Naming the Game

One of the most intimidating aspects of stepping into an improv scene is keeping it alive once you’ve established a base reality (the characters, location, and what they are doing). There’s no script and no plan, and you need to find a way to get on the same page with your scene partners to keep it going in real time. The key is finding the first unusual thing, then creating a game from there that can be played through the end of the scene.

The game of the scene is the central funny idea that defines a pattern based on asking “if this unusual thing is true, what else is true?” Naming the game sets up the rule for the scene play.

We can start with some examples.

Scene 1: A talented band is recording an album. Every musician is playing at the top of their game, including a highly specialized cowbell player. The cowbell is the least complex instrument, but it overpowers every other instrument in the recording. Everyone agrees the cowbell should be toned down. The producer consults, but insists, to everyone’s surprise, that the cowbell should be more prominent. The song needs more cowbell.

• the unusual thing: the producer’s opinion about the cowbell is the opposite of what everyone expected.

• if this unusual thing is true, what else is true? The producer has a trained ear to appreciate the cowbell. The producer wants the cowbell to be respected among the other instruments.

• the game rules: a minor support role is directed to take more and more of the center stage until everything else is background.

Scene 2: Two midwestern crochet-vested NPR radio hosts have a guest appear on their local cooking show to talk about his family recipe. Through a stifled, even-toned discussion of the meatball recipe, all three participants engage obliviously in increasingly graphic innuendo.

• the unusual thing: the innuendo coming from prudish characters is unexpected

• if this unusual thing is true, what else is true? the characters are so prudish that they have no idea about the double meaning of what they are saying.

• the game rules: a serious discussion remains serious while characters say uncharacteristically inappropriate things.

Once you’ve identified the game rules in your scene, players can all just take turns playing the game. Like a board game, the scene continues where each move builds on the last.

Naming the game should not involve plot overview or get into the specifics of the base reality. Keeping the rules more general allows you to see how else the exact same game can be played.

For example, if More Cowbell were played again, it could be an office scene where someone has a menial job of shredding paper. The boss admires his paper shredding, and the paper shredder gets promoted, eventually making major company business decisions. Or if Schweddy Balls were played again, you can imagine a solemn scene at a funeral, where mourners give their eulogies littered with unknowing innuendo.

There’s a similar distillation that happens in software development when designing a product or feature. Feedback can be complicated and contradictory from users and stakeholders about their needs and expectations for a feature. Often users experiencing pain points or stakeholders planning improvements will present their requests in the form of current problems or potential solutions. So you start with these specifics to reveal the patterns represented, but you ultimately want to identify what the values and goals of the interested parties are. Like naming the game. There could be many ways the game plays out, but you want to set the rules before you make your move.