#2 in Acting & auditioning books
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Reddit mentions of Truth in Comedy: The Manual for Improvisation
Sentiment score: 14
Reddit mentions: 22
We found 22 Reddit mentions of Truth in Comedy: The Manual for Improvisation. Here are the top ones.
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I am obsessed. Here is my current collection:
Most of these you can find on thepiratebay / etc, but I own a hard copy of all of these except for The Mystery Method, which I read probably 5 times before I found Magic Bullets (actually don't own that either, just the pdf). I'll add to this list if I think of more.
Must Reads:
Magic Bullets - Savoy ==>> [Torrent] it's expensive!
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion - Robert Cialdini
The Art of Seduction - Robert Greene
How to Win Friends & Influence People - Dale Carnegie
Should reads:
The Game - Neil Strauss
The Mystery Method : How to Get Beautiful Women Into Bed - Mystery, Chris Odom, Neil Strauss
How to Get the Women You Desire into Bed - Ross Jeffries
Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation - Charna Halpern, Del Close, Kim Johnson
Meh, they're alright:
The Pickup Artist: The New and Improved Art of Seduction - Mystery, Neil Strauss
Rules of the Game - Neil Strauss
Haven't read yet:
What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People - Joe Navarro, Marvin Karlins
NLP: The New Technology of Achievement - NLP Comprehensive
Easy Mind-Reading Tricks - Robert Mandelberg, Ferruccio Sardella
Palm Reading for Beginners: Find Your Future in the Palm of Your Hand (For Beginners (Llewellyn's)) - Richard Webster
There are also some good videos out there (links are to torrents. these are all several hundred $$):
Excellent Videos
The Annihilation Method - Neil Strauss
Mystery and Style
Decent Videos
Psychic Influence - Ross Jeffries
I hadn't heard of Del Close until I moved to NYC and lived with a guy who did improv. He gave me Del's book "Truth in Comedy", which was an incredible read (and I'm not a comedy writer or performer).
Hey! I finally get to say something relevant!!!
I'm currently in my third Improv class (Improv 301) at HUGE Theater! I was in the first Improv 101 class to be offered by HUGE just before they opened their doors to the public.
Anyone who is the slightest bit interested in Improv should take the 101 level class. 101 classes start this Sunday, May 1st!
Go here to register!
If you have concerns about paying the $200 up front, send the instructor an e-mail and they may be willing to work with you. They're super nice folks. It's a ten week class and they're really great. There's no pressure and you have a lot of fun... Seriously, I highly recommend it.
HUGE classes specialize in longform improv which are made up of longer, more engaging scenes. What you see in 'Who's Line..' is more considered shortform. Both forms involve games and characters, but longform allows you to really dig into scene work.
There is no straight line from taking classes to going into performing. I've had classes with experienced performers looking for a refresher.
Brave New Workshop has workshops available that guide you towards performance and some require an audition. HUGE and Brave New Workshop have great working relationships with each other and you'll see improvisors reporting in at both spots.
If you take a class at HUGE, you also get to go to their shows for free Sunday through Wednesday nights as a student. Shows are $5 normally and usually start around 8pm.
If you're looking to get your nerd on with the other improvisers, you may find some solace in the Minneapolis Improv Boards, although I don't think it's extremely active.
Disclaimer: I had ZERO improv or acting experience before going into class .. I had a friend who suggested I try a workshop for fun and I ended up signing up for the 101 class and loved it. I plan to continue on and even try my hand at performing after this class.
Good luck and I'll see you out there!
Edit: Oh yeah, if you're interested in some light reading, I recommend Truth in Comedy. Del Close helped start Improv as we know it today. Also, it used to be on Netflix Watch Instantly, but you definitely want to watch Trust Us, This Is All Made Up to see how amazing Improv can be.
Format is only half of the story. A big part of long form improv is the mentality, structure, and approach. My highest recommendation is to read a very short book called Truth in Comedy.
You might be interested in the book Truth In Comedy. I used it for Improv classes.
First, actually find a therapist.
​
Second, since you probably won't actually find a therapist (even though you should), below are a few strategies that got me through my roughest patches in investment banking and private equity:
> Say "yes"
Tina Fey's anecdote about Joan Rivers is from a book called Truth In Comedy. I know it has nothing to do with this thread, but as she says, improv/the book make for a great life manual. I always found it helpful as a teacher... and I guess more subconsciously as a parent.
Jerzy Grotowski - Towards a Poor Theatre
Antonin Artaud - The Theatre and Its Double
Bertolt Brecht - Brecht on Theatre
Jacques Ranciere - The Emancipated Spectator
Guy Debord - The Society of the Spectacle
Del Close + Charna Halpern - Truth in Comedy
Extreme Exposure - An Anthology of Solo Performance Texts from the 20th Century
New Downtown Now - An Anthology of New Theatre from Downtown New York
Those books should give you a good introduction to directing in the theatre outside of traditional American realism. Where were you hoping to go to school?
Truth in Comedy by Charna Halpern, Del Close and Kim Johnson
Art by Committee: A Guide to Advanced Improvisation by Charna Halpern
Unless you are drop-dead gorgeous / handsome you had best come to terms with improv.
Every audition has an element of improv, and in most callback situations the director will spring something that you have to be ready to run with.
Try reading Truth in Comedy and try a beginning improv class.
You have to know the rules. Then you can break them.
If you're taking the improv route, you may want to try The Second City Almanac of Improvisation or the Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual. Both really great improv 'guides'.
If your friend hasn't read Truth in Comedy, that's a serious must for any comedic performer.
Just a comedy nerd dabbling in writing here - but I'm also a bookseller and my two mainstays on this front are Truth in Comedy and And Here's the Kicker. Both are well-known, but sometimes missed. Also, in terms of general writing habits, Bird by Bird is phenomenal.
