Here are the rules, pulled from Tina Fey’s, Bossypants.
#1 – Start with Yes
[author]
“Freeze, I have a gun!”
“No, you don’t that’s your finger.”
[/author]
[author]
“Freeze, I have a gun!”
“The gun I gave you for Christmas? You jerk!”
[/author]
Now, obviously in real life you’re not always going to agree with everything everyone says. But the Rule of Agreement reminds you to “respect what your partner has created” and to at least start from an open-minded place. Start with a Yes and see where that takes you.
As an improviser, I always find it jarring when I meet someone in real life whose first answer is no. “No, we can’t do that.” “No, that’s not in the budget.” “No, I will not hold your hand for a dollar.”
#2 – Yes, and…
Agree and then add something of your own:
[author]
“I can’t believe it’s so hot in here.”
“Yeah…”
[/author]
Which puts the improv at kind of at a standstill. But, if you add something then we’re getting somewhere:
[author]
“I can’t believe it’s so hot in here.”
…
“What did you expect? We’re in hell.”
“Yes, this can’t be good for the wax figures.”
“I told you we shouldn’t have crawled into this dog’s mouth.”
[/author]
#3 – Make statements
This is a positive way of saying “Don’t ask questions all the time.” If we’re in a scene and I say,
[author]
Who are you?
Where are we?
What are we doing here?
What’s in that box?
[/author]
I’m putting pressure on you to come up with all the answers.
This also applies to us women: speak in statements instead of apologetic questions. No one wants to go to a doctor who says (cue valley girl):
[author]
I’m going to be your surgeon?
I’m here to talk to you about your procedure?
I was first in my class at Johns Hopkins, so…?
[/author]
Instead make a statement like:
[author]
“Here we are in Spain, Dracula.”
[/author]
#4 – There are no mistakes
Only opportunities.
If I start a scene as what I think is very clearly a cop riding a bicycle, but you think I am a hamster in a hamster wheel, guess what?
Now, I’m a hamster in a hamster wheel.
I’m not going to stop everything to explain that it was really supposed to be a bike. Who knows? Maybe I’ll end up being a police hamster who’s been put on “hamster wheel-duty” because I’m “too much of a loose cannon” in the field.
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Content pulled from: Cedar Sage Marketing, BulletProof Presentations, and PCA2.
Photos: Dracula and Tina & Brad.