For The Love of Improv
For The Love of Improv
Taylor Riedeman | Character Building
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On August 9th, we discuss character building. We delve deep into things like building a platform and how to use emotion and physicality to create a character. Listen as our guest, Taylor Riedeman, demonstrates some of her quirky and out-of-the-box characters and explains how she conceptualizes them. Our history segment presents the story of the birth of Saturday Night Live (yup, improvisers started that sh*t!) along with a Gilda Radner quote that brings out our inner child. Finally, we have a special improv game in store for you that might be a tad naughty (how’s that for a teaser?!).
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And you're going. Hello and welcome to the second episode of For the Love of Improv. We are your hosts, Jessie Wicks, and I'm Katie Welsh.
SPEAKER_00:Today our topic is character building, and we have Taylor Reedman here today. She is a senior improviser at Reno Improv. She is on two teams, Ghost and We Digress, so you should get down there and see her because she's an amazing performer. She also teaches improv, so you should check that out, and we'll talk to her a little bit more about that. And she also dabbles in a bit of stand-up, too. So uh yeah, welcome, Taylor.
SPEAKER_05:Hi, thanks for having me, guys.
SPEAKER_04:All right, just you know, a few disclaimers to get us started. We are not improv experts. We really believe that you're never gonna quite be an expert, but we're all students of improv, and that's why we're here talking today, so you guys can learn and grow with us. Um, Katie, can you tell them what they're gonna get from the show today?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so basically we're we're gonna chat about improv, obviously, and we have uh some specific questions to ask to discuss with Taylor about character. Um, but we also have some segments involved, so we're gonna play a game, which should be interesting because it might be a little naughty. Um, and we also have a history segment that's not boring, I promise. Um, and maybe if we have time, we have a listener's question that we might get to at the end. Am I missing anything? Did I miss anything? Okay. Sounds great. Awesome.
SPEAKER_04:All right, so to kind of get the juices flowing, we're going to ask Taylor a question. And uh I think we can answer it too. So, Taylor, what was your favorite game growing up as a child? What did you play? I believe that you remember.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, my brothers are gonna hate me. Um so my favorite, favorite, favorite game in the world was turning my brothers into sisters. Yeah, so it's Michael and Hayes are their real names, and I would turn them into Michelle and Hazel, and I had elaborate costumes for them, and I would create plays for them. And one of my brothers, I I'll just be nice, and I won't say which one, like still sometimes tells me about how much fun it was to wear it wear heels. Oh, he was like really into it. Um so I like to see myself as a gender liberator. Let's make it let's make it deep. Let's make it that. Yeah, totally no, and it really didn't actually come from a malicious place. Like I actually were just really enjoyed dressing them up and making them like trot around the house and perform for my parents. Did you have any sisters? No.
SPEAKER_04:No, so you that was really the only people you had to dress up.
SPEAKER_00:You made sisters.
SPEAKER_05:I created them. I created them out of seemingly nothing. Yeah, see? And there you go, that's improv.
SPEAKER_00:Cool. What was your favorite game, Jess? Um as a kid.
SPEAKER_04:I always loved to dress up. Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00:So I Oh, you would have fit right in with Taylor's ensemble.
SPEAKER_04:Um, I did dress up my brother. He he became Roberta. Oh, really? Sorry, sorry, Robbie. Um my dad did not like that very much. Um but it was mostly like of myself. Like I was that narcissistic kid that was just like always kind of like daydreaming, looking in the mirror at myself. Braiding braiding my hair, twirling it, uh, pretty dresses. My mom had, my mom was a um a cheerleader when she was in her younger days, so she had her old cheerleader outfit I would always get into. And uh yeah, it makes me excited. I kind of want to start playing dress up as an adult now.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, totally. What about you, Katie? Um, well, you know, I liked all the typical, I like to dress up and I like to play house and all those typical games. But I was somewhat of an old only child. My brother was 11 years older than me, and he was my half-brother. So I found myself alone a lot. And so, I mean, I had friends and stuff, but I liked actually spending time with myself. And uh I, you know, I got into like Madonna at an early age, and I would dress up like her and like sing my heart out and like, you know, material girl and all that. And then my mom would walk in and I'd be like so embarrassed because I'm like, wow, like, you know, material, yeah, yeah, you know. And then I would be like, oh no, I wasn't doing anything.
SPEAKER_05:I used to like oh my god, this is so not good.
SPEAKER_00:Um, please share them.
SPEAKER_05:Yes. So I used to be, I mean, I think I'm still really good at this, but um convincing my friends that going into public as not yourself is a great idea. Um specifically when I was little, I used to convince my friend to go into this door and like let's pretend like we're both deaf. And so we would we would walk around and like come up with like not real sign language, and like she'd be on the other side of the aisle, and I'd be like basically giving her like baseball signals because I used to play baseball too. Oh my god, and like touching my crotch and like fixing my glasses, like my fake glasses, and like trying to tell her, like, yeah, get the soup, like whatever. Or yeah, and I just had so much fun doing that. I bet and then also imitating dads. I've always been a dad imitator. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00:Can you give us an impression right now? Not to put you on the spot, but I'm gonna put you on the spot.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. That's totally fine. Um, so this is dad who is angry at his child at the swimming pool. Okay. I don't need to do that. I don't you know to do that. Public place. Public face.
SPEAKER_02:I love that. I've never heard of it.
