Level 3 – Week 1

• What is comedy?
  • Subverting expectations
  • Benign Violation
    • A joke is an unexpected occurrence that is not malignant.
    • A “joke” that is racist or misogynist isn’t actually a joke because it is not a benign violation
  • There are 11 kinds of humor
    • Irony
    • Characters
    • Referential
    • Shock
    • Hyperbole
    • Parody
    • Word Play
    • Analogy
    • Mad cat (slapstick)
    • Meta
    • Misplaced Focus
• Scenes!
  • There are 5 things that all art is derived from – pull from your personal experiences!
    • Society
    • Politics
    • Religion
    • Mortality
    • Sexuality
  • When in a scene, look for these 3 clues:
    • what is the scene about?
    • what is the game?
    • what makes it funny?
  • There are 5 different kinds of scenes:
    • Bizarre / Normal
    • Peas in a pod
    • Alternate Reality
    • Real Scenes
    • Juxtaposition
  • What is Game?
    • An expression of a comedic point of view
• The Harold:
  • The Structure of the Harold:
    • The Opening
    • Beat 1
      • Scene A
      • Scene B
      • Scene C
    • Group Game 1
    • Beat 2
      • Scene A
      • Scene B
      • Scene C
    • Group Game 2
    • Beat 3

Week 1 Recap – Lupe

Hi Level 3,

Below you will find our class notes for week 1:

Charlie’s Hard Opinions: Improv can be anything. Don’t tell me what improv isn’t, tell me what it is.

Comedic Scenes:

1. Person – One person is usual
2. People- Both people are unusual or peas-in-a-pod
3. Place – The place is unusual

Benign Violation: Violating a world view in a way that is not harmful.

Every piece of art that has ever been made deals with

Society

Politics

Religion

Mortality

Sexuality

11 types of humor

• Irony
• Character
• Referential
• Shock
• Hyperbole
• Parody
• Wordplay
• Analogous
• Madcap
• Meta
• Misplaced Focus

“It’s not about getting out of your head. It’s about getting your head into your body.”

A herald starts with an opening.

(3^rd Beat)

Group Game 2 [Not related to group game1]

2A, 2B, 2C [Second scenes, second beats]

Group Game 1

1A, 1B, 1C [First scenes, first beats]

Opening [Usually a monologue]

• Follow the funny idea not the plot.

• Singing usually happens because it’s part of your character or in an alternate where everyone sings.

• Give call-backs sometime.

Memorable Quotes:

“I don’t think you are paying as much attention as you think you are.”

“Ash has a lot of vitamin D in it.”

“I was hoping one of us wouldn’t be nervous.”

“You only turn 69 once.”- Happy birthday!