What is Reddit's opinion of Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual?

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These are always such good comments.

/u/ducidni_1, I would really recommend, if not taking a sketch class, then at least reading the UCB Manual. There's a lot of improv-specific stuff there, obviously, but their approach to improv and sketch is essentially the same thing, so everything in there about how to play game is applicable to both.

While I can’t help you find that specific article, I can suggest a book that might help. If you really want to learn how to improv, I HIGHLY recommend you get the UCB Improv Manual. While it is focused on real long- and short-form improv, it will teach you all of the components of good improv and what you can do and think of to get better. It is all agnostic from “humor” or how to make things funny as you might expect from an improv manual, so you can apply everything you read to games.

As for coming up with consequences, it’s really hard to give advice that will help you without some examples of where you struggled. My advice would be to follow the fiction and choose what is most obvious, not what you think is coolest or most original. If nothing in the scene jumps out as being an obvious consequence, think off screen and see if one of the factions involved might have an opportunity to get involved.

And lastly, this might be a controversial take, but IMO improv requires everyone buying in and putting in the work. I see a lot of people in other TTRPG-related subs thinking that they the GM need to try harder to make improv work at their table, but not acknowledging that their players may or may not be interested in/knowledgeable about improv. I think there is SO much value in running a few improv games or exercises as warm ups before sessions, and if your table is willing expanding on those games with a tiny bit of improv theory that you have gleaned. Nobody wants a lecture for a game, but if you keep it short and to the point -and most importantly - relevant, in my experience nobody will bat an eye. Do what you can to get everyone feeling free, loose, and un-judgmental before you kick off and you might be surprised how easy ideas flow, for all of you.

From 2018 thread:

Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual by Matt Besser, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh

At almost 400 pages, the dense UCB Comedy Improvisation Manual is the required textbook of the UCB curriculum. While it covers many basic concepts applicable to improvisation on any stage, it is specifically geared to teach beginning and intermediate students the "guidelines and techniques for Long Form improvisation as it is taught at the Upright Citizens Brigade Training Centers and performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatres in New York and Los Angeles."

Assuming no improv knowledge on the reader's part, it introduces and breaks down improv concepts into easily digestible chunks with many helpful examples, explanations and exercises...all with a hefty amount of clarifying color illustrations to boot!

The heart of the book, and UCB-style improv, is about the game of the scene. Over six chapters and 150 pages, the UCB Manual delves into their philosophy of finding, framing and playing the game of the scene. In text, it comes off very heady and analytical, especially if you're reading this book without also taking classes at one of UCB's training centers. To the authors' credit, they smartly re-use scenes and scenarios as the they delve deeper into various game moves and techniques. They also emphasize the book is only useful if read in conjunction with practice and performance in your UCB classes.

The last chunk of the book covers longform devices and formats with a chapter devoted to UCB's specific take on the Harold.

Because of the size and cost ($25) of the UCB Manual, it isn't a universal recommend from me as there is a huge chunk of the book that may not apply to the style of play in your locale.

Who do I recommend this book for?

• Beginning improvisors in the UCB program...because you have to buy it.
• Beginning or Intermediate improvisors considering taking UCB classes. This book lays out exactly what you should expect.
• Beginning or Intermediate improvisors who want an organized breakdown of improv concepts and techniques...but with the caveat that UCB-style game play may not apply to their local theaters.
• Intermediate or Advanced improvisors who are not UCB trained but want insight into their philosophy.

Random observation for grammar nerds and editors: the UCB Manual varies between using "Long Form" and "longform"--I would have loved to hear the conversation about the rules for which was applicable throughout the book because it seems inconsistent to me. Also, given the popularity and (mandatory) reach of the UCB Manual, its use of "improviser" rather than "improvisor" may become an online shibboleth to distinguish where you were trained.

Hey Daniel!

Your video has some really great moments, and you seem like a really genuine and nice guy. Here are a few things I think you should think about:

• Cheesy tone - There are a few things that give this video a cheesy/childish vibe. First, you seem kind of fake and exaggerated, from the first "What's going on guys?" You also use quirky music in the background, which reinforces the cheese.

There's nothing inherently wrong with cheese, and a lot of big YouTubers use it heavily, but I think you might want to try and experiment with the voice and tone you establish, and swap the cheese for something more genuine. There's no formal rule of YouTube that says you have to aggressively go "HEY GUYS!" at the top of every video. I think this would help your jokes land better too. The juxtaposition of someone seeming to be genuine/helpful, and then breaking out giant impractical props would land better. It's a better misdirection.

I really like the premise of the video, but I think if you used the thumbnail, title, and first 15-30 seconds of the video to establish a more serious/genuine tone, the reveal 30 seconds in that this whole thing is a comedic skit would have a lot better payoff. Here's a video from Gus Johnson where he does a decent job of establishing a 'base reality' of a helpful how-to, and then it devolves into ridiculousness.

