We’re 5 issues in now! I’ve been back from the UK now for about a week, and my brain is finally rested enough to form some cogent thoughts.

Also, I want to acknowledge the milestone of having over 250 subscribers! I’ll do my best to keep this space interesting. And please drop me a reply if anything I say sparks a thought or a question in you.

I’ve missed you!

[How to Take Suggestions]

Today I want to talk about taking suggestions during an improv show.

Suggestions, in case you’re unfamiliar, are things like words, phrases, or stories that help inspire a performance.

Our default method at The Hideout is to ask the audience to shout out a bunch of words. We then take one that inspires us.

The other major (and I think, more common) approach in the improv world at large is to take literally the first thing you hear.

I get the appeal of that. You’re improvisers, so you should be able to make anything work, right?

Story time: In 2006, a bunch of Hideout Improvisers (members of PGraph, Improv for Evil, and The Leading Brands, among others) traveled to San Francisco for the BATs summer intensive workshops. In particular, PGraph signed up for a one day workshop with the legendary Keith Johnstone.

We learned a lot in that short workshop, but the most lasting lesson came from a brief speech on suggestions.

Johnstone said something like:

“I don’t think you should take suggestions. The reason people take suggestions is to prove to the audience that you’re really improvising. But the audience will never believe you anyways. If improvisers weren’t cowards, they would ask for a suggestion that inspires them. But they’ll never do that, so I say don’t take a suggestion.”

Naturally we walked away that day saying “Oh yeah? We’ll show you!” And since then, we’ve always made a point to tell the audience exactly that- that we’re looking for a suggestion to inspire us. Basically, we fell for Johnstone’s reverse-psychology.

Whenever someone is inspired, the whole show can catch fire. Once that spark is lit, as long as we feed it and do everything in our power to help it burn, we can have one of those rare, effortless shows that every improviser is constantly chasing.

So YES, you CAN make any suggestion work, but if it doesn’t light you up, you’re just making another hoop for your group to jump through. I’d much rather start a show with the fuse lit than spend the first 3 minutes groping for something fun in front of the audience… or feeling like you have to front-load the show with some mechanic that transforms the suggestion into something that DOES light you up.

But honestly, the real answer is that how you take a suggestion for a particular show should be based on the particular needs of the show itself.

With inspiration as the goal, here’s a very non-comprehensive list of ways shows I’ve been involved with have taken suggestions:

• Community submitted secrets via postcards and webforms prior to the show - Austin Secrets

• Telling the performers which theatrical tableau they should start the show with - French Farce

• Audience interview about the meanest person in someone’s life - Bah, Humbug!

• No Suggestion - GRIMM (I wrote about 5 paragraphs why we did this, but that’s for another time, I guess).

But let’s just assume for the moment that you want to take a suggestion using the default Hideout method. Sweet. Here’s the basic template.

“Hi! To get our show started tonight we need a location that our play will take place at. We want y’all to shout out a bunch of ideas, and we’ll take one that inspires us. Everybody ready? Okay, whaddya got?”

Repeat the suggestions as you hear them without judgment, encourage the audience to shout out more if they’re hesitant, and when someone in the cast is struck by one them, they say “Ooh, I really like ________.”

It’s crucial that you set the audience’s expectations by saying “shout out a bunch and we’ll take one that inspires us.” If you don’t, it can feel like you’re rejecting suggestions rather than selecting one that strikes your fancy.

I realize this might actually be one of my more controversial opinions, so let me wrap up by saying that if you’ve put any thought into how and why (and if) you’re taking suggestions, you’re doing great. Just do things on purpose.

[Idea #4/1,000,000 - Invisible Poker]

I just dug through my Notes app to find a juicy idea for today’s issue, and came across something from 2016 that I objectively think is a BAD idea.

Invisible Poker:

“Let's create an actual game improvisers can play on stage that looks like they are miming a game of cards.

Does that make sense? It'd be some game involving hand signals and glances and maybe a few phrases. It wouldn't be card-related at all, but the end result would be that to an audience the players would look like they were playing a game with invisible cards and everyone knew what was going on.

Then in a scene involving cards, improvisers would just play that game, and overreact to every twist and turn.”

For the record, the reason I think it’s a bad idea is because even trying to keep track of a simple mental game would cause the improvisers involved to miss what was actually happening in the scene. But it still sounds fun.

[Look Here - Tiny E-Readers]

I’m currently fixated on tiny e-ink e-readers. This guy can magnetize to the back of your phone, and is an easy alternative to scrolling when you’re bored. It’s an X3 by XTEiNK.

[Flip the Script]