Austin Improv

the_orf wrote: Don't underestimate an audience's ability to adapt to both short form and long form and sketch and music. Most audience members I know are just looking to have a good time, and they'll totally dig a mix of all of the above so long as it is all performed well.

You got it!!

ChrisTrew.Com wrote:I'm not a fan of explaining too much of what's about to happen on stage. I don't think most audiences care about how the deconstruction works or what is happening during the Harold. I think they just want to have fun watching us have fun. Explanations suck the energy for me.

My favorite show intro is Whirled News Tonight.
Musicm lights.
"Welcome to Whirled News Tonight, where the news is real and everything else is improvised. Tonight's top story..."
Bang, show.

I think that's slicker than -
"Welcome to Whirled News Tonight. Tonight we will be reading newspaper articles and then performing scenes based off of the news. Some scenes will use themes from the article and some will use the people and places in the article. Tonight's top story..."

DATS MY OPP

My feelings on intros is "less is more."

My favorite intro (which also happens to be arguably the best improv show in the country by arguably the best improvisers in the country) is for TJ and Dave: "Hi. We're TJ and Dave. Trust us... this is all made up."

TexasImprovMassacre wrote:

the_orf wrote: Don't underestimate an audience's ability to adapt to both short form and long form and sketch and music. Most audience members I know are just looking to have a good time, and they'll totally dig a mix of all of the above so long as it is all performed well.

You got it!!

And if it's performed less than well???

York99 wrote:

TexasImprovMassacre wrote:

the_orf wrote: Don't underestimate an audience's ability to adapt to both short form and long form and sketch and music. Most audience members I know are just looking to have a good time, and they'll totally dig a mix of all of the above so long as it is all performed well.

You got it!!

And if it's performed less than well???

Whether or not its performed well shouldn't have much to do with the intro, but to answer; death. Death to all who perform less than well.

Wesley wrote:We were going to show sketches and commercials for troupes and upcoming shows, but no one had time to support the initiative.

Easier than pre-show videos (in terms of startup effort) is a slideshow type thingy...

So are the hand jobs now off the table or what? I have to make my calendar.

York99 wrote:So are the hand jobs now off the table or what? I have to make my calendar.

If you don't want to get kicked out of the restaurant, they'll need to be under the table.

York99 wrote:

ChrisTrew.Com wrote:less is more

"less is more."

I agree -- I don't want to see someone explain the Harold to an audience before the show, the same way I don't want the process of preparing and cooking the dish I'm about to order explained to me at the table. But there is a base-level expectation that should be set up with the audience so they have some clue as to what's about to happen. "We're going to take a suggestion from you and let that inspire what we're about to do. So, to get started..." , "These teams are going to perform for 22 minutes and then you get to choose which team comes back next week to defend..." , ...or something. I'm not talking about giving up the magic tricks, just let people know you're about to do magic.

We have to keep in mind that -- having learned/seen/performed in so many different types of shows -- the word "improv" implies so may different things to different non-improv people. My impetus for giving a very basic explanation is just to avoid anyone expecting something wildly different. Heck, when I was a kid "improv" meant someone who looked like Paul Reiser standing in front of a brick wall saying "Can you imagine if Jack Nicholson was a kindergarten teacher? I think it might look something like this..."

mcnichol wrote:"Can you imagine if Jack Nicholson was a kindergarten teacher? I think it might look something like this..."

well don't leave us hangin', Bob

I think over explaining things that don't necc. need an explaination kills the energy and treats the audience like, well, less-than-smart.

"Hi, we're ColdTowne. We're going to start with a tablaeu of characters and then perform a group scene. The purpose of this is to extrapolate information from the suggestion you gave us. Then we're going to do a bunch of scenes using the characters from the beginning and some new ones that further develops and explores the themes and relationships we generated at the top of the show. We'll then wrap up with the same group scene and, if everything goes right, we'll have explored some big ideas about life and come to a metaphysical conclusion while making you laugh."

or...

"Hi, We're ColdTowne. This is what we do."

I think the audience is smart enough to figure out exactly what that is.

Kasper Hauser, one of the greatest sketch companies in the world right now, had a skecth when I saw them a few years back where they overexplained the shortform games they were about to play. The rules were truly insane (all I remember is soemthing about climbing ladders and putting apples in buckets) and the games never actually happened as the explanations went on until the rest of the troupe led the explainer into their time-out dome tent on stage. It was maybe a little too "inside" for some people but I loved.

By the way, I highly recommend KH's SkYMaul, Happy Crap You Can Buy on an Airplane. Just came out--would make a great holiday present for people you know who like humor books.

shando wrote:By the way, I highly recommend KH's SkYMaul, Happy Crap You Can Buy on an Airplane. Just came out--would make a great holiday present for people you know who like humor books.

I just read somewhere (I think it was the UCB mailing list...) that they're doing a show based on the products and target audience of SkyMaul. Sounded pretty interesting.

Jastroch wrote:I think over explaining things that don't necc. need an explaination kills the energy and treats the audience like, well, less-than-smart.

Totally. Agreed.

Playing to a house that is familiar with improv, you don't need to explain anything. This is why TJ & Dave could just come out rockin to Ike Reilly, say what they said, and just start -- they play at 10:30pm on a Wednesday night to a house that is easily 90% improvisors. I don't think that would fly on a night when more people who have never seen improv are in the house. The Friday 8pm slot at IO used to always be Baby Wants Candy, and they always gave a short shpiel before they started because the audience was usually way heavier on people coming in from the 'burbs or wherever.

Hey, anybody can do whatever they want, I'm just saying people can be far less aware than we might think. We did a show at an art auction / fundraiser thing last week where our suggestion was coming from a painting behind us. As much as I would love to just come out and start, I think the audience (of people who probably just thought we were about to do 5 Things for ten minutes) was more ready for the show after (briefly) saying that we usually take a suggestion from the audience for the show, but tonight the painting behind us is going to be our suggestion. That's it -- no long winded dissertation, just a basic context.

Your Aunt who swears Emeril is just a "hoot" might be in the audience along with the person who's been doing improv for ten years. Why not say a little something that works for both.

When TJ & Dave do their NY weekend shows they give the same "Trust us" intro.

However their focus in NY is more theater-y than comedy, their latest performances have been been at a "regular" theater and it's not a crowd expecting anything like Whose Line.

I think over explaining things that don't necc. need an explaination kills the energy and treats the audience like, well, less-than-smart.

Yeah. I think set-ups can flavor or condemn a show.

A show with a gimmick needs very little, such as a Cops & Lawyers, Start Trekkin', or Whirlded News. People get the gimmick and that's probably why they came to begin with.
But I think, as Bob said, there is a certain "base-level" explanation that must be made for people new to improv in less format-driven shows. You don't need to explain "This is called a revolving door edit and it means this and we'll be doing an Armando which follows this pattern," but I still maintain that a lot of people confuse "suggestion to inspire our show" with "this will be a show about your suggestion."
I've seen it both in reviews and in person when an audience member doesn't understand why their suggestion was not used verbatim or in some overt way. This is where I think a two sentence intro (and the demeanor in which the suggestion is taken) can often go farther to audience joyment than just saying "Can I get a word beginning with B? When the lights come up."
(Because then a number of people will expect the show to literally be about "bees" not merely "inspired" by the word.)

My 2 cents.