Embedded Files
Long-Form Improvisation: The Harold
"Read the papers everyday, watch the news, familiarize yourself with the classics, find your voice, and form an opinion... keep studying kids, it will only bring more depth to your work."
"Read the papers everyday, watch the news, familiarize yourself with the classics, find your voice, and form an opinion... keep studying kids, it will only bring more depth to your work."
-Chandra Halpern, Art by Committee
-Chandra Halpern, Art by Committee
Del Close (1934 - 1999), founding member of The Compass Players, Artistic Director of Second City, co-owner of the Improv Olympic, Improv Guru
LONG FORM IMPROVISATION
LONG FORM IMPROVISATION
Developed after the debut of Improvisation in the late 1950s, long-form improvisation describes the next level up from short-form, bringing our attention to the meta. We no longer practice story or sketch through restrictive or endowment games, like athletics now we practice to play ONE game: The Harold.
"Don't try to be funny, try to be honest. Comedy comes from a place of truth."
"Don't try to be funny, try to be honest. Comedy comes from a place of truth."
Del Close
"When you see a great improv comedian, he's channeling, and that's exciting. It's almost like a trance. And it's not an intellectual process, although when you get stuck - and when you're out of trance - there are things to do to get back into the trance."
"When you see a great improv comedian, he's channeling, and that's exciting. It's almost like a trance. And it's not an intellectual process, although when you get stuck - and when you're out of trance - there are things to do to get back into the trance."
-Mike Myers, Art by Committee by Chandra Halpern
-Mike Myers, Art by Committee by Chandra Halpern
The Platform
The Platform
- Object & Where (Location)
- Who (Relationship)
- What (what the scene is going to be about, OR "finding the game")
"Yes, and..." vs "Yes, but..." You can control when you want to introduce the conflict.
"Yes, and..." vs "Yes, but..." You can control when you want to introduce the conflict.
Pay Attention to all the FACTS. Shelve all of it. Repeat it inside the game. Del said "Nothing is ignored, nothing is forgotten, nothing is a mistake".
Pay Attention to all the FACTS. Shelve all of it. Repeat it inside the game. Del said "Nothing is ignored, nothing is forgotten, nothing is a mistake".
3rd+ characters. Help is about THEM, not YOU. Only help them if they need it. This includes sound fx, human props, etc.
3rd+ characters. Help is about THEM, not YOU. Only help them if they need it. This includes sound fx, human props, etc.
Improvisation Rules:
Improvisation Rules:
- You’ve known each other for 20+ years. Everytime.
- Use questions to "Yes, and".
- Show, don’t tell.
- Always start small, like with an object, then take a step back.
- If you have a moment of physical violence, do it in slow motion
Charna Halpern, founder of Improv Olympic
From The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual
Showmanship
Showmanship
Professionalism
Show respect for your time onstage
Step onstage ready to perform
Business casual dress
Short-Form Improv Revue is scheduled for August 22, 2025 during BPH. Intermediates will be in attendance.
"Improvisation is a visual art. If you all want to stand around and talk about it, wake me when you're done, as I can hear that stuff on the radio."
Susan Messing, Art by Committee by Chandra Halpern
Susan Messing, Art by Committee by Chandra Halpern
LONG-FORM PERFORMANCE
LONG-FORM PERFORMANCE
Above: Great explanation of the structure of a Harold by PVImprov. Below: explanation of the development of the Seinfeld script, based on long-form improvisation games.
Long-form performance games are built from short scenes and group games and are interrelated by theme.
Games like Around the World, Time Dash, La Ronde; complicated games like the Harold and its derivatives
The laughs in performances like the Harold come from the connections made in the work: "The End is in the Beginning" (Del Close).
Creating, recognizing and continuing patterns
Conditions created from within, not outside (like short-form)
Longer, grounded sketch work (UCB):
identify the premise,
find the game,
heighten and explore
Del Close, creator of the Harold, describes "...an aesthetically pleasing arrangement of games, scenes and monologues." The opening game is 6 or 7 minutes. Typical Harold length is 35 minutes.
Del Close, creator of the Harold, describes "...an aesthetically pleasing arrangement of games, scenes and monologues." The opening game is 6 or 7 minutes. Typical Harold length is 35 minutes.
Del's General Principles for the Harold
Del's General Principles for the Harold
You are all supporting actors.
Always check your impulses.
Never enter a scene unless you're needed!
Save your fellow actor, don't worry about the piece.
Your prime responsibility is to support.
Work at the top of your brains at all times.
Never underestimate or condescend to your audience.
No jokes (unless it is tipped in front that it is a joke).
Trust... trust your fellow actors to support you:
Trust them to come through if you lay something heavy on them.
Trust yourself.
Avoid judging what is going down except in terms of whether it needs help (either by entering or cutting), what can best follow, or how you can support imaginatively if your support is called for.
Listen!
"Del said that we're not eliminating short-form, we were just creating a meta-game that ate short-form games."
