Bovine Metropolis Theater

The top 10 in “Denver’s Next Improv Star” performed last night.  No crazy twists this week.  Our guest judge was Adrian Holguin, performer and assistant director at Impulse Theater (another improv club in town).  He’s been doing improv since 1990 and knows his stuff.  I’ve hung out with Adrian before.  He’s a really nice guy, and I was anxious to see what he’d be like as a judge.

For the first half, we had two different challenges.  The first one was an individual challenge.  I wasn’t expecting that since we’ve been doing group things the past 4 weeks in the first half.  We all stayed on stage and had to come up one at a time, get a location where you can get stuck, get stuck there and find a way to escape in less than a minute.  I had a high chair - it was fun to be physical.  Some other ones were a grocery cart (Dave), trunk of a car (Talitha), rock climbing (Spencer), grandma’s clothes (Royce) and elevator (Cheryl).  Adrian picked the best two, and he chose Talitha and Royce.  They then became captains and picked teams to perform with for the rest of the first half.  Royce picked Dave, Matt, Taylor and Arash.  Talitha picked Spencer, me, Cheryl and Brian.  My group went second.  When we came out, we had to do a variety of scenes.  The judges were looking for purpose in the scenes (why are we seeing this moment right now?) along with various edits and characters.  I thought our group did a really good job.  I focused on making sure that I played different characters, and I succeeded!  In our feedback, Eric pointed that out, saying he saw me play people he’s never seen before.  BAM!  Unfortunately, Eric didn’t have the best comments for one of our teammates, Brian.  He said that he killed a scene and wasn’t bringing a lot to others.  I think that put him in his head for the second half.  The top 3 for immunity were Royce, Cheryl and Taylor, and Royce won immunity.

In the second half, we were split into pairs.  Dave and I were paired together - yay!  I was pumped to play with him one on one since we’ve never done that yet.  We went second.  The details for our challenge were long and wordy, so I don’t exactly remember everything.  However, in a nut shell, we had to do one scene and stay the same character, allow things to happen organically and if things go weird, will we let them naturally happen and not force to either accept or deny them.  Adrian is quite the word smith, so I’m thinking he wrote up the details for the challenge.  Our suggestion was a word that has multiple meanings.  The first one we got was boat.  The audience started booing at the audience member who gave that suggestion.  I thought “great, what a great way to start a scene, with booing!”  But someone else shouted nose, so we went with that.  That inspired both me and Dave for characters.  Turns out we were Pier 1 thieves.  The judges liked our scene, saying we kept adding more to what the other person was bringing.  Eric complimented me on my physicality in the scene, but he didn’t understand the purpose of the scene.  Oh well, we had fun!  The other pairs were Brian and Matt, Talitha and Royce, Spencer and Cheryl, and Taylor and Arash.

The bottom three were Brian, Arash and Matt.  Eric said that Brian wasn’t adding to the scenes and not doing any where work.  He also had the same criticism for Matt.  Eric said that Arash played his Persian character again, and that he and Carl have seen that multiple times and he needs to expand his characters.  Matt was sent home.  That seemed to shock some people since Matt has been doing well in the rest of the shows.  He had an off night, and that unfortunately can get you sent home.  Matt will be missed - he was a goofy and fun guy.

The top three were Dave, Cheryl and Spencer.  He liked everyone’s performances throughout the show, complimenting them on their characters, energy and always bringing something to their scenes.  Eric said Dave just barely inched me out - so I guess that made me #4 for the top performers of the night.  :)  Cheryl won!  It was her first win, taking home $100 to Cilantro Fusion (Mexican restaurant).  She was good in my group for the first half, and I heard hers and Spencer’s scene was the best pair one of the night.  Good for her - it was great to see a female improviser take home the prize, especially since there’s only four ladies now.

On the 13th it’ll be the Top 9.  Tix are still available, so get yours before they sell out by calling 303-758-4722 or go to www.bovinemetropolis.com.  See you then!

