If you’re practicing “game of the scene” improv, then you’re very aware of the “first unusual thing.” A common problem is making your first unusual thing TOO unusual. Here is an exercise on introducing a good unusual thing that keeps the scene grounded.
Start by establishing a base reality (a who/what/where) that is not comedic. Something simple.
Agree and live in it for 3 or 4 lines.
Then, one of the characters should say “Hey, you know what I feel like doing?” and then propose something, you guessed it, unusual.
This exercise does a few things really nicely.
First, you practice agreeing on reality before you get the unusual part. People who learn about game will try to make the funny happen too early, too broadly. This usually leads to a false fight or an uncommitted denial that’s just going for the joke.
Like someone will initiate “Hey, I’d love to get this ring appraised” and the person will quickly respond “What? Why? Oh, I guess.”
They want it to be a game already, and so they just play dumb, or contrarian, or detached.
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