SPEAKER_00:I love that there's like there's like uh, you know, like the dads that like just have like sayings or they're not like complete sentences.
SPEAKER_05:They they speak in like I don't know what that is. Public place. Public place, public place.
SPEAKER_00:Is that now is that based, not to get too personal, but is that based on your father, or is it just kind of like a generic dad that that dude?
SPEAKER_05:I specifically remember I was at like this country club that I my family did not attend, but I was like a plus one for one of my rich friends.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:And um, there was this guy, and he was like getting angry at his kid, and I just could not handle like how he was talking to his kid, but it was so fascinating to me. Yeah. And I was probably I think I was 12 years old.
SPEAKER_06:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_05:And I heard him like talking to his little kid, like, you and it was just like in his throat, trying to not be angry in public, you know? And I was just like, Yeah, take care of you, he's a kid. Like, and he heard me do that, and he was like, That's not appropriate for me to do.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, and so he spoke to you because he heard you imitating him. Oh my god, that's it.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, it was so embarrassing, but at the I didn't even realize that I was doing it.
SPEAKER_00:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_05:Because he said I don't remember exactly what he said to his kid, but I said the exact same thing right after in the same voice.
SPEAKER_00:Right. It's funny to me, because I think you said it annoyed you. Like it just it kind of, I don't know if disturb is too strong a word, but you were kind of like, don't talk to your kid that way, right? And so I think it's funny that you kind of like turned it into like, oh, something sort of entertaining or funny, and then because I kind of think that that's that's where I draw a lot of like my comedy or or improv stuff too, where it's like, you know, turning those things that kind of like uh like strike you somehow, and you're like, you know, and then you make a character out of it or something like that.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, it's just whatever is it's just like that arousal. You know, like I don't know, sometimes it's anger, sometimes Right.
SPEAKER_00:It doesn't always have to be anger, yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Mm-mm. But it's just oh something just got triggered, I don't know what it is, but I'm gonna try and dive into that hole and amplify it because that means I'm connecting to it in some way.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's great. Oh my god, that's perfect segue into our topic too. Yeah. Um, oh, but first we're gonna we're gonna play a game though, right?
SPEAKER_04:Um well let's ask, let's ask, um, get you know, we already kind of did, but let's get to know Taylor just a little bit more. Taylor can open book. Uh why did you show up to your very first improv class lesson workshop, and why did you keep coming back?
SPEAKER_05:Okay. Uh I think my very first improv class was actually in college. I'm pretty sure. Um, I've been doing theater my whole life, so it's very possible that I took improv, but not um maybe it wasn't called that.
SPEAKER_08:I don't know, whatever.
SPEAKER_05:But the first time I actually remember being an improv class was in college. I had one of my degrees is in theater, and so I was super excited because we didn't have like an improv specialization when I went to school. And it was I don't know, it was so electric because in all of my other classes it's you know like literally by the book, like you have to do by script, and um you as also just as a woman, you get tycast, and I'm always, always, always typecast as one of like the pretty slash mean girls or like but in in high school I was I got to play a lot of like the supporting comedic roles and I loved that. Um and but through my college experience, like I wasn't really provided those roles as often. Suddenly I was typecast as like something completely different, is like this pretty and mean, and I was like, this sucks. Um so that class was allowing me to open up and do some characters that I had started to develop in high school when I was able to do more comedic roles, and so I was just really in love with being able to step out of my own skin. Um, because typecasting is just I mean, that's just part of acting in general. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Um women in general fall into that a lot because that's a lot of the roles that get written into things.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, and there is some like validity to why that happens, like you are playing a role, right? That being said, like you have to be able to distinguish which one is part of like a cultural, like an outdated cultural norm, and which one actually is a typecast because it serves the role. Like that's where it gets kind of muddied. But anyway, like where I was going to school, it was definitely just based on like who you are as a person because you're whatever, you're in college. And that's just the way things go. So I came back because I love stepping out of my own skin. I'm one of my primary forms of comedy is physical, and I like being able to adopt different physicalities and experience the world through a different posture or like a different tone of voice and just kind of not be me for a while. And not I don't it's not like I hate me, but I am limiting, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Sure, we all are. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05:So it's kind of cool to break free from that. And that's just kind of how I fell in love with that sector of acting. I've been acting my whole life, but improv is definitely like your your real love. Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely. That's cool.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I love the way you put that because I feel like so many people have different like psychological reasons why they do things and or in improv why they choose improv and and just having that moment of not being yourself is just yeah, you can feel however you want.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I I definitely feel too there's like a a common theme with improv, which is which is there's freedom. There's so much freedom into it in it, you know. I mean, um obviously in other forms of acting there's a certain type of freedom, but you're limited to, like you said, like the roles and the and the script and all that. So so yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_05:And I think being like trying to not be yourself takes practice, yeah, you know, because sometimes you forget like how much of yourself you're bringing onto the stage, and developing your character work really allows you to put yourself aside and create a character that's actually serving the scene, not a character that's serving your ego. Yeah, because that happens a lot. I've seen it on stage, I'm definitely have done it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think we're all guilty of that. I mean, we talked about it in the first episode a little bit about and you took the Rosowski uh workshop as well, and like since that was the last workshop, I reference him a lot. But um, you know, he talks a lot about that. Like you're you have no business being it like he separates the actor from the I forget what he calls the person, I guess.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, the actor from the character.