*Y*

So last night was week 5 of DNIS, and it started off with a twist.  Two people who had been “tapped out” from the competition were voted back in (online poll), and those people were Taylor and Brian.  Then the other two, Alex and Karen, were announced as the guest judges!  I thought it was cool that Eric and Carl had an incentive for the two who didn’t get voted back in and weren’t able to perform.  So we went from starting at 9 back up to 11.

For the immunity challenge, I was in group 2 with Spencer, Talitha, Royce, Cheryl and Arash.  It was a lot of fun!  We just chatted in the lobby waiting to take our turn, trying not to figure out what we had to do.  It was nice to just relax and essentially hang out before we had to go on stage.  Our challenge was just to do a long form set with focus on characters.  They wanted to see a variety of characters who also had depth.  At the end, all of the judges said it was a great set.  Yay!  I had a blast, especially during a chess scene with Arash where we were ex cons.  During the judgment, Eric said that I did a good job but since he’s had the pleasure of seeing me perform before, he had seen characters I’ve done before and wanted to see other ones.  Darnit.  The top three for immunity were Royce, Dave and Spencer.  Royce won immunity, so he’ll definitely be back for week 6.  There will only be two more weeks to win immunity.  I’m guessing that they’ll change it to something like whoever did the best in the first half will have an advantage for the second half.

We were split into pairs for the elimination challenge.  Dave and I were paired together for the first time.  I was super excited about that because he’s such a strong player, and I knew I’d have a blast playing with him.  Royce was able to pick who he played with, and he chose me and Dave.  We went last.  The challenge was to play two different characters in one scene.  Our location was a hot air balloon basket.  I knew that would be tough to fit in six people in just a small space, but we made it work.  We had a lot of fun with that.  Royce started out as the balloon operator, or whatever you call that person, and Dave called him out for talking like a pirate.  Then Royce heightened his character to be more like a pirate.  I was a woman afraid of heights and then switched to a woman who was mad she got stuck in the back and couldn’t see anything.  Dave was just a normal guy for his first character and was a silly English guy for his second.  It was a super fun scene and all of the judges said they liked it.  Eric said he liked the depth of my first character but wished I went to the second character more.  He liked Dave’s characters but felt his second one was more of a caricature than character.

Before the judges announced who was in the bottom, Eric said that this was the first show that all of the judges said they didn’t want to send anyone home.  He said everyone did a really good job, but unfortunately, they had to do their job and tap someone out.  The judges announced the bottom three.  Me, Taylor and Cara.  Crap!  I DO NOT want to be back in that position.  Eric said that even though I had a good show, he called me out for playing characters I’ve done before.  As embarrassing and sucky as it was to go from winning last week to potentially going home, I just tried to see it as a note to me as a performer.  I want to know what I can fix, and if I have repetitive characters, then I need to do something about it.  Cara was sent home.  She’s been in the bottom before.  I was sad to see her leave.  Now we’re getting down to good players who have to go home.  The competition is getting harder.  I know that next week playing new characters will be at top of mind for me and that the judges will be looking out for it.  So if I don’t do it, that will really hurt me.  I was disappointed, but at least I had a good show and had fun.

The top three were Royce, Dave and Arash.  They said that all of them had strong characters with depth.  Royce won the elimination challenge, taking home a $100 gift card to Cheba Hut.

So now we’re down to 10.  Can’t wait to see what’s in store for next week!  Reserve your tix by calling 303-758-4722 or at www.bovinemetropolis.com.

*Yvette*

So Dave and I have the championship household after last night’s show.  He won the immunity challenge, and I won the elimination challenge and the prize!  YAY!!!

If you haven’t see the show yet, please come!  You must make reservations since shows are selling out, so get tix by calling the theater at 303-758-4722 or go to www.bovinemetropolis.com.  It always helps when you have your friends cheering you on!  :)  The show is also on Facebook.

Here’s what went down last night in week 4 of the competition…

Chris Grundy was the guest judge.  He’s a well known improviser in the community, performing at the Bovine, Impulse and Rattlebrain.  He’s gone through Second City in L.A. and is currently the host of “Cool Tools” on the DYI Network.  His specialty is short form improv.  He was a really cool guy, and Dave got a chance to catch up with him after the show (he knew him from Rattlebrain).

