Matt Walsh 7/19/06 Part 3
JF: In your opinion, what are some qualities of good improv?
MW: Listening is most important. You have to be able to incorporate what your partner is giving you and build something together. If you have a funny premise and can't let go of it, you're going to be blocking a lot of gifts and gems that your partner or team is throwing at you.
Playing things real. You can come from a much more absurd place if you're grounded in reality. There's a much more sustained and heightened arc [to scenes that are grounded in reality].
What else makes good improv? Top of your intelligence, that's probably the most challenging I think. Trust your instincts but also challenge yourself to go to your second or third thought. Vary your responses. Go to an uncommon idea. That's another Del note. 'If you do something the audience has seen before, they're not that impressed, but if you do something they've never seen, that's your job.' A lot of Del's notes were related to 'give me something I haven't seen.' Challenge yourselves to not replicate a movie plot, a commercial, a tv show. Give me an idea that hasn't been seen. Create something new that is your own. That's kind of his legacy to me. I was impressed by his hunger for that.
JF: How do you encourage that desire in students for them to give you something new when you're teaching? And how do you encourage it in a theater as well?
MW: Without trying to sound like a jackass, my big thrill in teaching improv is to provide people with the excitement of that moment where you realize 'oh my god, I can do something that isn't written with somebody I never met before, or with somebody I don't really know, and we can excute some really funny scenes.' That moment of realization where they go on auto-pilot with an idea that hasn't been written, hasn't been planned yet has some intuitive kind of direction that both of you understand, that's a really amazing thing. I had that epiphany of 'man, I could do this forever.' My big enjoyment is giving the first hit of crack, if you will, which would be improv, to first-timers, to really have them get it. Then once they get it, it's just a matter of fine-tuning.
JF: How do you encourage group mind in an improv group?
MW: I would answer that with the biggest problem with improv, and I don't teach that much anymore, is that certain personalities certain personalities will never be able to improvise unless they radically alter the way they go through the world. I'm often fearful of turning people onto this [concept of] trust in the moment, because it can be like a life altering thing and I don't want to be responsible for someone who can't manage their life. Some people come into improv and they're troubling from the moment they get onstage, like 'you shut up. Listen to my idea. No, no, sit down. I'm going to talk.' Those people will never learn to improvise, because they can't let go of that defense mechanism of 'I feel safe when I'm in charge. I feel safe when I'm controling.' You can't have a group mind if you have to be the one controling things. You have to be committed to a bigger Gesalt.
JF: What makes a good initiation? And how do you initiate? How often do you have a premise and how often do you just go out there with no idea or a very minimal idea?
MW: Well, I mostly do ASSSSCAT now. It's a pretty open form done off of monologues. You're deconstructing the elements of someone's story or observations. You just think about whatever you find interesting, whatever element of that story that sticks in your head or makes you laugh, then you try to bring that idea onto the stage in the premise for a scene by putting a little twist or spin on it. If someone tells a story about eating Spigettios from a can with a spoon, you don't want to start a scene where you're eating Spigettios from a can with a spoon. You're just replicating what the audience already heard. You have to find something interesting about that.
Sometimes you go out with half an idea. Mick was a big fan of that.
JF: Do you have a preference? Do you prefer to come out with a full-blown idea or half an idea?
MW: I think it's better to come out with a premise or an idea about what the scene could be. It's just faster. You get to a game quicker. A lot of times improv can stumble around or plateau until a discovery happens. A premise is a discovery. A premise is starting with a discovery.
JF: So when you were talking about the story of somebody talking about eating Spigettios out of the container, you would try and do something analogous to that...
MW: You're putting me on the spot to come up with a funny initiation?
JF: No.
MW: Um, what's a funny premise?
JF: No, I mean you would try and do something analogous, as opposed to ...I don't know.
MW: Yeah, you would do something analogous, or even simply going to a fancy restaraunt and ordering spigettios from a can. At least it's a little different. Or maybe eating something even more difficult out of a can.
JF: So you try and heighten one aspect of the story or of the scene?
MW: Yeah, or literally whatever's odd in somebody's monologue. If somebody's telling a story about the 4th of July and watching fireworks, and they had to wait while they parked the car because 14 people with wheelchairs were going past them, then when they got to the fireworks they sat down and ate cherry pie. Seemingly, the point of that story is that they sat down and ate cherry pie, but the more interesting element of that story is the fact that they had to sit and wait while 14 people in wheelchairs crossed the front of their car. So you take what isn't necessarily the point of someone's story, but what you find interesting and blow it out.
JF: How do you come up with characters?