SPEAKER_00:From the character, yeah. And he's just like, don't bring your bullshit on stage, basically, is what he constantly says.
SPEAKER_05:So but it's hard to do that if you're not right if you're not able to identify your bullshit.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, that's so true.
SPEAKER_05:That's really hard.
SPEAKER_00:Well, and to me, that's what brings such a therapeutic because I just feel like it makes you deal with your bullshit. I mean, you know, it really makes you come face to face with it. And it's like you, and I think in the beginning, I know I've been guilty of being like, oh, well, that person, and like I'm like, oh no, no, no, no, no. You have to, you have like look at your own bullshit. Don't worry about other people's bullshit. Like, let them deal with their bullshit, you know.
SPEAKER_05:You find yourself, oh, I always play high status characters who um put themselves in a judging role. So I always play the the teacher telling the kid, the kid that they're not doing well in school, the parent who's mad at the other parent because the other parent cheated, the older sibling, like whatever it is, like if you always find that, it's like, hmm, why am I like anchored to high status roles? Like, what's going on in my real life? That's that maybe I have a high status role or I'm seeking one out in work, or I don't know, whatever it is. Sometimes it's circumstantial, but sometimes it's like more core to your identity. Yeah. Paying attention to where that's happening could it actually like limits your scope on stage if you if you hold on too much onto who you are.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I mean that's totally interesting because when what you just said about sort of more traditional theater and stuff, and how we're talking about typecasting and stuff like that. Um, because that made me think too, it's like, oh, I know I have sometimes a tendency, and I know Jess and I have talked about this, where it's like, I've put myself in some roles that I'm like, I don't want to be in this role. Why am I doing this? Stop it, right? And you're just like, why am I stereotyping myself as a woman or whatever it might be? Maybe it's just, you know, like certain roles that you gravitate towards, and you're like, I want to stop doing that same thing.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. So yeah. I've done it that exact same thing where I was complaining about something off stage, and then I went on stage and I did it to myself. Like maybe somewhere in my subconscious, it was living and it wanted to come out. But yeah. Yeah. Um, let's play a quick game. We got about two minutes, let's say, for game. Um, do you want to introduce it, Katie?
SPEAKER_00:Sure. So um, so uh last episode I noticed that like I kind of swore a lot, which I don't know, it's something about improv too. Maybe it's that freedom thing. It just makes me want to say like the F-word over and over again. I don't know what it is. Like if there's no, and then sometimes if I come out of like that Rosowski, for example, workshop or something, because I feel like improvers in general, I don't know if if you guys have had it, like you you get to be it's like a part of the culture almost, like people just swear more because it's like who cares? Like we're just gonna do whatever we want. I don't know.
SPEAKER_07:Do you guys notice that?
SPEAKER_05:I think I've been noticing it like because comedy is like the everyman's art form.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Um, it's not highbrow, you know, or you know, like it's not gallery-centric. Right. That's a good way of putting it, yeah. You know, and I think that lends itself well to speaking in layman's terms and speaking and like cussing a lot.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_05:Like that's just kind of the way that comedy comedy is. Also, I read that um when you cuss, it's like a like a physiological reflex, just like when you like like your when you hit your funny bone and like you jumps or whatever. So it's actually that part of your brain. Oh, so it's actually like a physiological response to a stimulus.
SPEAKER_08:Huh. That's nice.
SPEAKER_05:So like I think there's nothing wrong with it, but I think there's you also kind of have to be mindful that you're doing it in the same way that you've got to be mindful of something for whatever reason your like arm is twitching. Yeah. You should probably look into it. Right.
SPEAKER_00:So, anyways, that's that was just like a kind of a longer way to say that I was inspired because I kind of swore a lot the last episode. And I'm like, ooh, we should do a game where we have to come up with alternative words. Well, that'd be fun for swearing. So, and then um, yeah, so we've added to it by do you want to explain the other part of it?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, so essentially the the point of the game is to express the same concept of what the bad word would say, um, depending on your particular character. Because in some situations, your character would never swear, you know, maybe you're your grandma or something, and you but you still have to get the same emotion across.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Um Yeah, so basically we're gonna just say what the what the phrase really is, and then and then and then we're and then another one you like you or me are are gonna give, for example, care uh Taylor a character, and then she'll come up with a swear word based on that character.
SPEAKER_05:Right.
SPEAKER_00:Or alternative to a square word, or whatever.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, let's call it cursing translation. Yay! Cursing translation, I like it.
SPEAKER_04:Okay first one, Taylor. This is for you.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, quit your bitching. Okay, so that's the phrase. And your character is a convenience store clerk.
SPEAKER_05:Okay, ma'am. I I would like to ask you to refrain from giving me uh too much advice how of how to do my job. I do want to let you know that you are, in fact, right because you are the customer, but please refrain from telling me how to do my job better.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I love it. I love that. That's great. That's like an overly polite way. That was so good. Okay, so should we do a different one? Should we just switch roles and go round around?
SPEAKER_03:Okay. Yeah. So um it makes me nervous. So give me the next one because I'm totally gonna Okay.
SPEAKER_05:You're okay, you come up with the phrase.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, okay, so the phrase is tough titties. I say that all the time.
SPEAKER_05:Okay, and your character is a little league coach. Oh my gosh. Okay.
SPEAKER_04:Children? Children. You all can't have the same ball. Yeah, there's only one. There's there's only one ball. You you can't all chase after it. You gotta go around the bases. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Yeah. No. No. Okay, Charlie, go over there. Go over there. Becca? Becca, I want you on first base. Okay. Oh my god, shoot me in the head.
SPEAKER_05:Internal and external dialogue.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, I love it. I love it. Because oftentimes with children we feel out of control. They take all things in control.
SPEAKER_03:I think that was drawn from my own mind. Being that you have two kids, two small children.
SPEAKER_00:They're adorable, though.
SPEAKER_04:They're quite adorable. Okay, it's your turn. Okay. Suck it.
SPEAKER_05:Your character is the spokesperson for one of those animal adoption commercials.
SPEAKER_00:At Animal Care. We care. And when we see animals like these suffering, we really don't appreciate those that abuse them. And we would like to urge them to go to the highest mountain and think about what they have done. To donate, please call the number on your screen.
SPEAKER_07:What else are they gonna they're gonna say? And think about jumping off of the. I know, but I had to be so good when the tension was there. Like you paused right there.
SPEAKER_00:I know, I was really pausing. This is what I I think. Sorry to talk about people who are listening to this that may not know, but Casey, he does so well, you know, one of our fellow improvisers. Um, he just he he has those long pauses. And like I had a pause, but it was because I was trying to think about what I was actually gonna say. But then it actually worked with comedic timing. Yeah. And I feel like he does that too. And he tells he's told me, he's like, no, I'm just trying to think of what I know.
SPEAKER_05:I've called him out on it a few times, and I don't think he's appreciated that.
SPEAKER_00:Called him out on like pausing.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you have a quirk, you can grab attacking.
SPEAKER_00:I know, I know. We love him, dear. Like, okay. All right, cool. That was fun.
SPEAKER_04:Let's um jump into a question.
SPEAKER_00:Let's do it. Yeah, and a reminder to our listeners. So we're talking about we've already talked about character a lot, so so um these questions relate to that.
SPEAKER_04:Um, okay, Taylor, do you like to be the one that determines the character? character on stage or do you prefer it to be given to you as a gift?
SPEAKER_05:Oh gifts are my favorite. I definitely don't have a problem creating it. I love coming on stage and just providing some sort of posture or gesture of some kind and allowing someone to tell me how they're interpreting it. But it's also really amazing when you get on stage and someone pimps you out with something you could have never thought and then you just get to adopt that it's it feels safe to be something you completely wouldn't have thought of yourself.
SPEAKER_00:So that's cool. Yeah. Yeah and uh so and and and just to to uh piggyback on that because I think that this happens probably to everybody right you come on stage you know you're really good at coming like you're saying like just taking your posture using your voice or whatever to come up with character um so you might have an idea and then somebody gives you a gift so then like how how do you do you still use do you just totally drop what you originally thought you were going to do or do you incorporate it or both or um I get rid of my interpretation but I keep my gesture.
SPEAKER_05:Ah okay so for example like if I come on stage and I'm twiddling my thumbs and my shoulders are hunched over and I ask the person to my left whether or not they have any blur crackers you know I can still and then that maybe that person thinks like oh this is a guy who um is in the library next to me but I thought I was the guy who um I don't know is that the ballgame yeah some something different I can I can remove that context for myself and and remove the intention but I can keep everything else that's going along with it and then double down on the aspects of my gesture that help support what they just said. So maybe like if they call me out as a low status character like oh no little brother whatever that's a lame example but then I should probably double down on like being smaller like say you know rather than like um aggressively getting taller because that doesn't I just double down on what I've already provided.
SPEAKER_04:Got it. Right. So how do you handle it in certain situations? So say that same cracker scenario you're hunched over you're you're twiddling your thumbs and you're at asking for crackers and then someone calls you something that you feel is totally unrelated to that gesture.
SPEAKER_05:So say maybe you're like you're the juck that steals my lunch money you know like how or like he gives you just some some like high status he's just like oh King Henry or whatever. Exactly well okay so that is like I think what happens is like we have a lot of cognitive dissonance that happens right there where we're just kind of like does not compute we're bringing in too much of our association of what reality is. So instead just like coming in clean slate and if I'm if I talk like this and I'm eating crackers and I'm still doing this with my thumbs and he calls me King Henry and we're like exactly when is the jest organic here and I can still be that but now I have this title. And now we're like ha King Henry's a dork. Yeah. So now we get to see that in a world where we get to see that kind of person. Right. Um or or to your point like if oh oh you just called me a bully right like I could still be like this and maybe I'm a bully but I'm like a verbal bully.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_05:I'm not like a physical bully where like I put crackers in people's hair where they're not looking or something like that. And then that's all that it has to be. So I instead of being like no that's not what I provided you being like okay what I provided plus what you provided equals something that's never existed before. It's just like a this plus this equals something new.
SPEAKER_00:Totally. And I mean it's like that contrast too that makes it all the more funny. Now now we've got this king or whatever bully or what have you but but it's funny because you've got these characteristics that don't really match that stereotype or whatever. So that's even even funnier yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And those are the reasons we love improv.
