Austin Improv

So there's a workshop happening tomorrow on this Harold thing, right? Maybe everyone who has been passionately debating the issue online should get off their ass and check out the workshop. Maybe your ass has other obligations, but if it doesn't, let's put this dialogue on the stage where it actually means something.

this is one of the most popular threads in austin improv forum history.

York99 wrote:I can only assume that I am a member of said family...

... and I couldn't be happier.

Thank you all.

Much love,
Jy

indeed! yay Justin

. . . and so we did the Harold. Three times, actually. It was really fun, and I now feel like I have a basic idea of why people like this form so much. I really appreciate Justin putting the effort he did into this class, and I also appreciate being made to feel welcome by people who have shitloads more experience than I do. There are a lot of areas in life where you're TOLD you have permission to fail, but in improv I actually FEEL like I have permission to fail, thanks to the generosity and openness of my fellow improvisers. Huzzahs to everyone involved.

We had the Harold workshop last Saturday and the group did a great job right off. Thank you to all who participated.

Chris Trew asked me to teach a workshop several weeks ago. I had to think for a while about what I could teach. Knowing that the Harold wasn't taught in Austin, I finally decided to teach that... somewhat arbitrarily. Somehow I became the champion for the Harold, Del Close, and I think the entire city of Chicago (a place I have visited only twice). I decided to run with it and see where it led.

It was definitely a positive experience for me and I hope for all others who followed the debates. For the most part, it was productive and good-natured. I learned a whole lot and I hope you did too.

I hope you teach it again, because I'd like to take your class.

Is it nitpicking to say that the name of the form is "Harold" and not the harold? It's a proper name. Del Close personally hated the name because he didn't like the joke.

[To explain: The Beatles' movie "A Hard Day's Night" was all the rage at the time Del & Charna codified the structure. In that movie, somebody asks one of the band members--George, I believe it was--about his haircut. "What would you call that hairstyle you're wearing?" The witty musician replies, "Arthur." Likewise, when Del asked the students what they should call their newly developed form, one of them answered "Harold." The class agreed that was a good name, even if Del didn't.]

I know, I know, I wasn't even in town for the workshop and I haven't checked the forums for over a month, and my posting is a bit late. I hope the class was fun for everybody who got to do Harold!

-The Orf

It's definitely more fun to say "I did Harold."

"Truth in Comedy" most often uses "the" before "Harold."

I have a different way of thinking: "The" Harold is a form that a troupe DOES. It basically goes intro, 2 first beats, game, 3 second beats, game, wrap it up. "Harold" without "the" before it is something that a troupe (perhaps an audience as well) SEES when "the Harold" is done to where everything connects just right. Ironically, to SEE Harold, you must FEEL it.

I have done nothing to dissolve any pretention here.