Pattern Game: Stations Variation
take an obtuse opening and make it obtuser
When I started this Substack, I promised some deep dives. Here is one. It’s an essay about how to use the Pattern Game to practice saying and understanding comedy ideas. It’s a hard exercise to explain and also hard to do. There’s advice on phrases to use when expressing comedy ideas. This might just be a sketch writing essay in disguise. But it’s for sure a deep dive.
The Pattern Game is one of the most well-known improv openings, and yet everyone does it differently. I once wrote about how we don’t need it.
But I do endorse using the Pattern Game as an exercise in rehearsal. If there’s no audience to worry about, there’s a lot to get out of the Pattern Game.
One way is to practice articulating ideas for scenes.
I admit this is not what the Pattern Game is made for. You must change, perhaps even mutilate, the structure of the Pattern Game to use it this way.
But the result is something very special: a systematic way for a team to practice pitching and understanding each other’s ideas.
I call this the “stations” pattern game. I will try to be brief.
Stations Pattern Game
Three stations:
Two or three people are Station A.
Two people MAXIMUM are Station B.
Two or three are Station C.
Station A does word association with each other.
At any time, either member of Station B can say “Stop” and then pitch a comedy idea. The other person has to restate the idea.
Then each member of Station C will come up with a line of dialogue that might happen in scenes using that idea.
Station A starts the word association again.
Example
Station A, off the suggestion brick, each person taking turns: brick, building, school house, olden times, wheat fields, cattle, sheriffs
Someone in Station B says “stop” and pitches “A sheriff who really likes being old timey.” They are talking to the other member of Station B.
The other member of Station B has to make sure they get it. “Okay, so a modern sheriff who walks around being old timey?” And the person pitching might go “Um, no, like an old time sheriff who is excited to be old timey.”
And the person who is trying to understand goes “Okay, old timey sheriff in the old times, who likes being old timey.” And the person who pitched the ideas goes “yes.”
Now to Station C where each member pitches a possible line of dialogue from a scene that uses this idea. The lines are not in response to each other. They are separate ideas.
Maybe one person says “Isn’t it great being in olden times! Look how slow everything is!” And the other person might say “Barber, I want a mustache and it better be huge and waxed!"
Understanding Each Other
The magic is in Station B. One person says an idea and the other person has to understand it. You can clarify it but you can’t change it.
The idea does not have to be good. If someone in Station B pitches and idea abut doesn’t like it, they shouldn’t change it. It’s okay if it doesn’t sound funny or needs explanation. That’s part of what we are practicing too.
Like in the above example, if someone pitches a very vague idea, like they say “Stop. Maybe wheat is old timey?”
And then the other person doesn’t really understand, they could ask “What do you mean? Like, everyone thinks wheat is old timey?” And the pitcher might go “uh, I’m not sure.” They should just say whatever made them stop. “I just thought it was funny to say ‘wheat’ after ‘olden times.’” And the listener might say “Okay, so the idea is thinking wheat is old timey.”
That’s fine.
You just can’t change it. If the pitcher says “My ideas is that maybe wheat is old timey?” and someone goes “Oh, like, when you add wheat to a field, everything around it magically turns old timey?” —- even if the pitcher LIKES that idea, they have to say “no, that’s not what I meant.”
Pitch With A Main Character
When pitching an idea or trying to understand it, it’s helpful to include from whose point of view the idea is.
So if the idea is “a sheriff likes being old timey” it’s helpful to ask “what kind of sheriff? from who’s point of view is this idea?”
It’s almost like your pitch needs a main character.
“A new mom thinks wheat is old timey” is a different idea than “A wild west gunslinger thinks wheat is old timey.”
Sometimes ideas come to us in a very vague form. Like the seed of a comedy idea might be “restaurants are a LOT.” To make this seed a full idea, give me a main character. “To a customer — a modern customer — dealing with a restaurant is a lot.” Or “To a server, working in a restaurant is so insane, it’s a lot.”
the way that / instead of / to the millionth degree
Let us go even deeper.
To prove you understand an idea, try using the phrases “the way that” or “instead of” or “to the millionth degree.”
Instead of enjoying his power, this sheriff enjoys being old time.
This sheriff likes being old timey the way that some people like living in a big city.
The sheriff likes being old timey to the millionth degree.
Variations
After you’ve done it a few times, remove Station B. Try to go right from Station A to Station C.
Then try it where no one is assigned to any station. Anyone can do anyone else’s job.
Results
Usually people will be better at some parts than others. Someone is good at restating ideas, but not good at pitching them. Some folks can come up with examples to other people’s ideas, but not state their own. Others are great at pitching ideas.
But doing this exercise will reveal who is understanding each other. Who needs help. Who doesn’t have confidence in their ideas.
And when I’ve devoted a practice to this exercise — it helps. A team has a better understanding of the things that they like to grab onto.
To use this exercise, the coach themselves has to be pretty good at understanding comedy ideas and restating them. Because people will want examples of how to restate someone else’s idea. And you have to watch to make sure the listeners are not replacing the ideas, just clarifying them.
I wrote about the stations pattern game before, in my old Tumblr. But this essay includes new advice on pitching and restating.
Thank you for reading!
Plugs, Ongoing
High Functioning - Ian Roberts and I do an hour of improv EVERY SATURDAY 7pm at the UCB Annex. See this video for Ian and I showing you where the UCB Annex is.
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.
Screw It, We’re Just Gonna Talk About Comics - Comic book podcast, hosted by my brother Kevin and I. We are about to start coverage of the late 1990s iteration of Human Target by Peter Milligan. Subscribe for bonus episodes!
Screw It, We’re Just Gonna Talk About The Beatles - monthly deep dive on a little known indie band from Liverpool called The Beatles. We’re doing Mind Games re-release. Subscribe for access to back episodes!
Question about pitching funny ideas: you've been doing this a long time. Do you ever find yourself tempted to self-plagiarize? As in, do you ever find yourself re-using a funny premise that you know works? Might not even be on purpose, I just wonder if at some point it becomes inevitable.
I really wish I could get good at step 2, pitching funny ideas, but it's still a mystery to me, I still struggle with it. Most other things about improv make sense, but pitching funny premises feels impossible to me. Other people do it so naturally, and I just don't understand how to get good at this.