"Del said that we're not eliminating short-form, we were just creating a meta-game that ate short-form games."
-Chandra Halpern, Art by Committee
-Chandra Halpern, Art by Committee
Scenic Tools
Scenic Tools
Transitions: cutting scenes, stitching scenes together are taken care of by the ensemble.
Rules of Thumb:
enter scenes from upstage
split scenes from the side
edit scenes from the front
Like distancing effects, there are many we've already created, and there will be many more ways to do so.
Scenic Support: Joining a 2-person scene
Scenic Support: Joining a 2-person scene
After THE GAME has been established, improvisers may (or may not) need support. Not a requirement of scenes/beats (and discouraged in the first round), the purpose of joining scenes/beats as the 2+ character is
to support THE GAME,
to make your fellow improvisers look good
Some examples of support for 2-person scenes are
Walk-ons
Sound effects
Scenic Painting
Tag Outs
Swinging Doors
Split scenes
Supporting THE GAME in 2nd and 3rd beats of the Harold is highly encouraged :)
Scenic Support: When to Edit
Scenic Support: When to Edit
Full support of the onstage players AND the game they establish is primary directive. Unlike joining a scene, editing a scene is MUST.
Edit scenes on a high note; when the onstage players can't possibly heighten anymore.
Editing tool examples:
Editing tool examples:
Clap offstage clap terminates a scene
Front Wipe/Sweep Wipe offstage players walk across the front between the audience and the players
Tap/Tag Out offstage players shoulder tap onstage player, replacing them to either travel space/time AND heighten/explore the game (UCB)
Cut to when the improvisors are discussing something specific in the past or future. Improvisor from back line starts it, says line that establishes where/when. Can involve improvisors onstage or others from the back line. Used to heighten/explore the game, NOT to establish it (UCB)
Ass Wipe loud, obnoxious offstage player ruining a perfectly good scene
Technical Wipe lights dim, music starts
Director's Cut the guide cuts the scene
Del on Group Mind, from Truth in Comedy by Chandra Halpern:
"We are releasing higher and greater powers of the human being. That is what we mean when we say that Harold 'appears'. A melding of the brains occurs onstage. When improvisers are using seven or eight brains instead of just their own, they can do no wrong! Time slows down, and the player has a sense of where he is."
Living In The Moment onstage [another perspective on Group Mind]
Living In The Moment onstage [another perspective on Group Mind]
Before you have the privilege of experiencing In The Moment, The Flow, The Groove, Vibin', your lines are memorized implicitly, you have a full understanding of the chain of action that constitutes the play, you've found a connection to the given circumstances of your role and have a clear picture of Role. If there's any reason the actor can't achieve Living In The Moment, typically it's because they don't have faith they may let go.
Above is author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Mee-Hi Chick-Mee-Hi). I think he's explaining the same thing which he calls Flow. Further he connects the dots between flow and happiness, explaining what he means in different disciplines. Worth a watch!
I'm paraphrasing, but Csikszentmihalyi mentions The Flow = Ecstasy, which is a "more concentrated, arranged form" of day to day life. Sounds like a good performance worth watching!
HAROLD OPENING/THE OPENER
HAROLD OPENING/THE OPENER
The first group game that serves as the foundation of the entire piece. Generate ideas, help develop Group Mind, and entertain the audience.
Players take the audience suggestion and expand it, find new associations/ideas through games, then use those associations to create scenes. UCB says TEN ideas, most.
Every bit of information will be remembered and used
Players discover each other's POV, POVs shared with the audience
Use information presented by another player (UCB) or Don't continue your own ideas throughout the Harold.
information comes in many forms: words, phrases, stories, sounds, movement, etc.
Identify and use premises first; then half ideas, then chaff
Set Openers are predetermined by the ensemble
It's like "dropping the suggestion into the pool of your unconciousness then doing a scene about the ripples."
-PVImprovIt's like "dropping the suggestion into the pool of your unconciousness then doing a scene about the ripples."
Premise
Premise
A UCB concept: a stated line that contains the base reality (the platform) and the unusual thing. Example: "Your operation has been scheduled for Wednesday. I'll be anesthetizing you with a brick." Juxtaposition, built in irony.
HAROLD GROUP GAMES
HAROLD GROUP GAMES
Group Games are played with the entire ensemble and come between scene/beat 1 & scene/beat 2.
Group Games are only related to the opener and each other by THE GAMEs.
Group Games start with Verbal or Non-Verbal Initiation,
VERBAL: initiate with line of dialogue. Craft specifically to inform ensemble if its ADD ON or ALL AT ONCE.
NON-VERBAL: initiate with sound or physical action. Initiator decides WHERE or WHAT
...then the group can Add on or All at Once.
ADD ON group games begin with ONE additional improviser joining the initiator. Decides WHO.
ALL AT ONCE group games begin with most if not all of the ensemble joining the scene immediately after initiation
When a few ensemble members HANG BACK, then can provide support to THE GAME once it's been established
Go back and explore the suggestion more directly. Some call them "palate cleansers". "...players bring back comedic ideas from the first beat and explore them in new, and ideally heightened, ways."
