The following are some of my thoughts on a very specific niche thing called “Improv”. If you’re already into improv, curious about how improv is performed or just kinda into reading someone’s musings on esoteric areas of interest, read on! There’s an enduring rule in improv: don’t ask questions. But like so many rules in improv, there are so many exceptions. Let’s explore some!
First, why is this a rule? Understanding the rule helps us understand ways we can break it and certainly things to be careful of when we do.
Teachers and coaches repeat this rule often because it immediately gets to the core of every beginner improviser's challenge: pretending to know what’s going on when you have no idea what’s going on. Asking questions of the scene to your scene partner is an attempt to clarify what’s going on and this becomes a mission for every new improviser and many panicking improvisers. We don’t know what’s going on, we want to know what’s going on and so we ask our scene partners: what’s going on? It makes sense. However, chances are, your scene partner also doesn’t know what’s going on. And so asking questions in a scene makes your scene partner do all the work, when you could have done it yourself. Example:
A: Excuse me! Who are you and what are you doing?
B: Oh! [hesitates, hesitates, hesitates] I’m the plumber, you called me to fix your sink.
When we could just do this:
A: Hey Barry, thanks for coming over and fixing my sink.
B: No problem! It should be all better now. We found a lot of stuff in there!
The note that goes along with the “don’t ask questions” rule is to instead answer the question yourself and approach your scene as if you do know what’s going on. Characters that have a sense of knowing, give reality to a scene. It allows the audience to believe and relate.
Okay, what about the exceptions?
Utility questions
This is when you literally didn’t hear your scene partner (in German they say, “I didn’t hear you acoustically”.) Of course this is okay.
A: I bought a kitten on Ebay.
B: What did you say?
A: I bought a kitten on Ebay.
Emphasis questions
These questions serve to accentuate an unusual or absurd thing. Generally speaking, these are more effective when followed up with something more:
A: I bought a kitten on Ebay.
B: You bought a kitten on Ebay?
Leading/Rhetorical questions
These are the questions that suggest much more than the words themselves. Often these questions can be very easily rephrased into a statement:
A: You know that people give kittens away for free, right?
B: Yeah, I thought it was better to buy a kitten through an online marketplace to make sure it was good rather than just getting one for free.
Framing and reframing questions
These questions help to define someone’s justification for an absurd behavior. This will most often be employed in Game scenes in which the improvisers are focusing on an unusual thing.
A: Yeah, I thought it was better to buy a kitten through an online marketplace to make sure it was of good quality rather than just getting one for free.
B: So what you’re saying is that it's better to pay for a service than to risk getting something for free?
Requests
A request made of another character especially depending on the urgency, and if a time limit has been placed on that request, can help drive a scene forward.
B: So what you’re saying is that it's better to pay for a service than to risk getting something for free?
A: Can you do me a favor and not tell anyone I paid for a kitten?
Here it is altogether:
A: I bought a kitten on Ebay.
B: What did you say? (Utility)
A: I bought a kitten on Ebay.
B: You bought a kitten on Ebay? (Emphasis) You know that people give kittens away for free, right? (Leading/Rhetorical)
A: Yeah, I thought it was better to buy a kitten through an online marketplace to make sure it was of good quality rather than just getting one for free.
B: So what you’re saying is that it's better to pay for a service than to risk getting something for free? (Framing and reframing)
A: Can you do me a favor and not tell anyone I paid for a kitten? (Request)
What are you talking about?
And sometimes someone makes a choice so surprising they forget to ground it. In these cases it’s appropriate to help them. Ask them why!