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Episode 32

An Improv Workout: 6 Exercises to Build Your "Failure Muscle"

We know that failure is the engine of learning, but how do you actually practice it in a safe and productive way?

In this episode, I provide a full workout plan with SIX specific exercises designed to put you in challenging situations.

Learn practical drills for your practice groups or classes that train you to handle wild scenes, distracting environments, and even challenging scene partners. This is your guide to getting your reps in, building a tolerance for chaos, and developing the confidence that you can handle anything on stage.

And you can get these exercises as a handy written PDF. Link for that right below this sentence. Hi!

References in this episode:

Downloadable content

Download the Free Post-Show Reflection Guide: Sent to your inbox when you subscribe to either newsletter (and added to the footer to each message if you're already subscribed).

Get a booklet with six exercises to help you get reps in challenging scenes called "Exercises to Ruin You"

More resources

Support

Like this content and want it to continue? Support this podcast here with a one-time tip here: StereoForest.com/tip

We love our podcast host Capitvate.fm! Contact me anytime to ask me anything. You can support my shows by signing up with Captivate here: https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yzjiytz

About

This podcast was created, written, and is hosted by Jen deHaan. You can find her bio here.

This episode was and edited and produced by StereoForest.com. Contact StereoForest for information about producing YOUR podcast, website, and more at reasonable rates.

Join the FREE StereoForest newsletter for all podcast and show updates at members.stereoforest.com.

What does neuroinclusive mean? It means that you create a supportive environment inclusive and accommodating of all cognitive types and abilities to learn, write together, or perform. This, just like the word "neurodiversity", includes both neurodivergent and neurotypical individuals. Which is… you, since that covers everyone!

This podcast was made in British Columbia, Canada by StereoForest Podcasts.

Note

I mention surveys and written versions in earlier episodes. I am moving this content to ImprovUpdate.com on a new being-developed website. You can always send me any comments, thoughts, feedback, or contributions using the contact form on this page.



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Transcript

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In a previous episode, we talked about this idea.

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Getting good at improv is to rack up 10,000 failures

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instead of trying to actively avoid them.

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We talked about why failure is the engine of learning

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and how to reframe it in our brains.

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I also gave you different hacks for what

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to do in the moment when you feel like you're

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failing inside a scene.

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I'll link to that episode in the show notes and the

description.

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So if these kind of challenges are the key to growth,

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how do we get our reps in?

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How do we practice these kind of challenges in a way that

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actually makes us stronger and more adaptable and maybe

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a little bit less nervous?

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Today, we're going to get practical with full exercises

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that you can practice for in-scene recovery, ones

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that you can do safely in a practice session or a class,

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or even on your own.

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I'm going to walk you through six specific exercises

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and include those modifications as well for solo practice

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for some of them.

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This is so you can do sessions with or without others

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to deliberately train your failure muscle, I guess.

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By the end of this episode, you'll

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have that full workout, a full plan

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to put you in those tough spots and teach you

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how to get out of them so you can train yourself

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for these kind of moments when you come across them.

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Hi, I'm Jen deHaan, and this is your improv brain.

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I really like improv.

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I've taught it, I've coached it, and I make improvised

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audio dramas now at my production studio called

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StereoForest.

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So we'll get to today's exercises,

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but if you also want to download a booklet of these exercises

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that I'm about to describe, head to

improvupdate.com/downloads

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to grab it.

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I'm adding some additional examples of setups, coaching

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notes, and more in that booklet.

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So the goal of these exercises is

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to help you safely experience feeling things going wrong

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while you're in that controlled environment.

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You will build up a tolerance, hopefully, for chaos

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and learning that you always have a move to get out of it.

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This is that deliberate practice we talked about

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in the episode on failure, creating real challenges

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so you can work on error correction.

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So the first exercise is all about being thrown

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into a situation that is designed to be difficult

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from the very beginning.

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So exercise one is called wild setup, wild pivot.

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So this is an exercise that a teacher or coach can run for you

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and it comes in two parts.

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The idea is to create a scene that adds the failure,

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like hot injects it into the scene

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and has the improvisers, you, figure it out on the spot.

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So level one of this exercise is to create that wild setup

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that's a failure in itself, like at the top of the scene.

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So you might set up the scene with a base reality

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and a game that totally doesn't work

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or some sort of really challenging character dynamic

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that you want to work on that has always failed.

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You might want to start sort of mid-scene

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within the problem scenario.

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So pick out the kinds of scenarios

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that you've experienced that are tough.

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Part two is a bit more of a real world feel.

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You and your scene partners start a regular scene

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or if you want extra credit, use one of those setups

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that I just described

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that were already really hard and problematic.

