Bob Dassie 4/13/06 Part 3

JF: Could you feel the influence of the Groundlings a lot when you first came out here?


BD: No. When you say ‘could I feel it’ in what way? In classes?



JF: In the improv community? In the way that people improvised?


BD: Um, no, I’ll tell you why, I taught more of the upper level classes, so if there was any of that they may weeded it out or let it go. But I never taught level 1 classes, so I never had to deal with people just going ‘what is this? I do Groundlings, and now I do this.’ So, I never had to deal with that. I’m not trying to say that it doesn’t exist.



JF: What are some things that you try and emphasize when you’re teaching?


BD: [laughs] Can you be broader with that question?



JF: [laughs] Um, what are some things that you like when you’re doing things?


BD: [laughs] When I’m teaching, I emphasize relationship, emotion, and …I’ll just say relationship and emotion, and all that.



JF: So how do you get people to be really emotional in scenes?


BD: Well, it’s a fine line between melodrama and just strong emotional choices. Variations of things like side-coaching them or pushing them in one direction to go. We do specific emotion exercises to exercise a variety of emotions and all that. That stuff.



JF: Have you taken any formal acting training?


BD: Yeah, I had some acting in Chicago at a couple of places, and this will sound beautiful, but I’ve read plenty of acting books. [laughs]



JF: Does that influence your improv or the way that you teach improv?


BD: Yes and no, I imagine. There’s stuff that we do on stage that you have to be a good actor to pull it off. Del always used to say that he knew some great actors that were horrible improvisers, and some great improvisers that were horrible actors. I think we need to find the merger of the two. You need to be a great actor and a great improviser. They’re not mutually exclusive.



JF: What makes good improv, to ask another broad question?


BD: Yeah, what makes good improv? That’s a subjective question. It’s like saying, ‘what makes great art?’ Red. The color red. I think what makes great improv is …you know, I don’t know how to answer that question.



JF: What do you like to see most in improv shows?


BD: Oh boy, people that want to do it. When I see an improv show, I want to see people that are passionate about it, and don’t just fuck around up there. I don’t want to see that.

[Note from Bob: I would be remiss if I didn't mention TJ & Dave and Beer, Shark, Mice as two improvised shows that have consistently excelled and have been a blast to watch. Also, I feel like I take for granted the amazing moments I see or have seen week after week at the Armando Show and during A.S.S.S.S.C.A.T. Like I said, I have the pleasure to work with some incredibly talented and funny people and I would hate if I took them for granted.]



JF: People seem to have a lot of respect for you as an improviser.


BD: Thank you.



JF: No problem. [laughs] Do you think that you approach improv differently from most improvisers?


BD: Yes, I am different from every improviser out there. [laughs] No, not at all. Like I said, one of the things I do is when I perform with people is I perform with people who have like minds. I play with people Jack McBreyer, Craig Cackowski, Rich Talarico, Stephanie, Tami Sagher, just a bunch of people and more, and everyone I do Armando with. There’s so many people that have like minds. I think that a lot of people approach it the same, but because improvisation is such a personal art form, you can’t help but be unique. As long you play truthfully to who you are then you’re going to be unique in that. If you try to emulate someone, then it’s going to come off as an emulation.

I think that’s one thing that’s drawn me to this stuff. What I do on stage is exactly who I am. There are so many people doing it who bring themselves to the stage. I think that’s essential for the performer, to bring themselves to the stage. I hope that doesn’t sound too artsy, but the whole point of is saying it is that you want to be yourself up there.



JF: Is there a difference in how you approach smaller person groups, like WeirDass or Trio or Dasariski, and larger groups of 8 people or around 8?


BD: [In a smaller cast, it’s important to consider] pacing and sharing the stage and knowing that when you’re part of a 3 person cast you’re on your toes the whole time. When you’re in an 8 person cast, you’re still on your toes, but your patience comes into play even more because you’re not always needed on stage. Sometimes your skill is to know when not to join the scene.



JF: Is there a form to WeirDass? Or are there certain things that you guys try to do?


BD: We’ve done a lot of different things in Weirdass, but similar to Dasariski, Quartet and Trio, we have a set of tools in our tool box and we can use them all at any time. But what WeirDass has done in the past is we’ve tried to bookend the shows. We’ve opened it up by doing personal monologues. We’ve done character monologues. We keep mixing it up, but the core of it is just good scene work. We try to just maintain good scene work.



JF: So, what are some of those tricks in your tool box?


BD: [laughs] Tools! Tools in the tool box.



JF: Oh. What about tools in your trick box?


BD: Tricks are like ‘I want to say words that I think are funny,’ that’s a trick. The tools that I think we use are all level 1 improv: strong relationships, strong emotional choices, time dashes, swinging doors, split scenes and call backs and all that stuff. It’s everything that we’ve been doing.



JF: I saw you guys break out of a scene one time and start doing like a personal monologue as well.


BD: Yes, that’s definitely my wife’s doing. She loves to break out and tell stories about me. We both do it. WeirDass has taken certain devices, that’s one of the devices that we use. Also, we’ve done a two-person ‘Hot Seat’ to start scenes with some times. That’s another device that we’ve incorporated into our shows.



