Today, I'm fresh outta ideas. Luckily, being out of ideas is a subject that applies to improv. Ha. You thought I couldn't do it.
Sometimes, having no ideas is a good thing. After all, you don't want to have an agenda or a plan or a script - that's called writing, people. Writing is a great thing also; I happen to be rather fond of it myself. But it ain't improv. So having no ideas in improv can be beneficial in terms of having the freedom to react to your partner's actions and comments.
But sometimes having no ideas is a problem. Audience suggestions often have some tie-in to pop culture, which can be problematic if you don't know a Kardashian from a knish. Occasionally, your scene partner says something that you just have no clue how to respond to, like "The waggles are late for the popcorn treaty." Or perhaps it's been a long day, and the nuances of the English language elude you, making you want to respond to everything with "Ugh."
If you were writing and you had that problem, you could turn off the computer and come back another day. With improv, you don't have that luxury. You can't tell the audience, "Um, sorry, I don't know what Frank is talking about, so let's start over."
All you can do is stay in the moment, take a deep breath (or 2 or 10), make eye contact with your scene partner for as long as it takes and say something. Remember, you're in this together and your partner will help justify whatever you say or do. The most important thing is stop judging yourself and DO NOT BAIL. The audience wants you to win, and if you stay in it, you will. Honest.
If you do improv long enough, you'll have plenty of moments where you think you have nothing. But what you learn in improv is that, as long as all the players in the scene are committed, there are no mistakes. Sometimes the oddest bit of information (or non-information, as the case may be) turns out to be the thing that the whole scene turns on.
So don't give up. I just wrote 500 words about the fact that I have no ideas. If I can do that, you can come up with a response to, "The waggles are late for the popcorn treaty." Naturally, H2G improv classes are a great place to learn. In fact, I'm going to one just as soon as the sparkles finish fooding the nightmare.
By Sonnjea Blackwell