So we were supposed to be down to 11, but we had 10 last night.  Kat had to leave the show because she’s doing a show at her college and couldn’t do DNIS.  She’s now out of the competition.

The immunity challenge was the game freeze tag.  We were split into two groups.  I was in the first group with Dave, Cheryl, Royce and Spencer.  I’ve played with these people in and out of the competition, so I was excited to have some fun in this group.  We had to do a lot of different scenes, and to move on to the next one, someone on the side would say “freeze” and come in, tap one person out, assume their position and start a new scene.  They were looking for good relationship scenes, where work (using objects and embracing your environment), when you decide to tap in, and what you bring to the scene when you do come in during a freeze.  We all did really well.  Eric said that I had good, hard emotions throughout the set.  “When you were in love, you loved hard.”  The judges seemed to like all of our stuff.  The only criticism that was given out was to Royce.  Eric said that at times he didn’t bring things when he tapped someone out to move the scene forward.  One example was when he came in and then started asking Dave questions.  Asking a lot of questions in an improv set is a no-no.  Never moves the scene forward.  Chris Grundy gave really nice feedback to Dave, saying that he always picked up what other people brought and was a good listener (something Chris pointed out he would be looking for before our set started).  The second group was Taylor, Cara, Talitha, Matt and Arash.

While the judges deliberated, we had a good talkback with the audience.  They asked a lot of good questions about improv.  When the judges came out, they announced their three favorites.  They were Cheryl, Dave and Matt.  They liked Cheryl’s commitment to her characters, Dave for his excellent listening skills and Matt for owning the stage.  Dave won the immunity challenge, so he secured his spot in the top 9 for week 5!

The second half was the elimination challenge.  It was all about short form improv.  We got split into pairs.  I was with Arash, and we went third.  I’ve played with him in group stuff, but never one on one.  I wasn’t worried though.  There were five short form games, and you picked your game when you got on stage.  We got Blind Line.  I love that game!  The audience wrote lines of dialogue on slips of paper in the lobby before the show, and we would randomly pick those lines to say throughout the scene.  We couldn’t read the line before, you just had to pull the piece of paper, read it and justify it.  Our location suggestion was school, so we were two students taking a test.  Arash kept cheating off me, and I didn’t like it.  Later in the scene we revealed that I wouldn’t let him cheat off me anymore because we just broke up.  The thing I love about this game is that the lines you read actually sometimes work in the scene.  For example, one of Arash’s lines said something along the lines of “you went to go see him?” and then justified it by implying that I already moved on to a new boyfriend.  It was great!  Plus at the end, one of his lines were lyrics to a hip hop song, so we both started dancing on stage.  So much fun!  The judges really liked our set.  Chris Grundy said that he liked how physical I was just sitting in a chair and that I had nice ups and downs with my emotions.  Carl had goofy feedback, commenting on a line I said during the set about how men need to braid women’s hair.  Eric said he really enjoyed our set and liked our energy.  Arash and I felt great after that set!

The other pairs were Taylor and Spencer (played genre options), Royce and Cara (played hesitation), Dave and Matt (played Shakespeare) and Talitha and Cheryl (played forward reverse).  The judges deliberated for a while and then had to announce the bottom three.  They were Cara, Taylor and Royce.  Cara and Taylor have been in the bottom before, but this was Royce’s first time there.  Eric said that it’s getting really tough now deciding who is going home, and if one of us just has a bad night, that could send us home.  He said Royce was looking down a lot throughout the show, keeping his arms to his sides and not doing where work.  Taylor wasn’t connecting on stage and neither was Cara.  Taylor was sent home.  I was bummed she got voted off, but unfortunately it’s a competition and people do need to go home every week.  Then the top 3 were announced - me, Matt and Spencer.  Eric said that they took into consideration the entire show and not just the second half.  He said we all had qualities in our performances that were similar to Chris Grundy’s (which was a HUGE compliment), saying we all brought good energy and fun to the stage.  Then I was announced the winner - woo hoo!!!  I won a gift basket from A La Carte Gift Baskets, valued at $80.  It has a cow theme and was filled with cookies, candy, milk, lotions and more.  It felt so good win.  I’ve been in the top 3 three out of the four weeks, so now I have a win under my belt.  I’m feeling great and can’t wait to compete again next week!