SPEAKER_00:Yes exactly um let's let's move on to one of the segments um because for time okay how about history yeah okay let's do it so um I have been reading improv nation by getting for I'm terrible with names so sorry by uh Sam Wasson so if you want to know everything and anything about improv and how it was born and all that I definitely recommend this book. So um anyways I got to the chapter which is the the juicy chapter about um some improvisers that eventually became the first core cast of SNL um so this was around 1974. My birth year by the way um and so we have names some of you may recognize such as so there's kind of like a Canadian faction too because back then um they had second city in uh Chicago and I think also San Francisco and then they opened one in Toronto. So um some of the first players there were people like Martin Short, um John Candy, Dan Aykroyd so they were all from Canada. Also probably people already know this, but Lauren Michaels is also from Canada so who is the guy who started SNL he's the producer dude guy. And then other American improvisers more from like Chicago area um Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, John Belushi, Gilda Radner um so anyways, uh what I like to do with this history segment um is pull out some quotes from some of the pioneers of improv because improv is pretty young art form. So it only was born I think in the 20s 30s 30s maybe um so so uh it's pretty it's pretty young. So anyways so uh here are some quotes and what I like to do is pull out these quotes and then we can just like talk about them and you guys can tell me what you think. The first one is from Gilda Radner um and she says and I quote I've never let go of my child self seeing things clean and clear like when I was just born being a child is being impulsive knowing hangs you up you get inhibited so um and you know we started we started this podcast talking about the games that we used to play as a kid um so I don't know what do you guys think I mean do you do you do you see that like when you when you first tried improv or you do it now do you feel like you have are you um cultivating that child within you or is that hard to access? What do you what what is your or is it not even relevant relevant at all to your experience?
SPEAKER_05:Oh yeah I mean it is really hard to continue to be a child in your head. Yeah um that sounds like an abstract statement so let me explain um I get it but it's really yeah like I mean the childlike nature that she's talking about is to see everything consistently with fresh eyes. The challenge with that is um I think you have to set yourself up to do that before you get on stage because we walk around carrying subconscious associations with everything. Especially when you work with the same group of people for a really long time you tend to create habits with one another and create expectations of how someone's going to talk or react to you on stage their listening ability the characters they tend to focus on there's a lot of inventory that kind of comes when working with a group of people and so it's hard to combat that sometimes because when you know it's coming you know it's coming. Um and that affects improv usually in a negative way I would say wouldn't you say sure yeah so so that's the thing but in in the same breath like it is really important to see everything with fresh eyes on stage because that keeps you from having the same six scenes over and over and over again. If you're looking at someone with fresh eyes even though they came in and said here have a seat we're about to start your doctor's appointment or whatever like it's really easy to just like bring in all the inventory that's associated with the doctor's appointment and use that to frame what you're seeing instead of actually using your eyes to see and frame what you're what's experiencing. So putting that away and instead looking at the person and noticing that their eyebrow like went up a little bit more than felt normal for a doctor to do and you can like lean into that and say something that pertains to the eyebrow as opposed to something that pertains to your medical chart.
SPEAKER_00:So I hear you saying like it it it's really about being and I think children do this really well is about being in the moment. Oh yeah it's not about being in the past or the future or somewhere off in your brain that is not in the here and now right and I think I think it really pertains to listening.
SPEAKER_04:So have you ever been in that situation where somebody's talking to you and they're like oh I had a really hard day here's my problem and in your head you're like I have a solution for that problem and you stop listening to what they say. I I feel like that happens on stage a lot like you'll get something that triggers an idea and then you stop listening to what they're actually saying because you're you're ready to pounce on your idea and and you're just waiting for them to stop talking at that point.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah and you're essentially essentially projecting whatever works for you or what you you know your frame of reference you're already is you know instead of thinking about what the other person is going through or what what they the what they're actually saying.
SPEAKER_04:Or yeah letting them finish or or taking like you said that little bit and using that instead of trying to solve the problem just be in the problem with them and yeah you know Jesse I I really hear what you're saying.
SPEAKER_05:Even though I just interrupted you it's really easy to think think think our way through things which is why meditation and improv like have so many common factors with one another like that Venn diagram is is mostly just one circle on top of the other circle in my opinion. Yeah there's a little bit of ohm on the outside of one and then a little bit of like fart noises on the other side of the inside one but overall like it really is the same mind space that you have to be in. Yeah um I think that's why I'm so attracted to improv in addition to being able to liberate myself from my own skin which is in its own way is a spiritual concept is to be able to you have to be fully present to see that small gesture and that small gift. Because we get like so hung up in our head like looking for the gift where's the cool thing where's the interesting thing waiting for someone to tap dance on stage so I can make a joke about that instead of being like that guy raised his eyebrow just a little bit more than what's normal. Yeah like I'm gonna jump the fuck onto that right now.
SPEAKER_00:Well and that's so interesting because really I mean when you think of a gift you think of somebody somebody you know wrapping something up and intentionally giving it to you. But what you're saying is that it's also um you know your job to recognize those gifts and make those things into gifts too in a way right and not just be the receiver but also like I don't know I'm working on this in my relationships.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah like my boyfriend goes like does the dishes that's a gift I need to thank him for that and recognize that that's a that's an expression of how he gives his love in the same way like that when someone walks on stage and they might be walking a little hunched over or maybe walking really proudly or um look at you twice really really strangely like there it is that's all you need.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:I think we kind of I mean we'll kind of walk through life like that thinking that we need some like grandiose gestures to as a sign when signs are like all around all the time they're just really small and the only way you're gonna see them is your if you're paying attention. Right. Rule number one of improv pay attention.
SPEAKER_00:I know pay attention well and then it it is I mean the the word they use in meditation and all that too yoga and whatnot is mindfulness right I mean it's about being mindful of not only your actions but also those of others and to to recognize oh he's doing the dishes now it's my job to say hey I see that you're doing that thank you for that gift and now you've made it into a gift.
SPEAKER_05:He didn't say hey check it out I'm well maybe I don't know maybe some partners do this hey look I'm doing the dishes you know what's really interesting too is I've been on stage with people who are very overtly expressing whatever their gift is example they're washing the dishes okay or they're using a mimed golf club something that feels big you know and I recognize that but I also recognize that they're like kind of shifting their feet back and forth a lot and the audience sees that and they probably see that more than you washing the dishes or you playing with your imaginary golf club. So it's this weird moment where if the person's not aware that they're doing that what the player on stage with them is it's you kind of have to call it out because that's the interesting thing the you washing the dishes or playing with the golf club isn't the interesting thing. It's the fact that you're shifting your feet back and forth because your audience is going that's weird why is he doing that? So you don't call it out your audience is like why did they not focus on that?
SPEAKER_00:Like now that's gonna bother me all day right or they're thinking oh that person's nervous on stage and so now they're not paying attention to the scene so I mean that's great advice too of just let now you make it part of the scene and now what you've done too is you've brought your audio your your audience is like and this I mean this works with stand up too it's like oh my god they just read my mind that person just read my mind I was focusing on that and then they saw it too and then now you're all in it together. Now you've brought them into the scene.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah case in point when someone steps on their own word where they're trying to say phlebotomy and they're like flip potomy and then now just that's what the word is called in this universe. So everyone who comes in has to go flip pot photomy and like make the conversation more serious so it can heighten the tension like the oh someone has to get a flip phlebotomy or they're gonna die. You know and just like creating that tension more.
SPEAKER_00:Tension and also that repetition because now your audience is anticipating every they're they just can't wait till you say that word again because it's just so funny.
SPEAKER_04:Wow that um that one quote brought out a lot um end of segment yeah we're gonna history segment there um I feel like I want to get to um our listener question yeah because I think it pertains to a lot about what we were talking about.
SPEAKER_00:So this question's coming from uh Bill Zim who is uh he's a regular at Reno Improv. He goes to all the playgrounds he does stand up there quite frequently um you took classes with him as well Jess right he was in your class uh he went through level one through three I believe right with you yeah so um so yeah so uh our pal Bill um so his question basically I'm kind of paraphrasing but um he is wondering if we or any of us here have suggestions on how to practice certain initiations so to and he uses this word to produce a positive good scene and so Jess and I were kind of got got tried to sort of pick apart some of these words like okay what does he mean by positive um and we had a brief conversation about it before before we started this episode and um I think we we sort of discussed that maybe what he was getting at is um you know what are ways that I can initiate a scene that can lift up my partner as opposed to kind of like uh it's easy to walk into a scene and like tear someone down to to be like I don't like your dress you know like as an initiation and then that immediately puts whoever you're in the scene with like most people would get defensive about that. So what's a way to positively set up a scene so that both of you kind of have a chance to blossom like guess yeah and I think positive is a weird word because I like I was said earlier I was like yeah the difference between saying I don't like your dress you look like shit versus um how come you never get dressed up when we go out to dinner you know that's still kind of negative but now it's given a a context to the relationship.
SPEAKER_05:I think the issue here is like conflict is great arguing is not yeah that's a great way of putting it very different things. And you know in your heart of hearts what your intention is when you get up on stage if you're trying to throw shade on someone to distract from the fact that you don't know what to do on stage that's a bad place to come up with initiation from if you're trying to pimp someone out with something um I don't really see a problem with saying like I don't like your dress if your character is supporting that because it's also the job of the actor on the other side to recognize that we're talking about your character and not you as the actor. That being said if you say I don't like your dress and the person responds to you like well I don't like your dress um then you guys have to have that scene now. And what to kind of paraphrase what we learned in Rasowski, you've now started a scene where we're a little bit in the weeds and we're we're still looking to get to the clearing where we can talk about you and me of what this is really about. So to your point, Katie, eventually we're gonna get to the point that this dress thing is really about how you're not paying attention to me enough.
SPEAKER_06:Right.
SPEAKER_05:It's like recognizing what the purpose of that line is. The sooner we can get to that clearing between you and me that's where the real scene is and so paying attention to the initiation is it getting me closer or is it getting me further away? Right. Are we filling up the room with crap and like nonsensical insults or are we because insults are a way of detaching you from another person. An improv is about connecting with the other person. So it's totally fine to start detached I mean that happens all the time as long as you're aware that the goal is to connect at some point.
SPEAKER_00:That's great.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah I love that and I kind of think his question was a little twofold um because he was talking about um I think the second part of his question was like how to kind of train your brain to kind of just go into that naturally to find that positive place that you can build a scene from um do you I mean I guess he's kind of looking for particular tools that he can kind of build into his brain I mean to put it candidly like if if you find constantly find yourself in negative scenes then you're not allowing yourself to connect with your scene partner. Like you're you're putting up walls and you're not allowing yourself to be vulnerable. So allow yourself to be vulnerable and I think I'm I might not be the most well educated person to tell you how to be vulnerable. But if if you keep finding yourself putting it on that person in an insult or putting it on them to figure out what to do in the scene that creates a negativity and a lack of trust so how can you make it personal like what Katie said like I I feel like you're never around anymore or I feel like your dresses are more important than me now or something like that. Like bring it out don't make it a selfish initiation but bring it there. If it's just like you'd prefer to have lighter more fun loving scenes which is kind of a different question um just stay away from pointing things negative about your partner or judging them in any way. Always seek to be either their friend and or romantic partner um in a positive light. Romantic partner they're they're doing well um childlike things, you know like keep things lighthearted. Stay away from judging at all because judging no matter what you're either gonna have to go deep and figure out what's what's deep beneath the surface of what's going on that's a lot of work or you're gonna put yourself in a position where you just look like a dick.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Well and I think you know and we talked about a little bit of this about this in the first episode too and I mean I think you're touching on it too it's like it's like that constant um you know trying to get out of your ego and trying to we said earlier too at in this episode, you know, separating the actor from the character, you know, separating yourself n you you know you dealing with your bullshit and um you know it's it's not and it's not to say that you know, that's an easy thing to do. And I think that that's that's the beauty and also like the hard thing about improv. I don't know for me anyway it's been where it's like, oh, sometimes I get in that space, like you're saying, like of not judging and just, you know, letting things go and giving gifts and da-da-da. And then sometimes I find myself like, why isn't this working? And it's like, oh, because my ego is coming up and I'm getting in that judgy space and I'm trying to control things. And um so I think that's really good advice to kind of think about how and it's not easy to be vulnerable. You know that's a work in progress I think for everybody that that does any sort of acting.
SPEAKER_05:And the thing is vulnerability doesn't have to be like um I used to have suicidal thoughts. Right. Like it doesn't it doesn't have to go there. No. Vul a lot of the times I definitely know women feel this giving another person a compliment feels vulnerable. Like so if you if you are able to go on stage and say like I think that the bridge of your nose is fantastic. Right. Right? It it's it's weird to come from a p place of compliment sometimes because you have to be secure in yourself to really feel like a compliment feels like worth giving. Well and also receiving too I think given too absolutely so if you want like a direct tool I think feel vulnerable enough to give someone a compliment and give a specific compliment. So we like usually we're like okay let me go down my my quick list of compliments. I like your shirt blah blah like borne like who cares? You're like what's something specific like wow I've never I've never seen a t-shirt like or I'm sorry like I didn't even know Fleetwood Mac made band t-shirts like that. Yeah like give it something specific because if you go I like your t-shirt it's like great now I have to figure out what that t-shirt looks like instead of you just telling me what it looks like.
SPEAKER_00:Right and not only that now you've if you say oh I didn't even know Fleetwood Mac made concert t-shirts now that person has a character or a characteristic about themselves that they can go oh I'm this it's a gift. It's a it's like oh I'm this character now that likes what what kind of character likes Fleetwood Mac.
SPEAKER_05:You know they can go off that you can move from the shirt now you guys can connect over Fleetwood Mac. Now you can maybe have like a little snippet about you guys both had a crush on Stevie Nicks when you were a kid. Yeah and like you just keep going and oh suddenly like this is about you guys now. Right.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah that's beautiful and that's really thank you Bill Zim for that question. Okay so we're moving into our next segment which is we were doing word of the day but this is a concept so the concept of the day today is establishing a platform. I'm gonna read this it's from Seattleimprov classes.com and they have a whole list of concepts um they say many people want to go straight into trouble they walk on the stage and start arguing or fighting we kind of talked about this that's not drama that's being difficult. They look too upset right from the get-go so it's better they say to build a platform for a scene start happy with everyone getting along and kind of um introduce the problems later so how I take it is they're saying establish what normal is for your character before you start introducing all kinds of problems so that people can understand the height um or lessening of the emotion or the issue or the problem.
SPEAKER_00:So you're saying like establish your character first before you bring in a problem or have an idea of how you're gonna react to anything that comes at you?
SPEAKER_04:Is that yeah so I the way I took it is you're you're establishing a platform so that you can jump off of that platform.
SPEAKER_05:So this reminds me of like the it's just like the basic eight beat story concept so it's um once upon yeah so there's eight beats in any story right okay um once upon a time there was a and every day he until then and then you keep going so you need a once upon a time this person and every day he until one day and because of that and because of that and because of that and this is the solution or this is the conclusion. So those are like the eight beats. Right. Um so and it's really difficult to do all of those in and it's not really needed to do those all in one scene but you certainly want to have like a starting point your starting point of like once upon a time this is who I am because it is much funnier to have someone who's like delightfully painfully positive about everything and enthusiastic and the tension is that there's someone that's just like normal um that's getting annoyed at how positive this person is and now it's their goal to kind of like bring them down to normal. Not bring them down to negative but bring them down to normal. You guys that seen that scene I think it was in a it was in Friends um and Alec Baldwin plays one of Phoebe's yeah um like dates boyfriend or something the Geller's 35th anniversary party and he's just like isn't this like the most lovely taxi you've ever seen you know and he's just crazy and like we know Phoebe as like being wacky and positive so we know that she's that normal that's that's her normal but to see someone beyond her this is like her until one day someone is like more than she can handle kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00:Totally she also has that uh sort of underlying bite yeah she she totally has a temper too which is really great that reminded me too real quick sorry uh I just want to say real quick your eight beat story example also reminded me of the phrase of if this is true then so is this because that's what you're building. You're saying okay well here once upon a time there was a little girl who whatever loved chocolate chip cookies. Loved chocolate chip cookies okay so so if that's true then you know she goes to the bakery every day to get those damn chocolate chip cookies and if that's true then she probably sees the same cashier right every single day. And they have a relationship now. Yeah yeah so so that's yeah because I've heard that a lot in improv.
SPEAKER_05:That's a really good point because that's that's a grounding statement because it keeps you from like going into flight mode of like I gotta think of something clever and funny. And instead you can ground yourself and say well if this is true and this is true which is a way of keeping track of your inventory yep um then what else can I add to that? It's it's kind of a fun way of doing the yes and that's really what it is.
SPEAKER_04:Yep absolutely cool um awesome yeah uh so they said it's like we're gonna move on we have about an idea that I'm a band air we have time for about maybe one or two questions depending on how much we talk. Okay. Um let's see do you ever reuse characters?
SPEAKER_00:I have yeah yeah um or variations of that character uh I've not named any of them but I certainly have a like vengeful old woman who comes up a lot um and her core motivation is getting back for her lack of being able to stand up for herself for her whole life so she comes up a lot um I also have like this kind of like a quirky timid man boy that happens a lot I mean can we I really want to hear the man boy some variations of it we need to hear the man boy I don't I just don't know I just don't know how to use the monopoly anymore because I used to play it with my girlfriend.
SPEAKER_05:Yes I had a girlfriend so I I think of this person as like a man who just like like physically grew too tall before he was able to mature uh and I love those people that feel they look like they don't match their body their soul is still a child yeah and they probably didn't lose their virginity until yesterday you know and it's just they're stuck onto a lot of like childhood immaturity and I think that's really fun.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah cool. Um one one last question um when you're building characters on stage do you prefer to build it from a place of physical characteristics and accents and stuff like that or do you prefer to build it from a place of point of view emotion first?
SPEAKER_05:I'm really physically driven so it's it's really fun for me to build my like character architecture in a way and then allow my emotions and my motivation to kind of fill it out. Some people work the other way around I find that if I work the other way around and try to like create my feeling and then build outward I it just takes me a little bit longer to create a physicality for it. And it might be too much of an internal expression.
SPEAKER_00:Yes I was just gonna say that I think I run into that like I think when I was really at the very beginning doing improv I was like oh I'm gonna use what I'm feeling today to like you know and then I realized at first I was like oh it's such a release it's great and then I slow I I I soon learned that um that that that made me get away get in the way of the scene or the character or whatever. You know it's like I there's too much me.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah like the way I look at it is like there's there's costume for a reason and we have to remember that like those are supposed to serve you like even when I'm at work and I if I have a lot of creative work to do I'm wearing my overalls that day because like there's something associated with me with putting on the right uniform for something. Granted you're not allowed costumes or props on stage but you are allowed object work and physicality. Right. And that allows me to like fill into what that what that character could be because again this is theater and not only is it theater it's comedic theater which is bigger and more boisterous and more animated. It's not film acting which it makes more sense to be more of like a method internal driven because you can capture a lot more nuance on film than what's going on on stage which is just far more animated and dynamic.
SPEAKER_00:So right and you already have I mean in film and theater it's like you have the line so then it's up to you to fill that line with emotion or you know what have you yeah so cool.
SPEAKER_04:I love that thank you so much Taylor for coming on our show is there any way that our guests if they wanted to learn more about you or see one of your shows or in your business life your your improv life your acting life how how would they find you?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah totally so I perform regularly Saturday nights at Reno Improv. You can find me either hosting or dealing with cash box or just um starting a scene with you off stage or I'll be on stage that's Saturdays at 8 p.m I also help teach playgrounds at 6 30 so those are on Saturdays at 6 30 and then if you want to follow me on Instagram my handle is Tayjane R. That's T-A-Y J A N E R. And you can also find my writing I'm a writer um at taylorjwriting.com.
SPEAKER_00:And now we are going to ask our last question of the day that we ask every guest at the end of our podcast yeah so Taylor um this is uh really a thoughtful question that I'm actually just trying to think of right now um so what is your favorite fashion statement of any decade oh I am a big fan of jazzer size songs yes I wish that I could wear them in public.
SPEAKER_05:I know right with now with or with not like leggings under with the leggings I love like the teal I just saw like a fucking amazing shot of it in Stranger Things three.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my god yes I know what you're talking about it's got like the teal leggings and the purple jazzer size song and I'm like I'm and the white socks that are scrunched with the white I know I love I loved that that show did like the mall it's so perfectly the 80s mall because that's what I used to do when I was like 12 is I would go to the mall and it was just like brought me back.
SPEAKER_03:They did it so well. Yes drop your kids off at the mall and forget about them for seven hours on a Saturday.
SPEAKER_02:See all right well thanks so much for being with us Taylor we had a great time and we'll see you guys yeah we'll see you guys next time bye but this has been for the love of improv we want to thank you for tuning in if you would like to join the conversation you can find our website at for the loveofimprov.com and don't forget that life is a stage so get out there and perform the hell out of it. Come on ladies Love Improv Improv for the Love Improv Improv Love Improv Improv Impro Improv Woo Yeah see you next time
