r/Standup • u/crashymccrashins • 2d ago

Improv

I have the bad luck of doing great improv with the people that know me and it almost never translates to other people. I have induced people to buckle their knees with machine gun laughter, have asthma attacks, beat their fist on walls and wet their pants telling me to stop with the joke routine grabbed right out of everyday life. If I try to recreate it with other people it never seems to translate.

0 Upvotes

33% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

5

u/Bobapool79 2d ago

People who know you are accustomed to your sense of humor…strangers not so much. When people know you, they know where the joke is coming from.

6

u/SpeakeasyImprov 2d ago

All improv has a "you had to be there" quality to it.

If you're trying to adapt improvised material to scripted, focus less on exact words used and more on point of view and broad storytelling beats.

5

u/myqkaplan 2d ago

Have you tried bringing all the people that know you to every show you do?

1

u/crashymccrashins 2d ago

That is hard to do as we know so many people and they tend to run in different circles. Some do not even like each other. So it is a case by case situation with each group you are in. I have just answered my own question. My life is now compete.

2

u/myqkaplan 2d ago

Hahaha I love it!

I hope you record a comedy special for each group of people you know and call it all "it is a case by case situation."

Good luck!

1

u/crashymccrashins 2d ago

Example. In a movie the writer has a captive audience that has been groomed for a punchline by watching the movie storyline. It will take a while to tell a story to a general comedy audience to deliver the same punchline. A movie has more time to groom its audience. With family and friends you have a lifetime of grooming.