So now we’re down to 9, and the next show is Saturday, February 27 at 8 p.m.  Hope to see you there!

*Yvette*

Dave was the big winner again on February 6, taking home the prize during the elimination challenge!  I was also in the top 3 at the end - woo hoo!

These shows have been selling out each week, so reservations are mandatory to get tickets.  Please either call the theater at 303-758-4722 or go to www.bovinemetropolis.com to get your tickets.  Friendly reminder that they’re on Saturdays at 8 p.m. at the Bovine Metropolis Theater.  Please come and show your support! 

So here’s what went down this week…

Our guest judge was Hilary Blair.  She’s been teaching improv and doing vocal coaching and voice over work for 30 years.  Her big thing is playing truthfully, having honest reactions on stage, and projecting those emotions properly.

For the immunity challenge, we were split into 2 groups.  I was in group A along with Dave, Spencer, Talitha, Kat, and Arash.  I was psyched!  I’ve played with all of these people, and I feel we’re all strong, solid players.  We went first.  Our challenge was to do multiple scenes and remember to play honestly and show truth in comedy.  It was pretty laid back, and all of us were very comfortable playing together.  Everyone did really well.  Each judge picked two people to talk about during the feedback.  Eric told me that he although some of my characters were one note, he liked how committed I was to everything and that I just jumped, went for it and was willing to start anything.  Then we hung out in the lobby while the second group performed.  Eric announced the top 3 for the immunity challenge - Dave, Kat and Matt, and Kat won immunity.  She totally rocked it and deserved it.

For the elimination challenge, we were split into 4 groups of 3.  Since Kat won immunity, she was able to pick when her group went.  She decided to go third.  I was originally in group 3 with Talitha and Spencer (very excited about that), so we went second.  Our challenge was to play one scene, so we had to be the same character, and the only way we could enter and exit the scene was through a door on stage.  To get inspiration for our characters, we got an adjective from the audience.  Spencer got compulsive, Talitha got fun, and I got flirtatious.  We had so much fun doing this scene!  Spencer was super OCD, Talitha was like the leader of our group, and I amped up flirtatious to a level where I was into both Talitha and Spencer and not afraid to show it.  The scene was about her trying to get us to do things at her birthday party.  At the end I sang happy birthday to her like Marilyn Monroe.  Good times!

The bottom 3 were Arash, Cara and Karen.  Eric called out Arash for playing a stereotype, Karen wasn’t fully committed in her body to her character, and Cara for dominating the scene with her character and missing cues.  Karen was sent home, but that’s not much of a surprise since she’s been in the bottom before.  The top 3 were me, Dave and Kat.  Dave won for his subtlety and showing truth in comedy on stage throughout the show.  He won a one night stay at the Fairfield Inn at DIA and 6 nights free parking, perfect for when he wants to take a trip somewhere (and hopefully take me!)  :)  Dave is the big man on campus now.  Let’s see if he can get a turkey and go 3 wins straight!

FYI - there is no Denver’s Next Improv Star show on February 13.  There’s a special Valentine’s Day show instead called Armando for Lovers (which Dave and I are performing in).  Info for that show is on the Bovine site if you’re interested.

Well we’re down to 11 now in the show!  People are making their predictions of who will go home next and who will be in the finals.  Dave is now the guy everyone wants to play with.  I must say it was nice to finally play with him.  During one of the talkbacks, our moderator Matt pointed out to the audience that Dave and I are together, so now we’re the token couple. 

Hope to see you on the 20th at the next show!

*Yvette*

Last night was show #2 for Denver’s Next Improv Star, and Dave and I both made it through to next week!  In fact, Dave was the big winner of the elimination challenge!  So cool.