MW: Character shooooes. ...I don't know. Characters are mainly people you grew up with or see on TV or movies. It can come through literally just physical posture. An awesome wig can be the beginning of a character, an awesome mustache. It's kind of like whatever's called for in the scene. If someone in the scene says 'keep it down. Danny [Bloomberg(?)] is back stage.' Well, now you know someone's going to have to go out there and do a Danny Bloomberg impersonation. If I've never done a Danny Bloomberg impersonation, I'll just go out there and do my best.
JF: Have you ever found it difficult to play certain types of characters?
MW: If I say no, that will make me sound like I'm an amazing actor, so I'll say no.
JF: Ok.
MW: Ummm, let me see.
JF: Or are there certain types of characters that you prefer to play?
MW: Yeah. I guess that I don't do a good British accent. I can't really do British people. If it requires an elaborate accent, I guess I would have to say that I'm not really good at it. I guess I like to play silly or stupid too much. I like characters that are mean. I like characters that have emotional breakdowns and tantrums. I like weeping. I like physical characters.
JF: It seems like you play the straightman a lot, especially with Ian Roberts. Would you agree with that?
MW: Yeah. Ian's really good at that actually. He's probably a better straightman than me. He's got this sort of spontaneous elocution of logic. I don't always play the straightman with Ian, but we do have this sort of dynamic that tends to be not character-y but more like real.
JF: It seems like a lot of the time he's the one with the unusual idea but he plays it like a straightman.
MW: Yes. He's really good with that.
JF: Where would you like to see improv go in the future?
MW: I don't know. Outside of the Solar System.
JF: Really?
MW: Yeah.
JF: Launch it into Outer Space?
MW: Yeah, I'll say that. ...I personally want to make a good improvised movie.
JF: Do you have any advice for people who are starting improv now?
MW: Study in Chicago, New York or L.A. Hook up with people who want to do it all the time, and do it 5 or 6 nights a week. Don't worry about money, because there won't be any for a long time.
JF: Do you have anything that you would like to say to the improv community that we didn't get out?
MW: Yeah, let's recycle guys. We only get one earth. Let's get our beer bottles recycled. ...It's always nice if you buy a teacher a drink. They teach you improv the least you can do is hook them up with a drink after class, even coaches. Get them their favorite DVD or something. ...Um, what else? ...Don't invite your parents to shows that will offend them.
JF: That happened to you?
MW: Yeah, many times. [laughs]
MW: Listening is most important. You have to be able to incorporate what your partner is giving you and build something together. If you have a funny premise and can't let go of it, you're going to be blocking a lot of gifts and gems that your partner or team is throwing at you.
Playing things real. You can come from a much more absurd place if you're grounded in reality. There's a much more sustained and heightened arc [to scenes that are grounded in reality].
What else makes good improv? Top of your intelligence, that's probably the most challenging I think. Trust your instincts but also challenge yourself to go to your second or third thought. Vary your responses. Go to an uncommon idea. That's another Del note. 'If you do something the audience has seen before, they're not that impressed, but if you do something they've never seen, that's your job.' A lot of Del's notes were related to 'give me something I haven't seen.' Challenge yourselves to not replicate a movie plot, a commercial, a tv show. Give me an idea that hasn't been seen. Create something new that is your own. That's kind of his legacy to me. I was impressed by his hunger for that.
JF: How do you encourage that desire in students for them to give you something new when you're teaching? And how do you encourage it in a theater as well?
MW: Without trying to sound like a jackass, my big thrill in teaching improv is to provide people with the excitement of that moment where you realize 'oh my god, I can do something that isn't written with somebody I never met before, or with somebody I don't really know, and we can excute some really funny scenes.' That moment of realization where they go on auto-pilot with an idea that hasn't been written, hasn't been planned yet has some intuitive kind of direction that both of you understand, that's a really amazing thing. I had that epiphany of 'man, I could do this forever.' My big enjoyment is giving the first hit of crack, if you will, which would be improv, to first-timers, to really have them get it. Then once they get it, it's just a matter of fine-tuning.
JF: How do you encourage group mind in an improv group?
MW: I would answer that with the biggest problem with improv, and I don't teach that much anymore, is that certain personalities certain personalities will never be able to improvise unless they radically alter the way they go through the world. I'm often fearful of turning people onto this [concept of] trust in the moment, because it can be like a life altering thing and I don't want to be responsible for someone who can't manage their life. Some people come into improv and they're troubling from the moment they get onstage, like 'you shut up. Listen to my idea. No, no, sit down. I'm going to talk.' Those people will never learn to improvise, because they can't let go of that defense mechanism of 'I feel safe when I'm in charge. I feel safe when I'm controling.' You can't have a group mind if you have to be the one controling things. You have to be committed to a bigger Gesalt.
