Improv Harold, Week 2 Recap (8/30/22)

Hey Personal Problems! All of you were present for Week 2, so thank you for being there and doing amazing work. I’ve done a recap of some important concepts from class below.

Week 2: Second Beats

Three Types of Second Beats

In Week 2 we worked on second beats. As I mentioned, there are three main types of second beats: (1) analogous, (2) time dash, and (3) tangential.

As an example that I’ll use throughout this recap, let’s say there was a first beat scene where there was a hostess without chef/cooking experience at a restaurant who got promoted to head chef. Let’s say in this scene there are two characters: the promoted hostess as the voice of reason (so they will continually insist that they are not qualified, don’t know how to cook, get overwhelmed, etc.) and an actual chef who promoted the hostess as the absurd character.

Analogous Second Beats

In order to initiate an analogous second beat, you need to be able to (1) break down the first beat scene and identify the game/unusual thing. And (2) once you identify the game, then you should be able to label it without the specifics/details from that specific scene. Then (3) initiate a second beat that plays the same game but with different characters. Ideally, this will be in a heightened situation. (You’ll notice, this is an almost identical skill to pulling premises/ideas from the Living Room opening.)

Using our hostess promoted to head chef example, the game/unusual thing is that the hostess — with no chef qualifications/experience — was promoted to head chef and is quasi-attempting to fill that role (while objecting/saying they don’t know what they’re doing).

What is the game without the specifics/details? As I’ve mentioned in class, it is very possible for there to be multiple games that different people see. The trick is being able to figure out what you find funny and labeling it so that now everyone is on the same page as to what you think is funny/what the game is. Using our example, a few games could be:

• (1) that someone with a job assumes anyone could do their job easily and without training (here, if the real chef in the first beat said “you’re going to be fine, it’s not hard, anyone could do this job, now I need you to [insert very technical chef terms here]”);
• (2) that people get promoted merely when there is a staff shortage and the absurd character doesn’t care about the quality of the work, just that a body is doing the job (here, if the real chef in the first beat said “I don’t care that you don’t know how to make eggplant parmesan, we’re short staffed, so I just need you to throw anything resembling it together and serve it”); or
• (3) that someone not qualified for a job attempts to do it anyways purely because someone that they admire to told them to (here, someone could even find the promoted hostess to be the absurd character if they’re frantically serving raw, uncooked eggs assuming that it could pass for eggs benedict, and this could be labeled in the first beat by the promoted hostess saying “I have no idea how to make eggs benedict but because you, chef Smith, told me to and I admire you, I’m of course going to do my best… Eggs benedict is just raw eggs… right?”).

If we wanted to do an analogous second beat of our example, then we might see a janitor at a hospital be promoted to a brain surgeon. These are higher stakes and different characters playing the same game. Now how we play this scene depends on what we labeled/identified the game to be. Note: if it was not labeled in the first beat, it’s up for grabs and open to interpretation for the second beat. Using my prior three different examples of games that could be identified, we would play this janitor to brain surgeon scene differently.

• In (1) where someone with a job assumes anyone could do their job easily and without training, then we might see another brain surgeon (the absurd character) asking the janitor to perform brain surgery and explaining “you’re going to be fine, it’s not hard, anyone could do this job, now I need you to [insert very technical brain surgeon terms here].”
• In (2) where people get promoted merely when there is a staff shortage and the absurd character doesn’t care about the quality of the work, just that a body is doing the job, then we might see another brain surgeon (the absurd character) saying “I don’t care if you don’t know how to perform brain surgery, there’s just a staff shortage and I need to take my hour lunch break, have at it.”
• In (3) where someone not qualified for a job attempts to do it anyways purely because someone they admire told them to, then we might see the promoted janitor (the absurd character) trying to perform brain surgery and saying “I have no idea how to perform brain surgery, but because you, Dr. Kennedy, told me to and I admire you, I’ll try my best… is this supposed to be bleeding?”

This illustrates why it is important as an improviser to say what you specifically find funny. There can be multiple different games; thus, you need to label it in order to narrow in on one game and know how to play it. That’s what’s great about improv: we all bring our own brains and senses of humor to the table. We all might find different funny things about the scene, so when you’re in it, label it. Remember, any improviser in the scene can label this game; it doesn’t have to be the voice of reason, for example.

