How to Be The Greatest Improviser on Earth by Will Hines

Author:Will Hines [Hines, Will]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780982625736
Publisher: Pretty Great Publishing
Published: 2018-02-03T16:00:00+00:00

Be Yourself

A powerful way to make scenes feel truthful and real is to simply be yourself.

Some night in the fall of 2000, my classmates and I were sitting in the Irish pub and UCB Theatre hangout McManus, trying to figure out what made The Swarm so good.

The Swarm was the undisputed best team at the UCB at the time. Every show they did seemed effortless, artful, and hilarious. They had the most original takes on every idea and executed them in surprising ways. How did they do it? What did they have?

At some point, we were joined by Rob Riggle, an amazing improviser who was then a member of Respecto Montalban, the other great team of this era. Part of the fun of going to McManus after shows was the chance to hang out with senior performers and shamelessly make them talk about improv with you. We asked Rob why he thought The Swarm was so good. He said, “I think whenever one of them enters a scene, they bring their whole self with them.”

In the years since that night I’ve noticed the same thing about almost every great improviser. Their real selves—their temperaments, their opinions, their reactions—are a huge part of every character they play. By the end of the set, you feel like you know them.

I’ve heard teachers use the phrase “is someone home?” to test if a character is specific. Is there more to that character than just the expected, iconic things? If the teacher is just talking about grading papers and wanting new textbooks, there might not be anyone home. If the teacher tries to explain U.S. history in terms of characters from a reality show that he loves, then it feels like there’s someone home.

As an actor, you’ll never have more experience playing any character besides yourself, so you should use it in your improv. It’s what makes your scenes unique and surprising but still truthful.

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