Taking the Unwanted

[beardedlamb]

consider, too, that some groups don't even use the suggestion they've taken and find taking one cumbersome and a tired tradition. for me, you gotta get something inspiring and you gotta use it. the more you use it, the more the audience understands their role in the show and the further their needle of "ohmigod, this is improvised" tips toward IMPRESSED.

[ChrisTrew.Com]

"dick blood" might as well be "chalk" might as well be "julie" because all three of them are going to make me think of something that annoys and frustrates me and I'll apply it how I see fit into my improv.

"dildo" is "chemistry" is "hurricane" is "summer"
"paul" is "basketball" is "bad breath" is "moving out"

[austinflower]

I want that spark from the beginning.

I'd go with what makes a spark go off in my mind.

The great mind-ful pea-pod has spoken.

[Justin D.]

While it sounds like a crappy suggestion, did you try to play the scene well anyway or did you try to play it in a way that showed what a crappy suggestion you thought it was?

By this point in the show, the audience was asking for it. Or at least, the drunk lady who yelled out "baby prostitute" and 1000 other things was. At the end of the show, she apologized for giving us the suggestion "tapioca" at some point. "That was just random. I don't know where that came from!" But apparently, she knew where "baby prostitute" came from. Deep down, she knew.

She was definitely an ass.

but that we automatically declare certain suggestions to be uninspiring and not worth taking.

Some suggestions truly aren't worth taking. Here's why I have that attitude.

Sometimes I ask people, say, what they last talked about on the phone as a suggestion. Here's a sample of how that goes sometimes:

Me: "Can I please have a suggestion of something you last tal...:
Audience Member: "FUCKING A PIG!!!"

Really? Did you really just talk about fucking a pig on the phone? Because I haven't even finished asking you my goddamn question. It's common courtesy to, when someone is asking you something, wait until they finish ASKING THE FUCKING QUESTION before you answer it.

That audience member clearly didn't listen to what I was asking, and didn't give me the thoughtful, truthful answer that I wanted. So why should I respect their suggestion that was an answer to a question they didn't have the respect to even listen to?

Yeah, that's a case of someone in the audience thinking he's hilarious and wanting to entertain more than be entertained. I say fuck them. Deal with the hecklers quickly and appropriately. Someone screams "Fucking a pig" at me if I ask for a suggestion, and I might come back with, "Ok, so, we have a suggestion about someone losing their virginity. Let's use that." May not be great, but it works for me at the moment.

On the other hand, I once asked "what was the last thing you fought about?" and someone said "cows". I was intrigued and said "really, did that actually happen?" and the audience member said yes, told me about it a little, and we used it.

That's great.

I don't want to paint myself into a corner and be expected to use any and all suggestions thrown my way. That's not going to happen. If you're not inspired by something, don't take it. I just want to see people challenge themselves by venturing into areas they might normally not, and that includes taking some of the standard "unwanted suggestions".

[Jessica]

The pom-pom sisterhood has been experimenting with different ways to take suggestions based on the William Hall workshop a few months ago. We have not yet played so I don't know if it will work. But in rehearsal it seems to get to some deep stuff.

Actor: Has any recently________(had a birthday, seen relatives, etc.)
People raise their hand. We pick out someone.

Actor: Can you tell me __________ (we go a little deeper like did you get something special) So maybe they have a second time to think about it.

Actor: (Now looking for something we can really use, so: what emotion did you have when you first walked through the door. Or why was that present special to you.)

Even just trying this with each other and coaches we get to some really fun deep stuff that has helped us inspire some cool scenes. We won't find out until mid April if it actually works, but I've been enjoying it so far.

[acrouch]

I thought this thread was gonna be about Justin's inclusion in Starter Kit.

Oh, slam! High five! Boo-ya!

[bradisntclever]

I thought this thread was gonna be about Justin's inclusion in Starter Kit.

Oh, slam! High five! Boo-ya!