Friendly reminder, all of these shows are on Saturdays at 8 p.m. at the Bovine Metropolis Theater.  If you want to see the show, you need to make a reservation.  Please call 303-758-4722 or go online to www.bovinemetropolis.com.

Our guest judge last night was Daniel Horsey.  He’s a trained mime in Denver and is quite the intimidating guy.  He’s very particular about object work on stage and using your environment.  He was the hardest to impress last night.

The immunity challenge in the first half was a bit rough.  We’re down to 13 people, and we were split into two teams by either pulling a piece of paper that said a or b.  I was in the group b, so I went second.  My group consisted of people that I’ve mostly never played with.  My group included Matt, Royce, Karen, Cara, Alex and Kat.  I was a bit nervous about that but not enough so to have it throw me off.  We played warm up games in the lobby for about 15 minutes to keep our energy up.  Then it was our turn.  We had 4 different location suggestions from the audience and had to go to all four places.  They were an abandoned casino, Muscle Beach, East Colfax (street in Denver), and the Denver University campus.  We weren’t using the environment enough and all of our scenes were about nothing really.  A big no no in improv.  Also, we didn’t transition well from scene to scene, and some people were denying each other on stage.  It was just not very good, and I was happy when it was over.  From now on, they’re not announcing who was in the bottom three for the immunity challenge, but the top three up for immunity were Matt, Arash and Taylor.  Arash won immunity (he was in the first group) so he got a guaranteed spot to next week.

For the second half, we pulled pieces of paper that had numbers on them, splitting us up into groups of three.  Arash didn’t pick a piece of paper, and he got to pick which group he wanted to play with.  He chose to be with Dave, Spencer and Kat and go third.  I was with Cheryl and Cara (never played with Cheryl), and we went first.  We just had to do a scene on stage and have it move forward with little conflict.  We were in a morgue.  I was the mortician, Cara was the wife of the dead husband I was examining, and Cheryl was the detective.  We had a solid scene, except they pointed out that Cheryl put up some road blocks during the scene preventing it from moving forward.  They liked my attention to detail with the body and what happened to him, but they pointed out that I asked a question at one point, creating a block for the scene.  Darnit!  I knew after that comment that I probably wouldn’t be in the top three.Then came time for them to announce the winner and who was going home.  The top three were Cara, Dave and Spencer.  Dave won, and he got five tickets to go on a Banjo Billy Bus Tour in Boulder.  The bottom three were Cheryl, Karen and Alex.  Alex was sent home.  I didn’t see her perform, but from what Eric said, it seemed like she was the reason why her scene wasn’t moving forward at all.

So now we’re on to week 3!  Don’t know who the guest judge is, but I’m happy to continue and am so proud of Dave that he won and we get to go to week 3 together.Hope to see you at the next show!

*Yvette*

I’d like to thank all the groups this past Monday for a great job in front of a huge crowd!  Also, thanks Jerry for trying out one of our new ideas and being a bigger part of the Hoot.  On to the recap!

Mixed Nuts was in full force this Monday (I think there were 9 of them there).  My favorite scene involved a restaurant where a customer had brought his T-rex, much to the irritation of the staff of the restaurant and his friend.

The Fillers were in top form as well (great to get to see you as a part of them Jason!).  In particular I loved the scenes involving the teacher Ms. Applebottom and her students (who were horrified at not having the more attractive Ms. Smith teaching them 5th grade this year).

Awesome to see Hot Mess again after their grad show in the fall.  Favorite line of the night from them, “I didn’t know bicycle taxis had pimps.”

See you all next Monday!

