The Big Bad You
Posted by Mouth | Filed under Talkin' Shop - We talk improv. Any questions you want discussed can be. Email us @ captain@ussrocknroll.com., The Mouth
Recently while on a road trip I had a conversation about how yoga, meditation and improv all drive at the same principle, to remain present. And ever since then I can’t help but think I am falling down some hippie new age well never to be the same. Because quite frankly, I buy it. Not only buy it, but I am a full on believer of it.
Yoga and meditation followers are often looked at as “new age” or “hippie” but improvisers are not. Curious? I am. Is it because we just don’t know what our goal as improvisers actual is? I think that has to be part of it. Improvisers are often focused on the joke and in doing so we rush past the most basic and most important job of a performer, to connect to the moment. We are sometimes so far removed from understanding our own selves that we can’t even hope to honestly connect.
Remaining present seems to always be the 2nd or 3rd or 10th actual priority of improvisers if a priority at all. Read the rest of this entry »
My New Acting Reel
Posted by Brary | Filed under The Brary, Videos
At the risk of appearing egotistical, I’m posting the acting reel I recently put together for my new theatrical agent, the Talent House LA. You may accuse me of having nothing to say about improv today or having nothing else worthwhile to post, so I resort to a video of myself. That’s a fair criticism. But regardless, I hope you enjoy the reel and keep an eye out for other USS shipmates in it.
Tags: Dave Taylor, reels, Talent House LA
Improv Tools In The Days of Radio
Posted by mouse | Filed under Talkin' Shop - We talk improv. Any questions you want discussed can be. Email us @ captain@ussrocknroll.com., The Mouse
Since I’ve become a stay-at-home father, I have found many things to value that I didn’t care about. Two of these things coincide to the most calm and relaxing time of my day: walks and podcasts. I’ve recently discovered a ton of old radio theater broadcasts, some good, some not good at all. By far the most interesting (to me) and lamest radio show I’ve listened to has been the “Batman’s Great Mystery” episodes of “The Adventures of Superman.” These aired roughly 1940, but it’s some of the best examples of the positive and negative improv rules we know. (Warning: MAJOR spoilers of a 70-year-old radio program coming). Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: batman, boring choices, improv, radio, radio show, radio theater, recap, Robin, stalling, superman
Keene Observations on Sunroofs
Posted by dandy | Filed under Guest Blog, Uncategorized
A native Hoosier, Matt Keene is an actor with a day job in LA. He is a member of the Harold Team Gypsy Lou at iO West and the author of the ‘Keene Observations’ series.
Observation No. 9
The Reason I Like Cars with Sunroofs by Matt Keene:
The reason I like cars with sunroofs is because cars with sunroofs are the only cars that can have all of their windows rolled up and still have a window wide open. In conclusion, this has been the reason I like cars with sunroofs.
The end.
Tags: Gypsy Lou, iO West, Matt Keene
Top Poppers
Posted by dandy | Filed under The Dandy, Videos
I love it when somebody loses their cool. Can’t get enough of it. Watching somebody blow their stack in traffic, or on a basketball court or wherever has long been one of my most favorite activities. Today I would like to share a couple of my favorite “Top Popper” videos with you. Enjoy and have a dandy of a weekend!!
Number 1: The Angry Fat Lady
Stack and Flop
Posted by Tuck | Filed under Talkin' Shop - We talk improv. Any questions you want discussed can be. Email us @ captain@ussrocknroll.com., The Tuck
USS Rock n Roll has been messing around with a new style of Harold in rehearsals the past couple of months. The formal name we have been giving it is the “Stack and Flop”.
It can be really hard to follow along with the format, and has caused some confusion on our team, but something great has come out of it.
I will try to explain the form as best as I can.
Using this format, a standard Harold would look like this
Opening
Scene A1 B1 C1
Game
Scene A2 B2 C2
Game
Scene A3 B3 C3
The “Stack and Flop” works like this.
Tags: challenge, form, Harold, stack and flop, styles
Never Give Up
Posted by Touch | Filed under Uncategorized
In watching the U.S. win in dramatic fashion today against Algeria, I am reminded of how an average to poor performance can be salvaged by strong play in the final minutes of a show.
Most if not all of us have been in a Harold or some improv equivalent and have felt the painful scrapes of a bad show slowly sinking for the longest half-hour of our lives. It feels as if there is nothing you can do. The harder you try to salvage the piece, the worse it gets. Eventually you become so worn down by the process that you simply give up and start counting down the minutes to when that oh so merciful darkness will wash the stage. But if that’s how Landon Donovan thought, the U.S. wouldn’t be headed to the next round of the World Cup and a shit ton of people on Facebook wouldn’t be able to suddenly pretend that they love soccer. Can you imagine?!