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Then the teacher or coach will at some point

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at their discretion pause the scene and throw in that

wrench.

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So this is the problem or failure that you want to work on.

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It might be something that the coach has noticed

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or it's something that they think that will be helpful.

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They'll throw in that change.

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So say they'll say, "Now your characters are completely

different

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in this way that's really hard."

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Or you just learned that player one crashed your car

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because that would be really hard to do in the scene

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for whatever reason.

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And the improvisers have to take on that change

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and roll with it.

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And that's what you're figuring out.

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That's what you're practicing.

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I did this exercise or some variation of it

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with a great teacher who just goes by Berg

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and is really useful in a practical way.

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Plus those like mid-scene plot twists

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were just gold in that class.

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So I know you can do it.

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I know you can do really interesting pivots

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and comment about them.

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Let us know what they are.

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All right, so that exercise puts the failure on you

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from outside, from that external source.

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Our next exercise is about creating

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that failure feeling on the inside

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by forcing you to act before you think.

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So exercise two is jump without looking.

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So in that last episode, I mentioned this as a hack,

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the last episode on failure.

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As an exercise, it's about intentionally creating

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the condition of acting first and justifying after you act.

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So a coach or a teacher could set this up

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or you can even practice this on your own.

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So I'll describe that too.

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So in a practice group with multiple people,

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the idea here is to be responding

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to something unexpected.

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So a basic justification exercise

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that many of us have done

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is when your seam partner gives you an actual gift,

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they say what it is.

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John says, "Hey, Dan, here, I brought you this party

wrench."

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And then you have to reply to John

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and say what you're gonna use it for or something.

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So like a surprise.

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Or why is Dan giving it to you?

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Just justifies this gift choice.

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Now in a scene, this can be quite similar.

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The key now is to practice a very wild pivot

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kind of move.

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This can be done in different ways,

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different ways to set this up,

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depending on what you wanna work on.

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So here are a couple ideas.

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The coach could give one improviser

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something to do in the scene before it starts.

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So like as a secret,

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the improviser at some point

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has to spontaneously do this action

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or make a statement, whatever it is in the scene.

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Now the seam partner or the other person who is surprised

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has to justify that action for the scene,

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work it into the scene.

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This somewhat mimics you surprising yourself

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with saying something that just popped into your head.

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So that's what you wanna do for real,

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but we're kind of mimicking it in this exercise.

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You could also practice scenes

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where everyone knows the person practicing

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will say something unexpected,

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but you'll have to be very honest with yourself

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to make this work in a controlled space

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to say like actually do something unexpected,

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don't pre-plan it.

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You'll have to honestly do that

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and then everyone else can make it work in the scene after.

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Though forced to be spontaneously knowing

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that you will be doing something kind of scary,

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that on its own might make this kind of an extra challenge.

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All right, if you're on your own,

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write a bunch of monologue or character descriptions

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as the prompt.

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Have an alarm set with the description on your phone

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or a bunch of things in your pocket

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you gotta pull out or whatever

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for a time that you just stop and do it.

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So you don't need, you know, try to forget

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when the alarm's gonna go off,

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don't look at what you cut and paste into your phone

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or what you have in your pocket.

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When the alarm goes off, do that monologue

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or do that character, jump it in

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for like five minutes or something.

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Just verbally describe whatever you're doing in the

moment,

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but be in character, just say it and go.

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What does your character think about what you're doing?

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Whatever it is.

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So that's the challenge.

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Just jump, think after.

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So we've practiced dealing with a wild premise

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and our own unplanned moves.

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The next exercise will train you

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to handle a different kind of challenge,

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external distractions.

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So exercise number three is called F these distractions.

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This exercise is all about learning to focus

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when the environment itself is trying to pull you out

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of the scene, pull your brain out of things.

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So this is a lot about executive function

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and neural pruning and all this kind of stuff.

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So the setup for this will depend heavily

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on you or your team's context, where and what you perform.

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But the goal here is to create a setup

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where there are things happening

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that are very distracting to the performers

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who are actually there practicing this.

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So they should be tailored

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to what the people practicing actually find distracting

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and then practice it in a realistic way.

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What would actually be experienced?

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So don't try to heighten things here, just make it real.

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And just a side note, unless this is something being done

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with a group that has discussed what's going on

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and all agrees, you might wanna work out

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how and what these distractions are in advance

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with the people.

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And if you aren't comfortable sharing

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or this isn't the environment for you,

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you can set up the same kind of scenario on your own.

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So you need to monologue instead,

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but it's all certainly possible

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if you want to practice this alone.

