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Tom Mathias writes:

When performing long-form, I have discovered that I have a signature move (like a wrestler or Street Fighter II character).

My personal Stone-Cold Stunner is having a character propose to their partner (I've done a good few in the rehearsal room and one on the Karlsruhe festival stage).

What are your improv specials and how do you balance those big swings so they don’t become part of a rote playbook?

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Great question, Tom. This has been fun to think about. Here are what I consider my own personal improv specials moves.

  1. THE BUNNY JUMP I have discovered that if I remain in a crouched squat position, I can leap quite high into the air. If I do this over and over again, I look a lot like a woodland creature. I will do this in any rural scene that is initiated. It looks moderately comical. Even at 45 I can still do this quite easily (but now it takes me 2-3 weeks to recover afterwards) (totally worth it).
  2. CHECKHOV’S ANYTHING If I’m in a narrative show, I will always be looking to make something from the beginning of the show important at the end. For example, once, when playing with GOOSEHEAD, I brought on a space work box at the beginning of the show and placed it beside my chair. I didn’t know what it was but I wanted to establish i had brought something on. In the final minutes of the show, when it looked like I’d forgotten my wife’s anniversary, I strolled over to that same chair and picked it back up. It was the seemingly forgotten present. The audience lost their shit. I love that kind of long play.
  3. PLAYING A CAT Naturally, I am a dog personality. I was once described as a puppy in a human suit and I am very happy with that description of my improv. But every now and then, I’ll play a cat. It can be an actual cat or it can be that I’m a catlike human. This turns me into a haughty, high-status, self-assured sex pot. I move differently, I have a different tempo to my speech, I keep eye-contact for longer. In fact, I was once endowed with being a stripper. This isn’t an easy or comfortable character for me, but then it occurred to me that I could be a cat stripper. After that, I had the audience in the palm of my hand (paw).
  4. IDIOT SAVANT This is my absolute go-to move. I’ll play a guileless idiot who every now and then comes up with a bitingly observant statement, buried amongst all the waffle. The ratio of idiocy to sageness is still very much skewed towards the silly. This is because it takes me a long time to think of something biting and witty to say. But people love it when the bumbling sidekick “accidentally” skewers the asssured protagonist with a well chosen bon mot. It’s essential that you then say the dumbest thing that’s every been said IMMEDIATELY afterwards.
  5. PLAYING A GAME No, not the game. A game. I love scenes where the characters are playing chess, or I Spy, or even an improv game like I’ve got a word that rhymes with. It’s so fun to keep the game going whilst also building up character and relationship. I remember playing the guys who move around the blocks in Tetris - every time they managed to stack a line, the blocks disappeared, much to their frustration. It was my first improv audition and I booked the gig. It was such a joyous silly scene.

So there we are. Those are my signature moves. Please do send yours in to [email protected]

It’s been wonderful to think about and I’d love to read more. Especially if I know you and play with you regularly.

As to Tom’s other question, the simple answer is curiosity. If you’re always curious in a scene, you’ll never fall back on a rote playbook. You’ll never be in a position where you are intellectually deploying a pre-programmed sub-routine. You’ll be curious and reacting to what you partner gives you in the moment. Your special moves will still come up - because they’e fun and they are the way your body and brain interface with a scene - but it’ll feel much more organic and wholesome. There’s no hint of cyncism when curiosity is involved. You’ll also discover new signature moves if you keep yourself open to where the scene might lead you - because curiosity will push you into new situations.

Your skill tree will continue to branch and blossom until you have more special moves than you know what to do with.

HADOUKEN!

<aside> 💡 Hey, my name’s Chris Mead. I write an article about improv almost every week. You can get the latest in your inbox by subscribing to my newsletter. Or check out the archive.

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