-Warren

Hello from the road everybody.  This is coming to you from the tropical oasis that is Madison, WI.Since I rarely remember to during the show I’d like to thank Jerry Benson-Montgomery for running lights!  He took over when for me in the light booth when I started hosting, and I’d like to commend him for doing a fantastic job.  He’s got great instincts for calling the end of a set and a much better announcer-style voice than I ever had.This past Monday we had COGNation, 539 ALI and the Dishwater Blonds playing.  Highlights from the show include;All of COGNation’s short form.  I hadn’t seen this group yet and I’m glad I have now.  My favorite part was watching them play a game that was new to me called (I believe) “Actor’s worst nightmare.”  This involved one Scott Merchant reading lines from a random page in a play, and Kat Bond improvising through the scene.Chris Gallegos of 539 ALI was the focus of a scene where different actors were vying for his attention by trying to be the funniest.  I got a kick out of Rick Rothenberg trying to convince him that Magic was different from comedy.  Jerry called the end of their set beautifully.  Everyone was crowded around Meredith Winfield, completely amazed and nervous as apparently it was the first time they’d ever seen a woman.  Jerry pulled the lights right after Rick told her they needed her to be their “Grand Wizard.”Kathleen Boland was brilliant in a scene where she was an old woman trying to talk to her daughter (Cindy Laudadio-Hill) through sound-proof glass after getting arrested for dealing “cracker-barrell” (pot) at the nursing home.  She never figured out how to pick up the phone to talk to Cindy through the glass, so she just started criticizing her until Cindy got frustrated and just walked off.Keith Rains hosts the Hootenanny next week!  Come check him out as well as Awkward Pause, Gypsy Cab Co and the Dishwater Blondes again!  I’ll still be making my way back from WI on Monday, so I will see everyone on the 25th.-Warren

First off, I want to thank all the groups that signed up for this term (we’ve got a  packed schedule!), the four groups who played this past Monday, and I’d like to welcome Casey Jones as the new producer for the show!

My favorite moments of the night both came from Brian McManus.  Watching him talk down a pyromaniacal Justin Franzen with desserts was hilarious as was the following exchange;

Susan Knudten: (Introducing Brian as her son, to his fiance) “His name is Troy”

Brian: “As in Helen of!”

As it is with so much of improv, you just had to be there for it.

After the show on Monday, Casey and I sat down and chatted about the show for two solid hours.  I’m very excited about working with her and I’m looking forward to the changes we’re talking about making.

See you all next week at the Hoot!

-Warren

p.s. Thanks for not stabbing me Taylor

PROMOTING A FUNNIER ELECTORATE

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE BOVINE METROPOLIS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE*

Q: What is a PAC?
A: A PAC is a group of individuals who come together to express their common and usually evil or insane interests in the electoral system (our’s is more insane than evil). PACs pool the receipts of their radical members so that individual contributions have more impact on politicians who are greedy.

Q: Why does Bovine Metropolis need a PAC?
A: We don’t, but did you need that last thing you bought?. Buying an election isn’t cheap, and therefore neither are politicians, anymore. In my grandfathers day, for $500 you could buy a State Senator, or you could buy a Judge, Jury and a Coke. Nowadays, the average Joe can’t afford to buy their own politician, but with your help, we will be able to influence the electoral process to help make for a funnier electorate.

Q: Don’t PACs have too much influence?
A: Yes! That’s why we want one. In the 1996 election, PACs accounted for $197.5 million raised by candidates who ran for Congress, that’s 75% of all the money raised for Congressional candidates. For that kind of money you can buy a lot of funny.

Q: Fund raising scandals are in the news all the time. Aren’t PACs involved?
A: PAC’s don’t cause scandals, people cause scandals. People with big mouths to be precise.

Q: What is the Bovine Metropolis Political Action Committee*?
A: The Bovine Metropolis Political Action Committee* is a grassroots organization which accepts voluntary contributions that are put directly in the bank. These funds are then used to make either to make contributions to candidates, political committees, or to help fray costs of the “lobbyist” mortgage, phone bills, dinner out, etc.

Q: Who can become a member in the Bovine Metropolis PAC?
A: People like yourself. People who want a funnier Congress! People who are kind enough, and smart enough to give us money without any promise of return.

Q: How do I join?
A: Take pride in your country and expand your participation in the political process by sending a check to: Bovine Metropolis, at 1527 Champa Street, Denver, Colorado, 80202 and we will do the rest!

Q: How much should I contribute?
A: As much as you won’t miss or want back.

