You’re a team. An improv ensemble trying to make it big: The Commune.
Think, say, Second City.
You dream of success. Or some of you do. But: where do the ambitions of the team end and the ambition of each individual begin? Where ought it to begin and end? In other words, how far will you go to assure that at least you “make it”? For example, what if it was only John Belushi that rose to the top and no one ever heard of the others? Or think Monty without the rest of the Pythons.
After all, we live in a culture where celebrity and fame has practically replaced Christianity as our new religion of choice. Standing out in the crowd. Isn’t that really the only way now in which to separate yourself from “the masses”.
On the other hand, there is also the pride that some feel in being part of something much smaller but more genuine. Being “independent” and not “selling out”.
Look for everything you need to know about the gaps between improvisational comedy and comedy that is entirely scripted and rehearsed. Obviously, some can make that leap and others cannot.
You have the audience more or less choose the comedic context and then you [as a team] build that into a lot of laughs. As opposed to writing down, memorizing and then rehearsing over and over and over again a particular “routine”. In other words, you are “funny on your feet”.
Look for this guy: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Del_Close
This one garnered a 99% fresh rating at RT on 109 reviews. Anything approaching 100% on over 100 reviews is truly an exceptional film.
IMDb
The main cast did two weeks of improv rehearsals before performing in front of live audiences. Footage from their performances were used in the film.
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don’t_Think_Twice
trailer: youtu.be/iPwIBBuJps0
DON’T THINK TWICE [2016]
Written and directed by Mike Birbiglia
[b]Sam [voiceover]: Okay, a little bit of history. In 1955, a group of actors in Chicago invented the idea that improvisational theater could be an art form unto itself, not just a warm-up for other theater.
…
Miles [voiceover]: Now, everyone has their own take on what’s most important in improv. But even 60 years later they still boil down to three basic rules.
Allison [voiceover]: Number one: Say yes. Which really means just agreeing with the reality your partner creates and then building on that…
Lindsay [voiceover]: Number two: It’s all about the group. Yes. It’s not about you looking good. It’s also not about looking funny. No. Or showboating. It’s about a group working together in the moment to create something that never happened before, you know, or will
never happen again.
Miles [voiceover]: Finally, and this is the most important one: Don’t think. It’s all about getting out of your head. It’s about impulse. It’s about living in the moment. It’s about now.
Bill [voiceover]: In improv, there are no mistakes. Like Del close once said, “fall and then figure out what to do on the way down.”
…
Bonnie [to the group]: The business model for selling $5 tickets to a show is not exactly sound. The theater’s closing. We’ve gotta be out of there in four weeks. They’re selling. Another Trump building, I think.
Lindsay: New York City is over.
Jack [immitating Trump]: New York City, you’re fired.
Miles: Improv for America, you’re fired.
Bill: All of America, you’re fired.
Jack: What the hell was that?
Bill: That was Trump!
…
Bonnie: I called Hugh Finn. He’s bringing over some producers from Weekend Live.
Miles: Hey, Jack, don’t pull some showboat shit out there.
Jack: What? When do I do that?
Miles: You always do that. Anyone from the industry shows up, you turn into a one-man audition tape.
Allison: You did it when the guy from Conan came, when Law and Order came.[/b]
Weekend Live of course being Saturday Night Live. On the other hand, unlike SNL, these guys are actually funny.
[b]Bill [to the group]: I’m pretty sure I’m the only one that should impersonate my dad when he’s basically in a coma.
…
Jack [having been selected for Weekend Live]: How’d it go?
Sam: Um…I was late, and they wouldn’t let me in.
Jack: What? Why? Why?
Sam: I don’t know.
Jack: How late were you?
Sam: I was, like, 20 minutes late.
Jack: Twenty minutes late, and they wouldn’t let you in?
Sasm: All right. Maybe I was 30 minutes late.[/b]
Or maybe it was something else.
[b]Jack: Look, guys, this is, um…This is a victory for the whole group, okay? 'Cause I’m gonna…
Miles: You mean you’ll talk to Timothy about us?
Jack: Uh…
…
Jack: I was just so in it, and I felt, “if I don’t get this, I’m gonna kill myself.” I literally thought that, and I believe that to be true.
Bill: Oh, you mean like if you had to live our lives? Like, if you had to continue living like us, you’d kill yourself?
…
Jack: Hey, I’ve got a few friends that want to submit some writing. When would be, like, a good time to talk to Timothy about that?
Weekend Live producer: Don’t ever talk to Timothy about your funny friends. First year, just don’t get fired.
Jack: Right, right. So just don’t ever do it during the first year?
Producer: I’m sorry. Was my tone, like, not sarcastic enough? Never do it. Ever.
…
Miles [watching Jack on Weekend Live]: Not funny. Skillful, but not funny.