So, the message here is clear. Never give up! NEVER. If for no other reason than to send the audience and your team home with a good feeling; one that may even convince everyone that what they saw was a good show, even if the first 25 minutes were crap in a bag. There are many reasons why a show can go wrong – so many in fact that I am tired just thinking about them. But ultimately there is only one real reason for an improviser to quit on a show – the desire to not look bad. And believe me when I say, I have been there. Shit, I have pitched a tent there and roasted ego marshmallows on an arrogant stick. There is nothing morally wrong with wanting to look good and frankily, it is part of what makes us get on stage and perform. The journey however, that is to say the big opportunity for us all as improvisers and artists, is to transcend that self-preserving way of thinking and give yourself and your fears over to the bigger picture – the group mind. When this happens, even if only during the final fading minutes of a gut wrenching show, magic will happen.
So today’s mantra: Never Give Up! Not on yourself, your show or your team. Now excuse me while I go ride the high of U.S. soccer and the players I barely know.
5 Questions With Nick Armstrong
Posted by Brary | Filed under Interviews, Talkin' Shop - We talk improv. Any questions you want discussed can be. Email us @ captain@ussrocknroll.com., The Brary
Every so often I like to conduct brief Q&As with my favorite improvisers. Nick definitely falls into that category. You can see this versatile and funny three-time Sexiest Player winner at iO West in Hollywood with Local 132 on Tuesdays at 9pm, with God Squad at 10pm, and with Friday Forty on Fridays at 10pm. I recently picked his brain about improv.
How did you get started in improv?
I started improv in High School, with no training whatsoever, just what I saw on TV…I was really bad and I really just acted like Phil Hartman and Chris Farley. Then in college, still without training, I started a short form and sketch group and read a book on how to do improv…Poor audience. It’s only when I went to iO West in 2003 and started taking classes that I really gained an appreciation for improv as an art form and really started learning. So, I said goodbye to short form forever and have never looked back.
Tags: God Squad, Kind Strangers, Local 132, Nick Armstrong, The Friday Forty
UCB Podcast with John Lutz
Posted by Trapper | Filed under Interviews, Resources for improvisers
John Lutz is a veteran improviser from Chicago. He is a writer for SNL and plays the part of Lutz on 30 Rock. You can hear a great interview with him on this UCB podcast.
Click the link and find podcast number 2. He talks about the forms four square and the JTS Brown. Also about improvising without judgement. The first part of the podcast is a recap of shows in New York and then the interview. Enjoy.
Tags: improv, interview, John Lutz, Lutz, podcast, UCB
Careers From Improv: “The Jerry Seinfeld Program”
Posted by mouse | Filed under Outside Projects, The Mouse
This entry will have less to do with what I’ve been doing at work (writing) and more about stuff we talked about at work. Specifically the Jerry Seinfeld Program, a strange comedy mystery wrapped in meta humor and smothered in a secret sauce of strange.
Episode 6: “Second Base” from Jerry & George on Vimeo.
This is the work of Dan Klein and Arthur Meyer, two comedians from New York who have created a weird project. It’s weird in how common and un-weird it is. ”The Jerry Seinfeld Program” is basically like satire dressed as fan fiction. On top of that, add the fact that it’s always weird when you parody comedy. It’s a layers thing that makes the whole enterprise feel odd. Most times it doesn’t work. This time it does.
But why “J.S.P.” works is a mystery to me, and I think that’s why I find it so fascinating. One of my friends commented that the actual jokes within these episodes don’t hold up, and while I agree, I feel that’s the point. The point of “J.S.P.” wasn’t to replace “Seinfeld,” but to simply point out the rhythms of the hit sitcom to the edge of irritation. We laugh more at the idea that these episodes (if we can even call them “episodes”) exist than at the actual content within.
That being said, I still don’t know why this idea works and why I’m jealous for not thinking of it first. Like “Garfield Without Garfield,” the idea is incredibly simple and memorable: two guys on a green screen set doing impressions of well-known characters, buttoned with that trademark slap-base theme song. The dialog works because it’s so B-level. If “J.S.P.” strove to be any more than what it was, it would be a clear failure. But because it only serves to emulate “Seinfeld” from afar, it can be labeled a success.
Whatever it is exactly, it’s all we could talk about at work, so bravo for some reason, “Jerry Seinfeld Program.” You’ve done it, whatever you think “it” may be.
Tags: Jerry Seinfeld Program, Parody, work
