Learn it - suggestions

Giving good suggestions: 

At FNI - like most improv shows - we use audience suggestions to create the funny. In general, there is just about no suggestion we will not take. There are, however, a few simple guidelines to giving "good" suggestions - after all, if the scene sucks, it's your fault.

 

The real winners: Gay Proctologists!

If you are new to improv in general or FNI specifically, then chances are you've thought to yourself "I've got the greatest suggestion EVER!!" … Because you know (you just know) that the absolute height of comic brilliance will emerge if you raise your hand and suggest "gay" or "proctologist".

Hey, we understand. 'Cause you know what? "Gay" and/or "Proctologist" is pretty damn funny. No, really. Those gays and those proctologists are some downright amusing people. We know this because the first 10,000 times those two suggestions were made, some very funny scenes were the result. Unfortunately, the second & third 10,000 times the suggestion was made, things became just a little less funny. By the time we got to 60,000 the scenes were - for reasons unknown - somehow less interesting to watch or perform.

Point is: Please, please, for the love of all those good and upstanding American homosexual people who had the courage & discipline to endure the rigors of medical school, who are only trying to make the world a better place by preventing a debilitating disease through the early detection of ass-cancer, please rethink your suggestion. We, the audience, thank you in advance.

 

Ask a stupid question…

Often times, the host of a particular game will ask the audience a particular question in order to solicit a suggestion. For example: "We need something you would find in your pocket" or "Where is a place you would go on vacation?"

Now, we're your psychic friends, so we know what is going through your minds. It goes something like this: "Oh boy oh boy, he just asked for something I would find in my pocket… I know, I'll say my grandmother!!".

And the comedy ensues.

See, Grandmother is funny, After all, no one is expecting you to say grandmother, 'cause after all, how could she fit in your pocket?? You've got to have some mighty big pockets, for your Grandmother to fit in there. Unless you do have some big pockets… Do you? Have big pockets, I mean?

See, the whole idea of having performers going up on a stage to perform is to see if they can entertain us, the audience. In the case of FNI those performers come right from the audience, sure… but they still deserve a chance. And that's just what you murder when you try and "out-funny" the performers with your suggestion.

"Normal" suggestion = "Funny" scenes. "Funny" suggestion = you getting one laugh and then having to sit through the next 10 minutes of mind-numbing nonsense because some jag off thought "in my sock drawer" was a great place to go on vacation.

Actual tips

Actions: There is nothing that can suck the life out of a game faster than watching two or more performers not moving (referred to as the "talking heads" syndrome). To prevent this, many games ask the audience for an action. This is typically in the form of a task the performers will attempt to complete before the close of the game.

Good action suggestions are general and can occupy the players throughout the game. Building a bridge, disarming the bomb, cleaning the house etc. are all good action suggestions.

Bad action suggestions are either too specific or require too little action to complete. Thinking, crossing the street, putting the lime in the coconut, break dancing while translating the Magna Cartain a centrifuge... are all bad action suggestions.


Relationships: For many games (esp. those that only use two performers) the audience is asked to give the relationship between the players. The relationship helps set the character types and defines who these performers are to each other.


Good relationship suggestions are general and give either contrast or connections between the players. Examples of good relationship suggestions are father & son, doctor & patient, angel & devil.

Bad relationship suggestions are too specific and/or relations that are not playable by the performers. William Howard Taft & a bathtub, the upper & lower intestine, the unstoppable force & immovable object are example of bad relationship suggestions.



Situations: Most games require an environment in which the players can perform. Typically the host of the game will ask for a non-geographic location, which can either be real or imaginary.

Good situation suggestions give the players a general background to perform actions. Some examples of good situations are on a farm, in the desert, in a hospital, at a funeral.

Bad situation suggestions are too specific and/or restrict the choices of the performers. In stasis, locked in a phone-booth, purgatory, enveloped in lime Jell-O while falling from 30,000 feet towards the Amish summer home of Buzz Aldren.... are all bad situation suggestions.