Q: Once I become a member, where does my money go?
A: Do you remember what I said about scandals? Do I look like I have a big mouth?

Q: How does the PAC choose who to support?
A: The PAC has a strict criteria to guide it’s decisions. It evaluates a candidates voting record, legislative history, bribe potential and humor quotient over a very expensive dinner with wine paid for with PAC funds. Then decides to use the monies for “managerial expenses”.

Q: Will I know how my money is being spent?
A: Most likely you will never be sure how your money is being spent, but we assure you that eventually it will be spent.

Q: Is my contribution tax deductible.
A: No. We are sorry about that. If we could, we would. I swear, but we can’t.

Q: Can I give money to the PAC if I am not a U.S. citizen?
A: Yes! Like our Justice System, Bovine Metropolis PAC does not discriminate against those with money. HOW CAN WE DO THIS? Simple, We just guarantee that no monies received by foreign interests will be distributed to candidates.

Q: Can you give me an example of who and what you might support?
A: Sure.

Q: Ok. So who would you support?
A: You mean specifically?

Q: Yes!
A: Ok, Ok don’t get huffy. Candidates we support politically and for funny quotient:
* Jesse “The Mind” Ventura
* Al Frankin
* Bruce Babbit
* The guy who wrote “Unsafe at Any Speed.”
* Gopher from “Love Boat”, not so much politically, but in hopes of turning the Congress into “The Love Congress.”

People who we can’t support because they are evil and aren’t funny:
* Rush Limbaugh (Did he fail Logic and Critical Thinking?)
* The Republican Party

People we wish we could support, but they just aren’t funny enough:
* Al Gore
* Richard Gephardt
* Howie Mandell

Q: Can I get a full color, tri-fold brochure so that I am filled with a false sense of professionalism and quality?
A: No

Q: Well, how can I get more information about THE BOVINE METROPOLIS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE*?
A: Send your questions about THE BOVINE METROPOLIS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE* to eric@BovineMetropolis.com

*THE BOVINE METROPOLIS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE* a fictitious organization, taking real donations!

I hear questions from my students like “How do I know where to go in the scene?”,  “How should the scene progress?”, “How do I know what the scene is about?”, “When should I edit?”.  Lots of questions that have as many different answers as scenes you can play.  Instead of tackling this big subject with “if X, then Y” mentality. I thought I would write about some types of scenes you may see or be in.  If you know the “type” of scene you are playing, then you know how that scene type is ‘normally’ played.

This is a minimalist list of the type of scenes you may be involved with and how the “normal” progression of the scene evolves.

Black Outs

We have all stumbled into those one liner scenes where the first thing said is devastatingly funny. This is the loudest laugh of the evening to this point in time, it may even stop the show for a bit. 9 times out of ten this line is a disconnect to the relationship. In other words, a joke that ends the scene, even if it is the start of the scene.  Even if it does start a relationship it doesn’t matter, it is the high point of the scene, so needs to be swept (ended).

Inside the scene (on stage): Try to hold it together, you may want to break, but channel that intensity into looking at your partner and hold on, hopefully help is on the way.  Do not speak if the audience is rolling.

Outside the scene (off stage): Run, don’t walk, think or justify, just sweep the scene.  End it!  You can wait until the laugh crescendos (starts to subside, but not stops), but end the scene fast.

Game (Scenes)

These are scenes that are usually transaction scenes.  No relationship, no ‘real’ stakes for the character (or no ‘buy in’ by one/both/all characters), but lots of laughs.  Patterns, Rhythms and Call/Response are some of the tell tale signs that you are in a Game. The scene is all about the game, you have no emotional transactions going on stage. They have a tendency to loop and not move us forward.

Each time you play the game (this is called a “reveal”) you are rewarded with a laugh (or series of laughs depending on the game).  Each next reveal must be bigger than the previous.  Each time you play the game it has to be bigger and better than the last time. After 3 reveals the game is over (this is called The Rule of 3).

Inside the scene (on stage): Raise the stakes, intensify the emotions, make the reactions bigger.  Don’t go too big on the second reveal or you won’t have anywhere to go for the third reveal. Don’t try to figure it out, just do it again.