JF: Do you find it difficult to do a split scene [with two people]? I’ve seen you guys basically do a walk-on into a scene that you’re in and the other person has to continue the scene as if it the other person were there.


BD: That was kind of borne out of necessity. When we started doing Trio, we agreed that we could play multiple characters. Because there’s only three of us, we’d have to play more than one character. You’re not fooling anybody when you jump up and play another character, so there’s no need to rush the transition or whatever. You just maintain the scene. Someone leaves the scene to play another character, you just maintain like that person’s still in the scene. That’s just a device that was borne out of necessity that we still use in WeirDass and Dasariski as well.



JF: How do you go about creating characters?


BD: I have no method per se. I know when I do characters I emulate things from my own life: people that I know, people that I’ve seen, or behaviors. A lot of my stuff is behavior-driven, I think. But I don’t have a box of characters that I pull out. I just never had the discipline to do that.



JF: Do you have a tool box of characters?


BD: [laughs] I do not have a toolbox of characters. I have a toolbox of behaviors. I kind of combine them differently to make characters.



JF: What makes a great team?


BD: Team work! [laughs] I think again, it’s that likeminded pursuit. When the Lost Yetis were together, we had a lot of fun as a team. In hindsight, we probably had more fun playing around than actually doing good Harolds. I should probably say they were very energetic Harolds. I don’t know if they were good or not. One thing was, after we had bad shows, and we had plenty, we’d talk about it and my one buddy would say ‘ah, we’ll get ‘em next time.’ In the beginning that was ok, but we wanted to get better that mentality of ‘we’ll get ‘em next time’ didn’t really fly. That’s when a team needs to be all on the same page about what it’s going to take to get to the next step, or what’s it going to take to not make those mistakes again. So, again I think all being on the same page, that likemindedness is what makes a good time.



JF: It sounds like there mind be a difficult point with something like that where you might decide to break up.


BD: Well, yeah, I think that’s what happens with any team. People decide to move on. Like I said, Lost Yetis was together for 3 years but in like a year and a half we had 2 people leave. We had 2 people come in, then we had another person leave, then another person came in. It’s growth. Especially when you’re first starting out in improv, when you talk about how people get shuffled around on teams and all that, you’re finding your legs on how to deal with chemistry and people and all that. Sometimes people take it so personally. They’re like ‘oh my team got broken up.’ Well, you know, your team didn’t work, or if you feel it did work and you want to keep going then perform on your own with the group. But people grow and change and have different wants and you just have to make sure that you honor those.



JF: What advice would you have to younger performers who are starting out in improv now or are like a couple years in?


BD: I would say strive to be a person that other people love to play with. There’s a great heavy quote, I think it’s Confucius, and please plug in “PRETENTIOUS” in quote marks or something to certify the pretentiousness of this, but it’s something like ‘be not concerned about being recognized, but be concerned about being worthy of recognition.’

So, my advice to young performers is that they spread themselves really thin, trying to be in 6 different teams or whatever. Really you just need to be in just 1 team or 2 teams, and work your ass off and make that other person look good. When you start making people look good with your performance, then people are going to recognize that and see that you are an excellent player.



JF: Do you have any particular exercises that have been particularly helpful to you?


BD: Oh, you know, there’s tons of them. I mentioned that emotional exercise. There’s this exercise that I do called ‘Tidbit’ that helps with the beginning of scenes. It’s all class stuff. I think that’s one thing that’s good about workshops. You’re hopefully learning something new or learning something old in a new way. I think what’s helped me most is to revisit the fundamentals and not forget the basics.



JF: Do you have any pet peeves that you see in improv shows?


BD: Well, performance-wise, it’s somebody telling me what I’m doing. Like if I start with an activity, and somebody’s like ‘how’s cleaning that walrus going?’ I’m like I wasn’t cleaning a walrus. But of course, it’s a beautiful gift, so I take the gift, right? But that’s a pet peeve of mine. [laughs]



JF: What about watching improv?


BD: Like I said, if they don’t want to be there, that comes off onstage. If they’re bored onstage, then I’m bored watching them.



JF: Where would you like to see improv go in the future?


BD: Into my pocketbook! [laughs] No, I don’t know. It’s like saying ‘where do I want to see painting go in the future?’ I want to see the art form thrive, and I want to be a part of that art form, so that’s my answer.



JF: Has improv changed you as a person?


BD: Oh yeah, that whole mentality of life is improv. I don’t know if I live by it all the time, but there’s a lot of yesand in my life.



JF: Is there anything that you would like to say to the improv community that we didn’t get out?


BD: [laughs] You asked that to Joe Bill, didn’t you?



JF: I’ve asked it to everyone.


BD: Oh you did? …Um …perform every show like it’s your last. …Is that pretentious enough?


JF: That was totally pretentious.



BD: Yeah, make sure that you put it’s absolutely pretentious. If you can, can you comment on the fact that I was sitting in slippers and smoking a pipe while this was taking place.



JF: Ok, I will. Thanks.