"Only in the pan-handle can you get away with that"
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Everyone laughs.
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"The truth is funny. Honest discovery, observation, and reaction is better than contrived invention."
- Del Close & Charna Halpern, from their book Truth in Comedy
Ok, but I'm wary of you. Your post is very academic, in every sense of the word. I expect field reports from you in return for what I'm about to give you.
A great book on improv was written by a legendary man named Del Close. He's not famous, but his students are very, very well known.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Del_Close
The book is Truth in Comedy.
http://www.amazon.com/Truth-Comedy-Improvisation-Charna-Halpern/dp/1566080037
It will teach you quite a lot about improv, but also about humor in general. It's short, practical, and accessible - but it will make more sense when you've actually tried to do it. Let me know what you think when you've read it.
Maybe this tip can help you. I am an actor (hence the username lol). I have studied a little bit of comedy and I can tell you this. Truthfullness is funny! Use inspiration from your real life as a source of comedy. I know an uprising comedian that is doing the same thing. It can also work in improv comedy. Maybe look into this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Truth-Comedy-The-Manual-Improvisation/dp/1566080037
I admire the fact that you have done stand up comedy. I want to try it one day.
For more information, including a more detailed version of "Saying Yes", I wholeheartedly recommend reading The Truth About Comedy
Do you have a background in comedy? Having experience in improv and/or sketch comedy will definitely be helpful. If you're near any major city, there are probably classes that you can take.
In terms of sketch writing, there are two main things you're going to need to understand. First, and arguably the most important, is the idea of Game. It's the fundamental pattern of what makes funny things funny. The inside joke that is crafted between the performers and the audience.
The second thing is just writing believable dialogue and characters you can invest in. You could have an incredible idea for a sketch, but if the dialogue is weak, then it's going to be harder to keep the audience's attention. Since you're on r/screenwriting, you probably have a good sense of this, so we'll focus on the Game.
In terms of resources, there are a number of great books on improv theory (unfortunately not very much about sketch, but at their core, the scene structure is quite similar).
The Upright Citizens Brigade just released a book that I haven't read yet, but seems like it focuses a lot on game, so it might be helpful. Truth in Comedy is another popular book about improv.
Once you understand the basics of how a comedic scene is crafted, I'd say just watch a lot of sketches. Watch SNL, Britanick, Good Neighbors, anything you can find online. Notice what their Game is. How they build and present their characters. It's the same thing with screenwriting. Once you know the pieces of a strong screenplay, you notice when they're done well or poorly in every movie you see. Then, find a style of comedy that is meaningful and funny to you and start writing!
Sorry for the huge post. I hope this was helpful! Best of luck!
False. Humor = Reality. One of the core tenants of joke creating is to tell the truth. There is truth in comedy and nothing is funnier than real life.
One of the core books for teaching and learning improv is book called, Truth in Comedy. It goes through many different lessons, but one of them is don't be ridiculous. Play things honestly as you would any situation.
Work on your lighting and sound. Also, read this.That sketch was about three minutes too long.
Well, you're going to be meeting a lot of people soon and I can give you a few pointers as how to survive/not be awkward. Most people love nothing more than talking about themselves, so an easy trick is to simply ask them about themselves and listen. This is a shortcut that will immediately make them endeared to you.
It's okay to be quiet, just be smart about it. Do a lot of observing before you talk and make what you say matter. Being funny helps tremendously, and if you pick your spots, you can be the "funny" guy without being the life of the party.
A dry sense of humor approach is best, but any humor will do. There's a great book about humor and being funny that can help a lot. It's written by a genius named Del Close (practically the inventor of long-form improv) called Truth in Comedy (http://www.amazon.com/Truth-Comedy-The-Manual-Improvisation/dp/1566080037). Check it out. You'll learn a lot.
Also, confidence is attractive. You can have a confident air even if you're not. Season your conversations with statements like "There's always two sides to every story." and "That's a great point. I should research this topic more." Even if you have zero confidence, you can appear confident by acknowledging deficiencies in your knowledge set while swearing to become more intelligent about said topic. It's never a bad thing to acknowledge ignorance, it just makes you come across as honest and curious, which people love.
Make sure that you have established interests when you arrive. Like video games? Research game theory, it's fascinating and it's used in way more places than just the gaming industry. Basically, you can take anything that you're interested in and apply the principles to other parts of life. Now instead of being a "gaming nerd" you're a young and talented interface designer with a keen mind for sociology and anthropology - skills that apply to everything from future gesture-based interfaces to simply coming up with a better doorknob design.
Lastly, don't get hung up on stuff. Be the laid back, contemplative guy. It's okay to be passionate, but realize you don't have to win every argument. Arguments don't really have to end, nor will they, so you're better off making a quippy bon mot about the ridiculousness of an argument than trying to convince people you are right.
That's all I got off the top of my head.
Boomerang
Thanks so much for the contest! m( )m
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If you want to get good find some local classes in your area, then work to join a team.
The UCB improv manual is one recommended book for a game heavy style of improv. It is the textbook for the UCB classes. Truth is Comedy is the textbook for IO which has a more honest style improv.
Go to shows if you have them in your area and watch improv as you learn you will begin to see what people are doing and understand why. This youtube channel is some UCB teams performing; I particularly like the team Fuck that Shit. I also personally love Off Book the Improvised Musical podcast. They are some incredible improvisers. Start with Ep 75 if you want a good one.
Last if you want a more relaxed fun way try finding a role playing game group. This won't make you great at stage improv but you can pick up some of the skills. Most people play D&D which is not a bad place to start in tabletop RPGs especially with 5th edition. If you can find people running more story games you can get somewhere closer to narrative improv minus the audience.