Recall that in Week 2 class, we had a great first beat scene where one character didn’t want to go through the duty-free part of the airport and the other character pointed out that this was absurd that they planned, paid for, and went on a trip, only to choose to bail because of not wanting to go through duty-free with all the options of things to buy. The voice of reason character pointed out that this was absurd because they went all this way only to be stopped by this. Here, we identified several unusual things: (1) someone going through the cost/time for something big (a trip) only to have a minor inconvenience (a few minutes passing through duty free) deter them, (2) the idea that the overwhelming options stopped someone from doing something, (3) taking big inconvenient detours to avoid minot things, and several others. This is why it is important to label what is the funny thing/unusual thing/game in the first beat. I recall that the voice of reason highlighted that the person was deterred from this big trip for something so minor, so this is the game we would likely try to narrow in on and play in the first beat (and again in the second beat). For the most part, the first thing labeled is the thing you should try to narrow in on.

This is heady stuff, but to summarize analogous second beats: first, figure out what the game is/what is unusual about the first beat. Second, be able to label it without the specifics. Third, be able to initiate and play the second beat with the same game/unusual thing but different characters.

Note: as I said in class, if improvisers Adrian and Barney are the two improvisers playing the promoted hostess and the actual chef, it is great/preferable to have two different improvisers, let’s say Casey and Dawn, initiate and play the second beat with the promoted janitor and actual brain surgeon. However, it is also fine for Adrian and Barney to initiate and play the promoted janitor and actual brain surgeon in the second beat.

Time-Dash Second Beats

As we learned in class, another option for initiating a second beat is to do a time-dash. This means you take at least one of the characters from the first beat and see them in the future (or, it could be in the past, but the future is often easier as it more easily lends itself to heightening). In the second beat, we don’t want to see them in the same scene, five minutes later from the first beat. We want to see them after some time has passed. Maybe it’s one week, one month, one year, five years, 20 years later. What’s important is that we are not following plot, we want to see these character(s) play their games in more comedic situations.

Identifying a game here is still important. As you learned in Level 4 with the La Ronde, there are many places to take a character where they can play their game. This is a similar muscle you’re using for time-dash second beats.

Going back to our example, if we wanted to do a time-dash second beat, then we might see:

• That the same promoted hostess from the first beat is now running Hell’s Kitchen or something they are not remotely qualified for. This scene would have the same promoted hostess character (the same improviser) from the first beat, but new character(s) (and ideally new improvisers) playing other characters in Hell’s Kitchen. This is an example of one character from the first beat going forward in the time dash.
• That the same promoted hostess and the same chef are running the restaurant out of business. Maybe a new character initiates the scene telling them that they’re closing down the restaurant. This is an example of both first beat characters going forward in the time dash.
• That the actual chef is now being scolded by the restaurant owner for promoting a hostess to head chef. This is an example of one first beat character going forward in the time dash.
• That the promoted hostess (if we’re playing the game that they want to appease the person they admire, even if they don’t know what they’re doing) is now babysitting kids but has no idea what they’re doing and only did it because they look up to the kids’ parent. This is an example of one first beat character going forward in the time dash.
• That the actual chef (if we’re playing the game that they promote people merely when there is a staff shortage and they don’t care about the quality of the work, just that someone is doing it) has a romantic partner who is on a month-long vacation, so they find a stand-in partner for that month. This is an example of one first beat character going forward in the time dash.

As you can see, there are infinite options for time-dash second beats. If characters had a game in the first beat, they should continue to play it in the time-dash second beat (just like in the La Ronde, with a different situation but continuing to play your character’s game).

Tangential Second Beats

Although we did not get a chance to practice tangential second beats, we briefly discussed them. A tangential second beat is when you pick up on something you thought was funny or interesting from the first beat and play with that in the second beat.

For example, if, in a first beat scene, someone in a one off-sentence mentions that fruits have emotions, then you could initiate a second beat where you are fruits and expressing your emotions.

In our example, we may see a tangential second beat where there are two new improvisers/characters sitting at the same restaurant, talking about how they got raw eggs instead of eggs benedict served at this restaurant.

Tangential scenes are often initiated/played by different improvisers than those in the first beat, but it can also be the same improvisers as the first beat.

We will cover this more in the coming weeks, but these tangential ideas tend to be best played in the third beat of the Harold. So even if you flag a random one-off funny/interesting idea, hold onto it because there is room in the Harold to play it later, even if it is not used in the second beat.

Okay, so how do we choose whether to initiate an analogous, time dash, or tangential second beat?

It’s up to you! There is no right answer.

Also, as I mentioned in class (in response to a good question), not all second beats need to be the same type; you can have 2A as an analogous second beat, 2B as a time-dash second beat, and 2C as a tangential second beat, for example.

Okay but really Victoria, why would we choose analogous, time dash, or tangential? As you’ll see as we learn the Harold, often times you will either be in the first beat scene or on the backline and you will just have a feeling/idea that comes to you for the second beat.

Analogous second beats are great when there was a clear game in the first beat. You can repeat the same funny thing/game with different characters, jumping right in and immediately playing with what you discovered in the first beat. If you think the game was hilarious and want to keep playing with it and exploring it with different characters/scenarios, analogous second beats are great.

Time-dash second beats are great if you, your team, and/or the audience loved one or both of the characters from the first beat. Maybe you played a witch character that was so fun to play and you want to continue to see the witch. Maybe you can immediately imagine where you want to see this character playing their game and you know it will be fun. Also, time-dashes work well if you don’t think there was a clear first-beat game (so it’s difficult if not impossible to initiate an analogous second beat).

Tangential second beats can be great if you just felt tickled by an idea that was mentioned in the first beat. A warning: the reason we emphasize analogous and time-dash second beats are partially because it is difficult to have to discover a new game in the second beat. First beats are longer and allow the improvisers the room to find and play a game. In second beats, we want to start immediately playing the game, already off to the races from the first beat. Play with the fun you found! We can do this with analogous (knowing and playing the same game) and time dash (knowing the characters and their game(s)). However, with tangential second beats, we would need to find and play an entirely new game/funny thing. (For example, in the emotional fruit example, we only know that we want to play with fruits having emotion, but we still have to discover so much in the scene. For example, are the fruits emotional at each other? Are they emotional at the world around them? At humans? At other foods or types fruits being superior to them? Then once we discover that, we still have to play that.) Second beats are shorter than first beats, so we have less time to discover this. Also, it’s fun to explore and do the work in the first beat and then play the awesome ideas you came up with in the rest of the show.

You’ll get the hang of it as we run through the Harold more. Trust yourself and what you’re drawn to initiate for a second beat.

How do we know what type of second beat is being initiated?

Someone in class asked a great question about how to know what type of second beat is being initiated. The short answer is you don’t know. You don’t know what your teammates will initiate. However, the key is to keep your head on a swivel when a second beat is being initiated.

If you were in scene 1A and Group Game 1 was just edited and we’re about to see scene 2A, quickly scan the backline and see if a teammate is jumping out to do an analogous scene (as I said, we try to let other improvisers initiate analogous second beats of our scenes) or to initiate a time-dash as a new character. If someone new who was not in 1A walks out to initiate 2A and does not make eye contact with either of the two improvisers from 1A, they are probably initiating an analogous (or tangential) scene. If someone new who was not in 1A walks out to initiate 2A and makes eye contact with just one of the improvisers from 1A, that improviser should join the scene; your teammate has an idea and likely wants to initiate a time-dash second beat with your character. Similarly, if someone new who was not in 1A walks out to initiate 2A and makes eye contact with both of the improvisers from 1A, both 1A improvisers should join the scene; your teammate has an idea and likely wants to initiate a time-dash second beat with both characters.

As you can see, the key is awareness and eye contact. If you were in 1B, when 2A is edited and 2B is about to start, scan the backline and if someone steps out, see if they make eye contact with you. If no one steps out, be ready to step out and initiate the second beat (and if you need someone in particular to step out with you, either calling back your scene partner from 1A or you need an entirely new person, make eye contact with your teammate(s) who you need and they will know to step out with you).

Living Room Opening

We practiced running more Living Room openings. Please see the Week 1 recap for an explanation of the Living Room opening.

Final Thoughts

In Week 2 we worked on second beats (specifically analogous second beats and time-dash second beats, while mentioning tangential second beats) and the Living Room opening again from Week 1.

This is heady stuff and you all are crushing it already. You’re doing a great job identifying the game and new characters to play it with in second beats. I love all the questions you’re asking. As always, if you have any questions or thoughts, I’m more than happy to answer them (in class, after class, around the theater, via MightyNetworks, whatever it may be). Can’t wait to see you tomorrow for Week 3!