How to Improvise Well...Even When No One is Laughing
“Find a way to enjoy yourself: enjoy being on stage, enjoy being with your friends, enjoy living in the 21st century where fewer women die from childbirth.”
Oh my god, Henry just played a lusty carpenter and no one laughed. NO ONE. Not even Dave who comes to every show and once guffawed at Ben’s spacework of emptying a bin.
WHAT is going on?!
We’ve all been in a ‘quiet’ show. At best, we get through it, at worst, we freak out, give up on ourselves and then get drunk and blame the audience.
Presuming you are relatively good at improv (i.e. have had shows in the past where people have laughed and are not confusing improv for standing on stage reading a cookbook), then here are 8 tips to help you keep improvising to the best of your ability even when it feels like you’re doing a show in Death Valley:
1) DON’T ASSUME IT’S NOT FUNNY
There are many reasons why an audience might not be laughing. Maybe they’re too hot, maybe they’re laughing on the inside (lol) or maybe they’re on a date with a vicar. Sometimes a person says, “wow, I enjoyed that!”, even though they spent the whole show sat on the front row looking like they were deciding which one of you to murder. You just don’t know! So don’t dwell on it. And definitely…
2) DON’T BE ALL ‘WEIRD’ ABOUT IT
An audience can tell instantly when you feel uncomfortable. Crowds are highly empathetic and will notice if you’re worried, stressed or envisioning a nightmare world in which you’ve been fired from improv and can only play darts. There is nothing more off-putting than seeing you standing on the backline cringing at your show. Stop that immediately! And try your best to…
3) HAVE FUN!!!
1: What’s the point otherwise and 2: if the audience sees you having fun, they will start having fun too, unless they are the kind of people who only enjoy sitting in the dark reading Hamlet. Find a way to enjoy yourself: enjoy being on stage, enjoy being with your friends, enjoy living in the 21st century where fewer women die from childbirth. Whatever works for you! Remember to…
4) FOCUS ON YOUR TEAMMATES
You’re in this together! Improv is not stand up, or plumbing - you have a crew with you! (Do plumbers have crews?.. group game!!!!) Take solace in the fact that you are not alone and connect with your teammates. Make eye contact, support each other, try to make each other laugh AND…
5) KEEP UP THE PACE
Quieter shows lag because we’re used to using laughs as punctuation. They help us edit, tag, and find our way in a scene. Try and keep the pace up even when it’s quiet. You really must… because Denise and Hassan have been in this hardware shop scene for a WHILE. Challenge yourself to follow your instincts instead of following laughs. You’ll learn way more from quiet shows than you ever do from loud ones. Anyone in the world could do a show in front of a laughing, giving audience. Even a crew of plumbers.
6) DON’T SHRINK
Do NOT give up on yourself! If you make a big choice, stay big and get bigger. It can be so tempting to shrink if you’re not getting the response you want, but letting the energy gradually drop in a scene is the exact opposite of heightening. (Unless the game is to do with you getting smaller. In which case, keep getting smaller in a big way! Make sense? Confused?…Me too. GROUP GAME?!?!).
7) ACT REALLY, REALLY WELL
If you’re acting, at least the audience have something to watch. If you are acting badly AND it’s not funny, then you have nothing. Play your scenes grounded and committed and you have done your job! What more could anyone ask of you?! (Except, maybe try that ‘emptying a bin’ move again. It worked last time.)
8) CONGRATULATE EACH OTHER ON THAT VERY SERIOUS PLAY YOU JUST PERFORMED
This is for when you come off stage. If nothing whatsoever has led to a laugh and you’re all feeling a bit down, take a moment to say well done to each other for that seriously moving, thought-provoking, at times Marlovian piece of theatre you just performed. The audience were obviously stunned to silence by its greatness. Wow. Maybe you’ll be nominated for an Olivier! After all, some of the best plays in the world have also left audiences walking away thinking, ‘what the hell was that?!’
Once you’ve tried all these things, then, and ONLY THEN, are you allowed to blame the audience. Although I’d suggest the alternative coping method of getting up and doing another show again as soon as you can and reminding yourself that you are awesome.
Keep your chin up! You can do it! It’s easier than unclogging a U-bend.
Tamar is a comedian, improviser, writer and award-winning songwriter. She has written five solo musical comedy shows, of which Get Ugly was nominated for Best Comedy at Fringeworld, and Best Life transferred to the SoHo Playhouse in New York. Her catchy, funny story-songs can be found on Spotify and YouTube. Tamar teaches with The Free Association
