A tip for making the comedy in your improv scenes sharper. Make sure the comedy is is not just unusual but also foolish.
I bring this up because I see students learn game of the scene is based on an unusual thing. But then they pick unusual things that are merely interesting but not really funny.
A good test for your unusual thing: is it foolish?
A woman inventing a robot boyfriend because she’s lonely is unusual. Basing her robot boyfriend’s personality on her toxic ex is foolish.
Repeatedly calling a flight attendant over to your airplane seat to get their opinion on the movie you’re watching is unusual, and maybe rude. But doing so in the middle of a storm that’s causing intense turbulence is foolish.
A contestant on the reality show Love Island is probably already foolish, since the show likes to pick outrageous characters. But it needs to be foolish relative to the situation. So what if the contestant on Love Island was not interested in finding a match, and instead just wanted to network their services as a personal chef? Or, like on Tim Robinson’s sketch show “I Think You Should Leave”, obsessed with using the zip line?
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Improv Nonsense to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.