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But whichever one you do know

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that you never need to force yourself

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into something you don't need or don't want to work on.

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This one is really one where you need to feel

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like it's something you want to opt into working on

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and that it's worth it to you.

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So before you start, think of some ideas

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of what you want to try to use to focus during the scene.

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So this could be anything.

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I'll make sure that I can't see the audience

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or I'll focus on the ticking of the clock instead

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if that's the thing that really distracts

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or will take away the distraction for you.

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So I might visualize things in a certain way

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or I'll focus on staying in character in a very certain way

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or I'll use a fidget toy in my pocket

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or clench my fist when this particular thing happens.

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So you have to find what works for you.

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It'll take a little bit of work to do the setup

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and figure this stuff out in advance.

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It could be like people talking on the back line

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or in the audience or maybe people eating in the audience

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or piano music in the background, a smell, a sticky stage,

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stopping a scene and resuming.

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That might be rough for you.

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Certain types of movements that you see peripherally

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or whatever.

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So then the coach can set up a scene

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that is maybe on the cognitively more difficult side

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for you to work on or progressively so

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and the players will test out their hypothesized

techniques

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at that point, discuss what works,

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discuss what doesn't work for you and what to try next.

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And I imagine that repeating and refining

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as you learn might help your brain.

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So how we deal with distractions

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and executive function is vastly different person to

person.

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So this is a very unique thing,

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but something you can practice as a group or on your own.

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All right, so the next exercise tackles

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some of the most common and frustrating types

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of scene failure when your partner

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isn't giving you anything to work with at all.

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Exercise number four, I'm gonna call the mannequin

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'cause I've improvised with a mannequin.

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It's fun.

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This exercise one improviser or ideally the coach

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is tasked with giving absolutely nothing in the scene.

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So this player can respond,

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but they don't offer any new information,

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any emotion or any ideas.

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They might just give one word answers

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or ask simple questions that make the other improviser

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add to the scene or they just,

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they add absolutely nothing in these questions.

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They might stand there with a blank expression

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or maybe even block some of the things you add into the scene.

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The point here is for forcing the other person

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to just carry the entire scene on their own

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to add all of that information

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and make it make sense from one side.

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So what does that feel like?

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What did you do?

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This is a simulation of a flat or a failed scene

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and lets you practice injecting into the scene

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or making bigger swings

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whenever you might need to think for two perhaps, right?

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That happens.

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Or if you want to ever get into solo improv,

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which I love, it's a lot of fun.

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It's a great simulation and preparation for that.

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So this is a really fun exercise

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that I learned from the improviser Jake Regal

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who ran it in a class I took.

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So you have to generate all the interest,

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all the emotion, all the game,

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all the storytelling from your own character

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and your own point of view.

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It's a really intense workout,

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but it teaches you that you have the power

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to make the scene interesting, any scene interesting.

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And if you feel like you're all alone

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or you are all alone or the scene is flat,

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it really helps you out

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and it helps you build that trust in yourself

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which is really important in improv.

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So if you're practicing this solo on your own

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it's totally designed for that.

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Write down a bunch of initiations

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and try doing both sides of the scene on your own.

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You don't need to do two voices if you don't want.

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You can use one voice or even one character

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like they're good and they're dark side.

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If you need help keeping it straight,

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what helps me is to either shift your body

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from side to side for each character

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or use a physical prop.

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You might have a hat, you take your glasses on and off,

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whatever it is.

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So what if your partner is instead giving you way too much?

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That's our next exercise.

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So exercise number five,

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I'm gonna call it "They're the worst."

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So this one's the opposite.

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This exercise is inspired by the one

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and only Sebastian Cannelly.

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It's paraphrasing his exercise

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and I can't recall if he had a name for it

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so this is just one that I made up.

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Anyways, here one player is explicitly instructed

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to try and ruin the scene.

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By being completely over the top

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or doing really whatever they want to do to ruin the scene.

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They are absurd, chaotic, nonsensical.

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They're the wildest character they can possibly imagine.

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They might break the reality of the scene,

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they might introduce wild new ideas every second.

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They just wanna create complete chaos.

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So the other player's job is to fix the scene.

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And by fix, I don't mean like shut down

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and stop the partner doing these things.

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They have to deal with this complete chaos

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the best they can for the audience

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as the scene partner is being

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completely chaotic, uncontrolled the whole time.

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The coach might prompt the wild character

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to make even wilder moves

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or add more chaos in particular ways.

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And so the scene partner doing the work here

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has to find a way to ground the scene,

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to make sense of the wild

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and to create some kind of playable reality,

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whatever they can out of this wild energy

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that the partner is throwing into the scene.