Allison: It’s like when something sounds funny, but it isn’t funny.[/b]
Then Lena Dunham introduces ELEL.
[b]Jack: You know, Miles, I’m gonna put in a good word for you, but it’s not my job to give.
Miles: Right. But they’ll want me, right? I…I taught you. I taught you everything. Just tell them that. They have Jack Mercer. Now they can get his teacher.
Miles: I’m gonna…I’m gonna recommend all you guys. 'Cause I think that’s only fair.
Miles: This is very unattractive. Your, like, little hat…And your…your attitude. This whole like, “I’m bigger than everybody.” It’s like… You’re just like us. Your head is so big right now. Your—your whole egocentric world…You just have…You’re completely unaware.
Jack: You are striking out at me right now, and I don’t understand why, because I already told you all I can do is submit your packet and let the chips fall where they may.
…
Miles: I just don’t feel like he believes in me.
Lindsay: My dad always told me, “the thing with an easy sell is that the thing has to actually be easy to sell.”
Miles: What does that even mean?
Lindsay: You have to have the goods.
Miles: I don’t have the goods?
Lindsay: You can work on the goods instead of working on Jack. Do the work.
…
Newspaper headline: IMPROV FOR AMERICA TO SHUT DOWN FOREVER
…
Sam: I gotta tell you something. I didn’t…
Jack: What…what is it?
Sam: I didn’t go to my Weekend Live audition. I just didn’t go.
Jack: Why? I mean, why? Why wouldn’t you go?
Sam: I don’t know. I freaked out.
Jack: I told you I would…
Sam: Life is so short, and you have to do things that you believe in, or what is the point of all of this? And I watch that show, and it’s not for me. I like my life how it is right now. I like The Commune.
Jack: I know, Sam. I know.
Sam: The day you guys asked me to join The Commune was the greatest day of my life.
Jack: But, honey, you can’t do improv forever, okay? It just…It ends, all right? And I don’t want it to end either, but it will. It just will. We’ve gotta jump to the next Lily pad.
Sam: But I like this Lily pad.
…
Sam [to her students]: There are two types of bad shows. There’s the type of bad show where we sell each other out onstage and nobody hangs out afterwards, and then there’s the type of bad show where you all go down together, and then you come to the bar afterwards and you laugh about it. That is the type of bad show I want you to have.
…
Jack: Uh, these are some writing samples from some of the improvisers in my group, and they’re really a talented bunch of guys. I just wondered if you wanted to look at 'em.
Timothy [the Lorne Michaels guy]: Jack, you should worry about yourself.
Jack: Oh, okay.
Timothy: I’m cutting you from “jugglers with vertigo.”
Jack: Oh. Okay.
Timothy: You know, you’re not what we call a pure talent. You’re not a virtuoso. You’re the kind of player who should write for himself.
…
Miles [watching Jack steal their material for a Weekend Live skit]: He can’t do that.
Bill: We’ve been replaced by Ben Stiller.
…
Miles: You’re a fucking thief!
Jack: Miles, you don’t understand how hard this job is, okay? I have tried to sell you. It is not easy.
[Miles punches him in the face]
…
Miles: Where were you?
Lindsay: I was out here.
Miles: Doing what?
Lindsay: I didn’t wanna embarrass myself in front of my coworkers.
Bill: What does that mean?
Lindsay: I got the writing job on Weekend Live.
Miles [punching the wall]: Motherfucker!
Bill: They gave it to you?
Allison: You didn’t even tell us you were submitting. That’s so weird.
Bill: We showed you our packet. And you didn’t even say a thing?
Lindsay: I didn’t think I was gonna get it, and I was embarrassed.
Bill: That is so shady. And you’re not even gonna last five minutes there. 'Cause you have no work ethic.
Allison: Bill’s right.
Lindsay: You’ve taken nine years, Allison, and you still haven’t finished your doodle book.
…
Lindsay: No one wants to say this, Miles, but you don’t have it. You were never inches away from anything.
Miles: Fuck you, Lindsay.
Lindsay: You won’t, 'cause I’m not 22 and I’m not your student.
…
Sam: You gotta let go, Miles. All this Weekend Live shit is meaningless. You’ve got The Commune. We only got one more show. I don’t wanna do it alone.
…
Sam [voiceover]: Del Close once said watching great improv is like watching people put the plane together when they’re already in the sky. It’s not meant to last, except as an act of love. It passes in a moment and disappears.
…
Sam: Wow!
Lindsay: Come on!
Bill: Well, it needs a lot of work, but it’s ours. We get to program the whole thing, and we’re just gonna try to find some, like, local kids who are hungry, try to build a scene here in town, you know?
Sam: Has anyone had a particularly hard day? You.
Bill: I…I buried my dad.
Sam: Oh![/b]