now that we’ve been on a couple of dates, I need to tell you something about me.”
You establish that you know each other, a clear base reality, then set up that something unusual is afoot: all in one line.
“Hey Dave, a few employees have complained to me about your [X behavior] around the office and I wanted to check in.“
Don’t make the “X behavior” TOO big. “You’ve been losing your temper.” “You’ve been critical of everyone.” “You’ve been distracting people from their work.” Let the other person fill in some of the details.
[on front porch] “My parents are very excited to meet you, but just so you know, they [X unusual detail].”
Don’t put off meeting the parents long after this. Knock at the door of the house and get in there right away. The scene won’t really start until you do.
“Hey, let’s buy this.”
And then, in the next line, someone decides what ‘this’ is. Works for something silly/interesting or something mundane because no matter what you have to say why you need it, and then the scene is happening!
“Team, it’s halftime. We need to talk about this game.”
A coach is talking to a football team at halftime. Some of the game has happened. Usually, things have been going wrong, but that’s not necessary.
“Pass The Scalpel”
This feels crazy to say, but I think that almost all surgery scenes work. That can’t be right. But I think it might be. Operating room scenes always work.
That’s it! There are no other initiations that always work. If I’m wrong, sound off in the comments.
This was another excerpt from my yet unpublished book “Shortcuts, Gimmicks, Cheats and Traps.”
Plugs, Fresh
Two Loud Gays - A sketch show written and performed by Jesse Esparza and Dan Leahy. Thursday Dec 14 8pm at UCB Theatre LA. I directed this show. My direction was mostly “This is good.”
Plugs, Ongoing
Screw It, We’re Just Gonna Talk About Comics - Comic book podcast, hosted by my brother Kevin and I. We are preparing to do a series on legendary comics writer Keith Giffen!
Clubhouse Fridays - WGIS’ weekly improv show. Fridays 7pm at The Clubhouse. Free!
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.
Excellent stuff. This one is Band meeting / too many drummers adjacent, but I’ve found if I’m out at the start of a scene but two other players are already quickly initiating something, in any setting whatsoever, it literally NEVER fails to quietly set up an intricate spacework drumkit until they notice you.
I used the "meeting parents" one in my show tonight. led to a fantastic scene.