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So this exercise is so good

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for learning how to be the anchor in a storm.

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And it's a great test of spontaneous creativity.

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Really, you have to really kind of try

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to figure it out on the spot.

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So this is really good creative problem solving.

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So this one is really tough to practice solo,

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but one exercise that could help

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is to search, do like do an internet search

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or a Reddit search for strange,

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unexplainable, bizarre stories online.

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So it's like, you're looking for those kind of

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BuzzFeed style lists.

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And again, Reddit is somewhere you can often

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search for these kinds of things.

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So find a source of many of these kind of brief

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overviews for these kinds of stories, read them

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and then improvise a monologue

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to explain what really happened here.

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Make sense of that chaotic story.

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Maybe as a character from the story that you read,

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you could give yourself that extra challenge.

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You could also like pause a show or a movie

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that just is wild and doesn't make sense to you

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at the moment, pause it and do that same kind

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of improv exercise, ways to explain what's going on.

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I think many of us probably already do that

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when a show goes that way.

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Anyways, for our last exercise,

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we're going to get personal.

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This one is about identifying your biggest fear

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or weakness and running directly at it.

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So exercise number six is what I'm calling poop,

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hits the fan for insert your name here.

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This isn't really an exercise.

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It's more of a suggestion of what to work on,

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but I'm giving it a name anyways.

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I want you to think about that one exercise

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or skill and improv that always gives you trouble.

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For me, for a long time,

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it was any variation of the alphabet game,

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which is already designed to kind of have people mess up,

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but pick whichever exercise feels like that to you,

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the exercise of dread.

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The key here is to take that thing that you fear

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and instead of avoiding it,

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you create an exercise where the goal

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is to make the mistake.

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So maybe your issue is blocking offers.

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You could create an exercise where one person's only job

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is to make strong offers

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and your only job is to block them

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and the most absurd way possible perhaps.

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And then the whole group has to justify your block

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by leaning into your failure, you get stronger, right?

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Or you get more trust in your ability.

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Okay, so if you're doing like the alphabet game,

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that was mine.

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My brain just dislikes it

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for whatever autism reasons I think,

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but say in this kind of situation,

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the whole group would then have the goal

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of trying to mess me up.

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They might switch the letters

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or make me work with a number instead

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or give me the word to start with

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or maybe it's the last letter of the final word

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that your SEAM partner says

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and they could play at me with adding new final words

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and I never know when they're gonna end,

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but you're free to fail

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and you could just see what happens in your brain

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when whatever pressures you is gone, right?

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And that's what letting go

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or getting out of your head might feel like.

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So that's the workout plan,

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six exercise designed to get your reps in on failing

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so you can build strength, you can be adaptable,

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you can be confident

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that you can handle anything on stage,

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that's the trust in yourself.

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If you found this useful,

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I'd love for you to help me get the word out

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that I'm making these things.

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So other improvisers who might have a use for this,

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these videos and podcasts, 'cause that's why I'm here

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and check out my site improvupdate.com

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for a couple different newsletters

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and a bunch of resources that you can download,

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including the PDF of these exercises in this video

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and more, subscribe wherever you're watching this

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or listening to the show.

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I would love that, it would mean a lot to me.

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And again, if you wanna download these exercises

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in a useful format for running them,

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this video probably isn't,

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but the booklet might be at improvupdate.com/downloads.

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So we're back to our big question for today.

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How do you build a practice routine

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that takes on the things that bother you,

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these mistakes and turns them into improv that is stronger?

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So deliberate practice and error-based learning,

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mostly the ones that you make in a regular scene,

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the fails, the mistakes, whatever.

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You can also try mimicking them in practice

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in these exercises, which helps you trust your instincts

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for when these things happen for real.

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So sure, you can just do some improv,

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but I love identifying specific situations and scenarios

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that challenge me the most.

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I love thinking about them, creating exercises

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that simulate those challenges so I can work on them

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and get those reps in because it's fun.

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And you can look at these threats as gifts

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that they're fun to work with.

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And because it's make 'em ups,

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the stakes are usually pretty low.

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So I'll be back on next Monday for the next episode.

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Bye for now.

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(upbeat music)

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You have been listening to Your Improv Brain,

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a StereoForest production.

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This show is created and is written, edited,

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and produced by Jen deHaan of StereoForest.com

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You can find show information, show notes, transcripts,

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and contact information at the show's page

::

at stereoforest.com/improvbrain.

::

Thanks for listening.

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(upbeat music)

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Your Improv Brain
Discussions about how our brains work when learning and performing improv.

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