JF: What makes a good initiation? And how do you initiate? How often do you have a premise and how often do you just go out there with no idea or a very minimal idea?
MW: Well, I mostly do ASSSSCAT now. It's a pretty open form done off of monologues. You're deconstructing the elements of someone's story or observations. You just think about whatever you find interesting, whatever element of that story that sticks in your head or makes you laugh, then you try to bring that idea onto the stage in the premise for a scene by putting a little twist or spin on it. If someone tells a story about eating Spigettios from a can with a spoon, you don't want to start a scene where you're eating Spigettios from a can with a spoon. You're just replicating what the audience already heard. You have to find something interesting about that.
Sometimes you go out with half an idea. Mick was a big fan of that.
JF: Do you have a preference? Do you prefer to come out with a full-blown idea or half an idea?
MW: I think it's better to come out with a premise or an idea about what the scene could be. It's just faster. You get to a game quicker. A lot of times improv can stumble around or plateau until a discovery happens. A premise is a discovery. A premise is starting with a discovery.
JF: So when you were talking about the story of somebody talking about eating Spigettios out of the container, you would try and do something analogous to that...
MW: You're putting me on the spot to come up with a funny initiation?
JF: No.
MW: Um, what's a funny premise?
JF: No, I mean you would try and do something analogous, as opposed to ...I don't know.
MW: Yeah, you would do something analogous, or even simply going to a fancy restaraunt and ordering spigettios from a can. At least it's a little different. Or maybe eating something even more difficult out of a can.
JF: So you try and heighten one aspect of the story or of the scene?
MW: Yeah, or literally whatever's odd in somebody's monologue. If somebody's telling a story about the 4th of July and watching fireworks, and they had to wait while they parked the car because 14 people with wheelchairs were going past them, then when they got to the fireworks they sat down and ate cherry pie. Seemingly, the point of that story is that they sat down and ate cherry pie, but the more interesting element of that story is the fact that they had to sit and wait while 14 people in wheelchairs crossed the front of their car. So you take what isn't necessarily the point of someone's story, but what you find interesting and blow it out.
JF: How do you come up with characters?
MW: Character shooooes. ...I don't know. Characters are mainly people you grew up with or see on TV or movies. It can come through literally just physical posture. An awesome wig can be the beginning of a character, an awesome mustache. It's kind of like whatever's called for in the scene. If someone in the scene says 'keep it down. Danny [Bloomberg(?)] is back stage.' Well, now you know someone's going to have to go out there and do a Danny Bloomberg impersonation. If I've never done a Danny Bloomberg impersonation, I'll just go out there and do my best.
JF: Have you ever found it difficult to play certain types of characters?
MW: If I say no, that will make me sound like I'm an amazing actor, so I'll say no.
JF: Ok.
MW: Ummm, let me see.
JF: Or are there certain types of characters that you prefer to play?
MW: Yeah. I guess that I don't do a good British accent. I can't really do British people. If it requires an elaborate accent, I guess I would have to say that I'm not really good at it. I guess I like to play silly or stupid too much. I like characters that are mean. I like characters that have emotional breakdowns and tantrums. I like weeping. I like physical characters.
JF: It seems like you play the straightman a lot, especially with Ian Roberts. Would you agree with that?
MW: Yeah. Ian's really good at that actually. He's probably a better straightman than me. He's got this sort of spontaneous elocution of logic. I don't always play the straightman with Ian, but we do have this sort of dynamic that tends to be not character-y but more like real.
JF: It seems like a lot of the time he's the one with the unusual idea but he plays it like a straightman.
MW: Yes. He's really good with that.
JF: Where would you like to see improv go in the future?
MW: I don't know. Outside of the Solar System.
JF: Really?
MW: Yeah.
JF: Launch it into Outer Space?
MW: Yeah, I'll say that. ...I personally want to make a good improvised movie.
JF: Do you have any advice for people who are starting improv now?
MW: Study in Chicago, New York or L.A. Hook up with people who want to do it all the time, and do it 5 or 6 nights a week. Don't worry about money, because there won't be any for a long time.
JF: Do you have anything that you would like to say to the improv community that we didn't get out?
MW: Yeah, let's recycle guys. We only get one earth. Let's get our beer bottles recycled. ...It's always nice if you buy a teacher a drink. They teach you improv the least you can do is hook them up with a drink after class, even coaches. Get them their favorite DVD or something. ...Um, what else? ...Don't invite your parents to shows that will offend them.
JF: That happened to you?
MW: Yeah, many times. [laughs]
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