Learning short form can make you better at long form. Some of you may need to wipe whatever you were drinking off your screen but let me explain. (And yes, I like my metaphors mixed, not shaken.)

Navigate Like a Local

Whenever you go somewhere for the first time there is a period of adjustment before you “know your way around.” By the time I finished college one of the things I loved about Kalamazoo is that I could get wherever I wanted to go four or five different ways. I knew my way around and even the parts of the city I didn’t know as well I could navigate so long as I knew what direction I was headed and my basic position. All I needed was one street I recognized to get where I needed to be. All of this being true, why wouldn’t I want to know as many of the streets as possible? 

At their heart good short form games focus on a specific improv muscle. Each short form game/structure is a street in the metropolis we call ‘improvisational theatre.’ The more of these you know, the easier it is to navigate to where you want to be. You won’t be stuck on one street going one of two available directions but you’ll have access to cross streets, freeways, back alleys, two tracks, some bullet trains and an airport or two. All of this allows you to move through the city and get where you want to be efficiently and, when you know the city well enough, in ways that surprise your passengers. I would much rather get into a ride-share with someone who knows the area like the back of their hand than someone who had has just moved in. Even with the map app of their choice locals know things. They know that the flashing neon lights attract tourists but if you really want BBQ that’ll knock your socks off they know a hole in the wall or a food truck. 

I’ve been in car rides where the driver didn’t know where they were going. I’ve been a driver who didn’t know where they were going. Is it possible to happen upon fun and interesting things? Yes. Is it possible to know the area and still get lost? Yes. On any given day there are myriad things that could affect traffic and it’s nice to have myriad ways to navigate the congestion. Am I stretching this analogy a bit thin?

Game of Scene & Short Form Games

Ok, so those of you who really resonate with UCB pedagogy humor me a moment. I’ll say that the game of the scene is the dynamic that all the actors on stage agree to play. To find the game of the scene, UCB style, is to establish a baseline of what is real/normal in the world of the scene and then jump on the first thing that is “unusual” about that established world and play that for comedic purposes. So let me analogize this…

The scene is a forest or jungle or even a savannah and the goal of the improvisor is to find the animal (or vegetation) that doesn’t belong and track it (for comedic purposes). If you are on such a quest doesn’t it make sense to learn about the flora and fauna you may encounter? Wide knowledge of short form games gives a performer a leg up in identifying and cataloging comedic elements in a scene. When something unusual happens such a performer has a repository to draw from, mix and combine to play with whatever has just happened. It’s not just about noticing the out of place animal but recognizing the trail and being able to track it via its footprints, where it’s brushed against trees and grass, whatever droppings it’s left behind. To be able to pick up the scent of the game of the scene and probe a little to see if the trail is hot – that’s useful. 

At the end of the day short form games point an improvisor to the possibility of comedy. Each one says “Here is a known method to accentuate comedy in a scene.” I say “possibility of comedy” because, for various reasons, they don’t always succeed. To be able to recognize these possibilities in the context of long form is something I advocate. Now I’m not suggesting that you full on insert a short form game into your UCB Harold, but the knowledge of short form will increase your improv lexicon and better prepare you to play whatever game develops.

Final Thoughts

Some of you may still be doubters and that’s fine. I’m sure there are many great long form actors who have never done short form. I will end by quoting a professor of mine (who was quoting someone else) – “Since when is ignorance an asset?”