Outside the scene (off stage):  You need to see the pattern and after the third reveal, end it quickly.  The third reveal should be the biggest laugh.  Always try to sweep on the biggest laugh, especially when it is not a relationship scene.

Relationship Scenes

This type of scene is a disappearing art form in improv, but in many ways the most rewarding.  This is a scene where the players on stage know each other and something happens to change the dynamic in their relationship, we the audience get to watch while the sparks fly until they resolve and the relationship settles down.

Spolin put it as Staus Quo, Change, New Status Quo.  Johnstone put it as Platform, Tilt, Platform.  Your English teacher put is as Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action.

There are a thousand ways to do these types of scenes. In a tight 3 minute relationship scene you may see 30 seconds of set-up (Status Quo, Platform, Exposition, etc.), something changes and a majority of the scene will be exploring the shift in the relationship, and 10 seconds or less will be establishing the new status quo.  If it is done really well the new status quo (ending) will be established with a punch line. I would hate to see every scene like this, but it gives you an idea of where the meat of the scene can be found.

Inside the scene (on stage): Let the gravity of the change hit you. Raise the stakes, intensify the emotions, make the reactions bigger. This is a whole new worldview for you. Go with it, embrace it for the good or for the bad. Sink into it.

Outside the scene (off stage): Look to help the scene. If they need a where, or something to break the original status quo, anything to help with the exception of a joke. (I hate it when I see a good relationship scene tapped out to make a game. Relationship scenes are rare and game scenes are common.) Help raise the stakes.  Make it worse. Eventually, look for the new status quo to be established then sweep fast!

Mixed Scenes

A mixed scene is a relationship scene that has a game embedded in it.  The rules of the game still applies and only 3 reveals.   There are 2 main ways these scenes usually set up:

1)The game is at the front of the scene and runs it course with all three reveals, no one edits and now we start a scene.  Don’t be freaked out by this, it works. The game by it’s nature produces a status quo.  After the third reveal you have a great insight into the relationship and what needs to change. The only caveat is that change needs to be based in a relationship.

2)The delayed reveal. We play a game then start a relationship scene, the second reveal hits and then finally the third reveal ends the scene.  In this type of mixed scene you play the game like a trump card. You use the reveal whenever you need to add the funny.  In this type of mixed scene the third reveal usually ends the scene.

Inside the scene (on stage): Don’t be in a hurry to play your game and don’t force your reveals. These scenes can be sustained for a while because of the relationship.  They are the best of both worlds. Play it slow and let it come to you.

Outside the scene (off stage): Look to help the scene. Eventually, look for the third reveal or the new status quo to be established then sweep fast!

Flowing Scene

There is an old adage that scenes are about only one thing.  Find that one thing and life on stage becomes easy.  It is important to know “what is the scene about?” and the cool thing is the scene may be about X for me and about Y for you. (ok, sometimes X and Y are useful.)

Flowing scenes however, are scenes where the focus of the scene is not about one thing or a relationship. They flow from point A to point B. They are only about the last thing said.  They don’t know where they are going and don’t care where they have been. I find these scenes to be difficult unless they are grounded in some super sharp characters, then the scene become character studies. The trap in these scenes is that if they are not grounded in the character they usually become cleaver/thinking/talking heads scenes.

Inside the scene (on stage): Let your character be affected by what is happening on stage.  Drive it to the emotional.  Stay in your character and let everything hit them. Go big or go home.

Outside the scene (off stage): Sweep on the next laugh or in 15 seconds, whatever happens first. These scenes are very hard to sustain. Unless the players are in the zone and the audience is eating it with a spoon, end it.

I hope this reductionist look at scene work helps you get an idea of what you are doing out there and how to play scenes that you are in.  I have seen thousands of scenes and most fall into one of these categories. If you get lost, you can always just play the form of the scene you are in.

I do need to add that if you play a character, who interacts with their environment, that is affected by what is transpiring on stage, no matter how seemingly benign, your scenes will fly off the stage and entertain your audience.

Break a leg!