More listening, less talking
From The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual
HAROLD SCENES, or BEATS
HAROLD SCENES, or BEATS
From The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual
1st round ESTABLISHES the three worlds we'll be seeing. Relationship-based, GAME-driven, 2-person scenes.
UCB: scenes either organic or premise
An Organic Scene is one where the improvisers find base reality then the premise;
A Premise Scene is one that begins from an opener that's provided the premise
Premise: a stated line that contains the base reality and the unusual thing.
UCB describes 2-person scenes as between "the straight man" and "the character". Easiest to find the game when only 2 improvisers.
UCB describes THE GAME as playing "if, then" when the first unusual thing comes up after your platform: "IF that's true, THEN what else is true?"
YES AND your way through WHERE & WHO (base reality),
then the FIRST UNUSUAL THING defines THE GAME.
Heightening and Exploration: Heightening is funny/absurd; Exploration justifies it/keeps it grounded/reasons: "If this unusual thing is true, why is it true?"
GAME MOVES are in the form of a partner's dialogue and action
1st round should include THE PLATFORM and NAMES of the characters
HEIGHTEN and EXPLORE until an edit
Go easy on support roles until THE GAME is established
From The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual
3rd round EXPLODES.
Same as 2nd: apply THE GAME through time dash, analogous or tangential scene; same game roles; support encouraged
3rd round tends to be shorter
Make connections: find ways to combine games logically: "remind the audience the scenes of you Harold exist in the same world" (UCB). In Truth in Comedy, Halpern comments THIS is where the magic lies, when everything comes together.
Planned Connections
Discovered Connections
Callback Connections
Forced Connections
2nd round EXPANDS / EXPLORES, "building those worlds out in a 3D way".
Return to THE GAME through TIME DASH (same characters, same game, different platform), ANALOGOUS SCENE (same game only, new characters/new platform), TANGENTIAL (same game only, new platform inspired by reference in beat 1, character taken from beat 1)
Improvisors don't switch game roles; that is, it might be the same character, but it always is the game role
Support roles encouraged
From The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual
"[Group Mind is] like sitting in a room with a bunch of people, and you all say the same thing at the same time. You're in the same frame of mind, and you're all thinking the same way."
"[Group Mind is] like sitting in a room with a bunch of people, and you all say the same thing at the same time. You're in the same frame of mind, and you're all thinking the same way."
-Tim Meadows, Art by Committee by Chandra Halpern
-Tim Meadows, Art by Committee by Chandra Halpern
...and beyond: Variations on the Harold
...and beyond: Variations on the Harold
Monoscene A Harold that takes place in one environment w/o time dashes, uses no editing of any kind. No opener. Entrances/exits determine scenes. Possibly also called a French Harold.
Blind Harold Participants are seated and blindfolded in the dark.
The Bat Harold in the dark.
Armando Scenes are interceded by true story monologues from a designated monologist.
Sybil A Harold performed by a single performer.
The Narce A Harold performed by a single performer.
Triple Play 3 by 3 scenes with no interceding handles.
The Movie performed in a particular genre. Uses language/technique of screenplays/filmmaking
Asssscat deliberately simple Harold that anyone regardless of improv school could join up.
Deconstruction starts with long, detailed scene that serves as the opening game.
Asssscat by Upright Citizens Brigade. Asssscat is a simplified form of the Harold, kept thus so anyone - regardless of improv discipline - can join. Called a drop-in show.
"A team with a strong group mind will seem as if they are reading each other's thoughts and anticipating moves before they even happen. They will never seem to be lost or struggling for what to do next. The seamlessness of their performance will seem magical to an audience."
"A team with a strong group mind will seem as if they are reading each other's thoughts and anticipating moves before they even happen. They will never seem to be lost or struggling for what to do next. The seamlessness of their performance will seem magical to an audience."
-Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual
-Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual
Your Harold
Your Harold
Based on theme that the class will decide, we will practice and perform a traditional Harold as our final this quarter. We will do two; our first will be just us.
They will be about 30/40 minutes
Sept 18 will be performed during our period; Sept 27 will be during BPH
Intermediates will be invited for the second Harold on Sept 27
I will record and post our show on YouTube
Performances will be September 17 & 24, 2025.
RESOURCES
RESOURCES
My go-to resource for remembering games as well as discovering new ones. Some are games to get you warmed-up; some have specific points of focus.
A new site I've quoted from recently.
Truth in Comedy: The Manual for Improvisation by Charna Halpern, Del Close, Kim Howard Johnson
Art By Committee by Charna Halpern, explaining iO's theories behind improvisation
Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual by Matt Walsh, Ian Roberts, et. al.
Q1 Long-form Improv Playlist
Q1 Long-form Improv Playlist
Here's my YouTube playlist of all the videos we watched throughout the quarter. Enjoy!
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse