Story and Discourse and Improv Comedy

For two years, I've been involved with Theatre Strike Force, the improvisational comedy group on campus – and if there's a good way to learn the importance of narrative (as far as keeping an audience's attention), improv is probably one of the best teachers you can get. Having just been to an audition on Thursday night for the TSF-affiliated long-form improv groups (and not doing too well, I might add – for reasons both in and out of my control), the aspects of narrative that Chatman describes in Story and Discourse (Ch. 2) certainly pertain even to completely made-up situations, although at times, improvising wholeheartedly ignores or breaks the 'rules' or necessities of narrative.

Some of the most successful/enjoyable/entertaining improv I've watched or participated in (judged mainly upon audience response/appreciation/engagement) has some kind of clear or logical plot – our 'well-formed' kernels and satellites, if you will – replete with a build up of suspense and odd surprises, and it's not always in chronological story order. (One of my favorite improv conventions in a scene is when an improviser, as a character, mentions something that has happened or will happen and someone else yells out "cut to that moment" in which the event is played out - usually in an unexpected way from what was originally mentioned – and then they 'cut back' to the original scene and where they have to incorporate what 'happened' in that event.)

That said, it's just as interesting to watch a scene which follows none of the conventions of a traditional narrative and yet, is the most hilarious and exciting part of the evening. This all takes on another level when considering Henri Bergson's 'Laughter' about what makes things 'comic' (and thus, laughter-producing) – many of his points directly relating to narrative form. Oh, and don't worry – I don't read Bergson just for fun, it's for another class I'm taking this semester.