Question When Short Form is a Lost Form

[The Cap'n]

So, here's my question. What advice do you have on brushing up on one's short form chops? I feel like I've been doing heady, careful, longish-form work that gets deconstructed immediately in class for so long that I've lost my short form skills. I feel like I've forgotten how to play freeze tag (for example), and how to play it with joy, immediacy, and inventiveness. I've lost some of the silly, passionate, carefree fun of it.

I feel like I'm up in my head, and not only am I up in there, but there's not much IN there. I feel like I used to have a million billion ideas about Everything, and it's all just dust bunnies. Dust bunnies who spend their time slowly pondering how to craft a solid, complex, reality-based relationship with their scene partner.

So, what do you think? What solo exercises to do? What internal messages to tell yourself? Which ones to throw out the window? How to use your brain in the fifteen minutes waiting for the 49 Western Ave. bus to benefit this project, as opposed to just thinking, "the air feels like beef stew. ick."

Help. And thank you in advance.

[Janes]

" What advice do you have on brushing up on one's short form chops?"

ComedySportz.

[The Cap'n]

Definitely. I mean, where else?

I meant to qualify my post saying that I'm currently balls deep in other classes/shows. ComedySportz is definitely on my short list, but enrolling right now doesn't make sense with my schedule.

There's gotta be some suggestions out there for getting back in the short-form mindset. Suggestions that one can work on in brief bursts, without enrolling in an 8-week session.

[benjohnson]

Always engage strangers in conversations. Make sure you're in a place where they will be a captive audience for your short-form experiments, like a long airplane ride. Then, take everything they say or do as a suggestion of what you should do or say next! If they say something about the weather, improvise a one minute Shakespeare monologue about the weather! Don't worry if you get it "right" or not. Even if you "fail" at it, they'll be impressed that you tried and flattered that you did it for their benefit. That's the magic of short form!

This should work pretty well on the 49 bus too, just be sure to duct tape a phone book to your torso first.

[jillybee72]

Short form games that you can play by yourself:

AB Scene
Questions
One Word Story (reset your brain in between each)

Also who what where exercises with yourself are a fine idea, in which you play both characters, do a three line scene in which you get out a who what and where.
________
Colorado medical marijuana

[bron]

Find your oldest friends and spend a night making fun of each other. Be mean. Remember good natured cleverness at the expense of a other people's dignity, other people you genuinely like.

[tripsontheriver]

I'm not trained so I don't have the over-educated, under-stimulated issues you speak of, but I do mingle with some. From what I've seen, those people come into my circle and often times have the "this is how it's done" mentality, but it never seems to work with our group.

We focus on just having fun and keeping the audience in their respective place, which is first. Yes, audiences do love when you can have a realistic, deep relationship that is completely improvised, they also like when you screw up and make fun of yourself.

So, my recommendation would be to a)keep the audience in mind, b)screw up on purpose and then c)make fun of yourself for it. (I try to do an accent in a scene and it inevitably turns into something else. i.e. British goes into Irish and then into something that doesn't sound like anything).

Also, try it drunk.

[benjohnson]

Originally Posted by tripsontheriver

Also, try it drunk.

I'm not so sure this is great advice.

This one time I had sex while I was drunk, and I couldn't tell if being drunk made me better or worse at sex because I was drunk. It was just kind of like "this is fun, but I can't tell if it's really good," you know?

I'm trying to get really good at sex, you guys.

I don't want to hijack the thread, but does anybody have any advice about some sex moves I could practice by myself that would make me better at sex?

[No! It's a Spaceship!]

Originally Posted by benjohnson

I don't want to hijack the thread, but does anybody have any advice about some sex moves I could practice by myself that would make me better at sex?

It's funny, because getting good at sex is EXACTLY the same as getting good at short form improv. What you really want to do is try to finish sex in a thirty second window, over and over again. Don't have sex for more than thirty seconds, and that way you practice getting all the good stuff in as quickly as possible.


To do this on your own, just fast forward pornography. I'd recommend wank.net, as they're one of the few websites that have an actual fast forward button.

[benjohnson]

Originally Posted by No! It's a Spaceship!

It's funny

Incorrect.