Yes And Exercise
OVERVIEW
The Yes And Exercise or Yes And Scenes exercise is at the core of improv comedy theory. There is perhaps no improv exercise more important to a beginning student, a master improviser and everyone inbetween. Often appearing in workshops focused on:
Collaboration
Comedy
Confidence
Creativity
Listening
Team Building
REQUIREMENTS
Number of Participants:
Minimum: 2 participants / Maximum: 16 participants
Time Required:
Minimum: 15 minutes / Maximum: 30 minutes
Materials Needed:
None
EXERCISE INSTRUCTIONS
This is a two person scenic exercise. It can be done en masse by splitting your workshop into pairs and running it concurrently, or one pair at a time with the rest of the participants watching each iteration as an audience, or in some amalgamation of the two formats (for example, you might start with a sample scene or two and then move to the entire class running the exercise concurrently for time purposes).
At the core of the exercise is the quintessential improv mantra, YES AND. Explain to participants that they will be trying two person improvised scenes with training wheels on. The training wheels is the restriction that every line of dialogue after the first line will need to include both the words YES and AND.
Some people prefer to run the exercise with every line of dialogue after the first staring with the words YES AND with new information then added to the scene. Others prefer for every line after the first to start with the word YES, for the player to then repeat information from the last line, for the word AND to then be spoken, and finally for new information to be added to the scene. Both are great but the second option is best.
A scene run in this fashion might play out as follows:
A: I made eggs for breakfast.
B: YES you made eggs for breakfast, AND you made them fast.
A: YES I made them fast, AND no one makes them faster.
B: YES no one makes them faster, AND you should be famous for it.
A: YES I should be famous for it, AND fame is all that matters.
B: YES fame is all that matters, AND it is time for you to shed your family and friends. They are distracting you from gaining more fame.
And so on.
Notice that in the above scene every new piece of information was pithy and not long winded. Adding lengthy amounts of new information is likely to make the exercise unwieldy and participants should be cautioned against it. The improv saying BRING A BRICK, NOT A CATHEDRAL may be helpful in driving this point home.
You can give players a suggestion for their scene before they start. You might suggest a relationship for them to play, a location for the scene, a comdeic scenario or just a single word they can use for inspiration. Or you can simply let them begin the exercise using however they are feeling in the moment for inspiration.
If working with beginners or first time improvisers it can be helpful to tell the players who should start the scene.
NOTE: Participants can feel hemmed in by the rigid sentence structure of this exercise. They may feel like the scene would flow more naturally (they aren't wrong) or be funnier (they are probably wrong) without the structure. If you notice them foregoing it stop the exercise and insist they follow the format.
INSTRUCTOR DISCUSSION POINTS / LEARNING TAKEAWAYS
COLLABORATION
This exercise is a great way to hone collaboration skills. In theory most people agree that they want to collaborate, but putting it into practice isn't so simple for them. Saying YES out loud forces them to agree and having AND follow directly after that agreement dramatically increases the chances that the next thing they say will be in alignment with what they just agreed with, instead of being in opposition to that thing or unrelated.
COMEDY / CONFIDENCE / CREATIVITY
This exercise can be eye opening for all three of the above subjects. Scenes created using this methodology carve surprising paths forward that would be unlikely to be discovered if any one person sat down to write a funny scene. By fully embracing another person's idea and then building on it enthusiastically you are likely to have a very funny and original scene.
For this reason players should learn to be confident when collaborating on a project that is headed in an unknown direction. You don't need to know where your project will go if you listen to your partner's ideas, all you need to do is embrace them and build on top of them. Since you aren't expected to do the whole thing yourself, you should feel confident in your ability to consistently listen and add a little bit.
As stated, these scenes will likely be funny and creative without a plan having been hatched beforehand. There is a lesson there. You don't have to have a great or even a good idea before you start, you can simply stay present, listen and contribute collaboratively in order to be funny and creative!
That means you don't have to be a comedic genius in order to be a part of a great scene. Anyone can do it!
LISTENING
The second of the two formats asks players to listen to what their partners said like a hawk and it tests them on their listening every time they speak. Listening seems so easy people often forget to do it. This exercise helps you remember to listen by weaving wat you heard into everything you say.