Improv Tips

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . The last thing a drunk person wants to do is to appear drunk. The same goes for drunk characters. So while the staggering, stammering, falling-down drunk character you play might get you some laughs on the stage, you might not be playing at the height of your intelligence unless you play that character realistically. Even your most stereotypical charac...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . You are, occasionally, going to have to play characters who you don’t like. Don’t write off that character as “bad.” Find something or several things to like about your character. Not only will that give your character more depth, but it will make it much more palatable to play that character. There is always something to like a...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . Just like the best villains have many layers, so do the best heroes. Perfect heroes who the audience knows are always going do the right thing no matter the circumstance are boring and unrealistic. Even Superman has been tempted and corrupted. When you’re playing the ultimate hero, that character will be much more interesting if they’re rel...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . The best villains have many layers. They’re not the melodramatic one-dimensional Snidely Whiplash character tying a victim to the train tracks. They have feelings. They have mothers. They have love interests. Even if they are doing evil things, they’re doing them for reasons that they believe are good and justified. And they’re much m...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . There’s nothing wrong with choosing to play an inanimate object, an animal, a baby, or something else that under ordinary circumstances doesn’t speak. But remember if you make that choice that you might be limiting your contributions to the scene, at least your verbal contributions. By all means, play those parts, but be aware before you ma...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . Keep your head on a swivel. It’s important in improv to know as much as you can what’s happening in the scene you’re in. One of the ways to do that is by constantly checking your surroundings, just like you learned to do in drivers’ education. The more people that are in your scene, the more important it is that you pay as much...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . There’s a classic scene in the NBC version of The Office that finds Michael Scott taking an improv class. At one point, he pulls out his improv gun and shoots all of the characters in the scene with him. It’s almost never a good idea to do that. If you delete someone else’s character or your own character from a scene by killing them...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . If I had a roll of toilet paper for every time I’ve seen an improviser reveal that they’re pregnant, get fired from their job, or propose onstage, I’d be in good shape for the next few months. Yes, you want your scenes to be interesting, but there are plenty of other interesting things that happen to ordinary people every day that are...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . Oh, what the effing aech is this one all about? Occasionally, your character will need to swear in a scene because it’s what the scene needs at that time. If that’s the case, eff yeah. Do it. But be careful not to dilute the impact of a well-placed swear word by swearing constantly on the stage. Your fucks, shits, god damnits, and cock-suck...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . Improvisation is not a competition. Don’t waste your time comparing yourself to the improvisers around you. Improv is a collaborative process, and your improv set or scene is only as good as your worst performer. Instead of trying to be the “best” improviser in the world, strive to raise the level of the performers around you. I would...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . Name your characters. The sooner you get into the habit of naming your characters, the more naturally naming will fit into your scenes, and the better your memory for names will become. Naming characters not only makes them more realistic, but it also makes it easier to call back characters and to invent a backstory and a voice for them. If you have a...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . Great writers read. Great singers listen to music. Great teachers learn. Great improvisers watch improv. If you want to continue to grow as an improviser, you need to watch all sorts of improv. You would be surprised how much you can learn by watching improv during those times you’re not performing improv. If you’re currently sidelined from...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . Take care of yourself. It is a weird time for the country and for the species. As much as I love improv, bear in mind that your pursuit of this craft does not matter at all in comparison to your health and your safety. Human beings are such a cool species because we invented things like improv. Let’s work together to make sure that we’re ar...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . Improvisation is a communal art form, but there are ways to practice improvising all alone. I have conversations with myself all the time. When I get bored with that company, I turn on talk radio or a podcast and practice responding to what’s being said. When that gets old, I have conversations with my dogs and cat, and I give them voices and cha...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . Occasionally, it’s important to pause and give yourself kudos for doing this wacky thing that is improv. If patting yourself on the back makes you uncomfortable, allow me to do it for you right now. It takes a mountain of guts for any artist to put their creative content out into the world. For an improviser, that courage is amplified by the fact...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . Unless when you start your car in real life, you go, “RRRR RRRRR RRRRRRR,” please don’t do it in a scene. Improv is a lot like a play with no props, costumes, and special effects. Your character should not be providing the sound effects to their actions because it breaks the reality of the scene and, unless that’s the game you&r...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . Be specific. Your 1988 blue Honda Accord is much funnier than your car. The more specificity you bring to a scene, the more vividly you’re painting the stage picture, and the more clearly you’re communicating your idea to your scene partners and to the audience. Clarity of communication in improv is always a good thing. As a bonus, most hum...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . One of my favorite sayings about improv that I annoy my students with is that creating a scene should be like building a wall. Our scene is the wall. Everyone involved in the scene is building the wall, and we want the wall to be a product of our collaboration, because building a wall alone is needlessly hard. So everyone has to bring their own bricks,...

I'm Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . Leave your attitude in the green room. Improvisers are lovely people, and you’ll probably get along well with most of the ones you meet. And if you don’t, maybe you’re the problem? But you won’t always get along with the people you perform with. And guess what? You should still perform with them. Leave whatever is going on between...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . So, you’re an improviser now. Congratulations! You’re officially a creative person. But don’t stop there. Broaden your creative horizons as much as you possibly can. The best improvisers I know are the most well-rounded improvisers I know, because they can do anything, and they seem to have a little bit of knowledge about everything....

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . Be on time. Are you listening to me talk right now when you should have already left for class five minutes ago because you need to stop for gas? Do you have to cross the train tracks during rush hour to get to your rehearsal? Have you left enough cushion in case that bus you’re taking to your show is late? Believe it or not, creative people, mys...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . Give yourself one hour after a show to celebrate your improv successes and mourn your improv failures. Don’t dwell on the highs and lows that come with either outcome. Congratulations on the good show, but don’t pat yourself on the back for too long. Sorry about the bad show, but don’t beat yourself up forever. Allow yourself one hour...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . One of the biggest compliments I’ve ever received as an improviser is that I am good at “playing off the ball.” Since you’re an improviser, let me explain that sports reference. One of my strengths is that even when I’m not the focal point of the scene, my character is always reacting to what is happening around him or her...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . I’m always working on becoming a better improviser, but the thing I struggle with the most is breaking on stage. I have been fortunate to perform with some of the funniest people I’ve ever met, and they say surprising, hilarious things on stage all the time. It’s human nature to laugh at it. Isn’t that the whole point of what we...

I’m Michael Bradt for The Bit Theater . You know that phrase, “Wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle”? Don’t do that. I see a lot of improvisers who find something interesting in a scene, and then instead of exploring it, they proceed to throw a dozen other ideas into the scene. Improv should be wide as a puddle, deep as an ocean. Explore the interesting thing that happens on...