Thanks, Andy. I really needed the laugh today.

Justin puts the "The" in The Starter Kit.

[Aden]

Justin puts the "The" in The Starter Kit.

That's the sweetest thing I've ever read you say Brad.

[Wesley]

Here's my take on "taking the unwanted."

Who is it unwanted by?

Remember, as has been pointed out, a lot of times the "first" person to pipe up is doing so to get in a joke themselves. And, as SNL has yet to learn, some wit is indeed best left in the realm of brevity.

The audience memeber had his "fucking a pig" moment in sun. You can tell by the way he didn't even wait for you to finish that the suggestion WAS the joke. So do you now really want to subject the other 49 people who may have given you a better suggestion (and may ALSO find the suggestion unwanted) to a 5 minute treatise on pig-fucking when the frivolity of the suggestion was waning before the lights even came down to start the scene?

As director, I watch the rest of the audience's reaction to a suggestion before taking it. For me, the show is theres. Not mine. And not just that one person who piped up's.
I have asked for a different suggestion several times because while one person is yelling "date rape!" as a 'fun family activity,' there's a row of girls in the back who cringed repulsively and put their arms around one of their friends. I think a director who isn't monitoring the entire audience's response isn't best serving the show.

Can you make a good scene out of a shittty suggestion? Sure. Happens all the time. Though I'd wager you make an overly blue one that doesn't sell as well twice as often.

I think the big question is always "who is the show for?" You on stage or the 50 paying customers?
The follow-up question is always "what best serves the show for that person or persons?"

Does 1 really speak for 50? Does the rest of the audience *really* want to see that one "witty" individual's baby prostitute scene (they do it for drug money it turns out) just because he was the fastest and loudest?

Filtering isn't only for the people on stage, but the paying people watching.
In my opinion, there will ALWAYS be that funny guy who wants to yell out "herpes." But I filter because I want to be as inspired as possible and give the best show possible. I try to force more thoughtful suggestions for no other reason that I am sick of being a doctor or father/son or talking about herpes, but also because it limits the need to take secondary suggestions.

And never forget that suggestions entail expectations if you want them to or not.
It's fine to "take" didlo but do a scene about football and never mention dildos, but people may tune you out. I've been called out many times for not using a suggestion and seen people accused of doing rehearsed material because they ignored the suggestion or used it so abstractly that the audience never realized it--the audience member assumed they were ignoring it and doing rehearsed material.

My 2 cents.

[HerrHerr]

Jeff, what was Skipfield's suggestion for your first show? Something like, "You're holding something dear to you in your hands, what is it?"

Response: "A jar of marinated artichokes."

It wasn't a blue response, but it was "clever" and Skipfield did a whole narrative about a family farm where they grew artichokes. Beautiful...

[Jeff]

Jeff, what was Skipfield's suggestion for your first show? Something like, "You're holding something dear to you in your hands, what is it?"

Response: "A jar of marinated artichokes."

It wasn't a blue response, but it was "clever" and Skipfield did a whole narrative about a family farm where they grew artichokes. Beautiful...

CJ, I asked the guy what he would like to auction off to a room full of snotty, rich people if he was an auctioneer auctioning off things to a bunch of snotty rich people. And he said, "A lifetime supply of jars of marinated artichokes."

So, we just took "artichokes."

And, thank you

[York99]

Let's just all agree on one suggestion right now and use that in perpetuity.

[TexasImprovMassacre]

Let's just all agree on one suggestion right now and use that in perpetuity.

Einstein's Boner!

[York99]

Let's just all agree on one suggestion right now and use that in perpetuity.

Einstein's Boner!

Einstein's Boner. Thank you.

[ChrisTrew.Com]

Let's just all agree on one suggestion right now and use that in perpetuity.

Einstein's Boner!

Einstein's Boner. Thank you.

Great, an entire show about some smart guy's dick? No thank you.