You don't have to play as much of a character as you do. That's probably why the bloopers feel so genuinely funny, because you're not putting on a show, that's just you.

• Comedic heightening - You heighten decently in the video, with the giant jug of water, and with eating the chips, and with the tissues, but I think you would see more success if you heightened more. I think if you did some more riffing with each of the props, and really gave yourself some time to get weird with each one, you would have more options to cut to. This is what iDubbz does in his series 'bad unboxing' where he opens fan mail.

There are tons of ways you could heighten more in this video, but I think an interesting way for this particular video would be to actually get some footage of you using these ridiculous props in class. If you cut from 'make sure you bring water' and you whipping out that giant ass jug, to then a shot of you doing the same thing in an actual classroom, and attempting to drink from it as people stare at you, I would lose my mind. Same thing with the chips, and the tissues, and the horse, and everything else.

After looking at your channel, it seems like you're interested in doing comedy YouTube as a career, so I would strongly recommend taking improv classes to learn the fundamentals of improvised and sketch comedy. At the very least, order the UCB Improv Manual from Amazon, and read the first few chapters on base reality, game, and heightening.

Basically they argue that scenic comedy has three parts:

Establishing a normal base reality > Introducing a weird thing that sticks out from that reality > Heightening that weird thing to the point of absurdity.

• Background - The sheet is nice, but why are we looking at it? It feels a lot more normal if you just let the audience see your apartment/space. This would also help you establish that base reality of 'nice guy giving back to school tips.'

Overall I think your video is leagues better than a lot of the other ones I see on this subreddit. Your channel looks like you've been working really hard to improve, and that's key. I think if you keep at it and experiment with tone a bit, you'll see some really great results. I subbed, and I'm really interested in what you make in the future!

Hey man!

I liked your video. It had some solid moments. Your accent and way of speaking is genuinely funny.

I think your video suffered from one fundamental error, and that was failing to establish an easily-understood base reality. In sketch and improv comedy, base reality tells the audience what's going on, and what's normal about a scene. Once we understand the base reality, then when something weird happens, we know that it's weird.

In your video, your base reality is that you're telling the audience a story of an awkward first date. Then, without any explanation, you cut to the farmer character to make a cucumber penis joke. The joke would be really funny, and you play creepy really well, but it doesn't make much sense for the audience in the context of the base reality.

If you preceded the cutaway to the farmer character by saying in the introduction "my farmer twin is going to be helping me tell this story today" or "My cousin is in from out of town today, and he'll be helping me tell this story. He's a little weird..." or "By the way, I have multiple personalities, and my farmer personality pops up randomly from time to time" then the audience would have some context for this new extremely unsettling character, and it wouldn't cause as much confusion. Because we didn't know who that weird guy was, your video lacked clarity, which got in the way of the comedy.

The small short at the beginning of the video suffered from the same thing. I liked it once I understood what you were going for, but it took awhile to understand a clear base reality. If you had a title screen before the scene that said "7:45pm, 911 headquarters, Gary the 911 transcriber" then we would better understand that this guy's job is to transcribe 911 conversations. If we understood that faster, then it would give more time for your punchline 'a balloon animal farted' to hit. That's a really funny punchline, but because the reality that it was delivered in was so hard to understand, it got in the way of it.

Base reality is really my biggest tip! If you're looking to get serious about doing comedy/sketch stuff, I'd recommend ordering the UCB Manual on amazon. In the first few chapters they talk about the structure of a comedic scene, and base reality is a really big part of that. I also think this video is similar to Olan Roger's classic storytelling style, and I think you could learn from studying the way he greets the audience, and helps them understand exactly what's going on.

My last note would be that the intro b-roll montage bits were really beautiful, but I felt like they could have used audio. I wanted to hear you move that chair, and wanted to hear that record scratch. It felt a little unnatural without the natural audio.

Regardless man, solid video! Very high quality. I think working on base reality/audience understanding would really help you. I subbed and I'm excited for whatever you make next!

Hi! You don't need to know a lot about UCB Game, I'll explain all the important concepts during the session, but if you would understand the basics it would definitely be very helpful!

Come take a look through the google doc where I've summarized all the important ideas we'll be learning, that should be more than enough to get started. If you have a bit of free time, I also highly recommend checking out the UCB Manual (they have an audiobook version), and the "Improv, Beat by Beat" podcast - those are the best resources for learning about UCB-style game that I was able to find, so that's what we'll be following.

I hope to see you in our sessions!

There is a book, but it seems to be out of print -- the UCB store doesn't have it, and amazon has it used for too much money. Ebay has some used copies for decent prices, although I don't know the quality.

Personally, I would say that it's worth getting a hard copy -- there are some images in it that help to understand. But I haven't heard the audiobook -- there might be some great recordings.

If you pick up the UCB Manual, it lays out a pretty straightforward method for creating a sketch.

In essence, you need to establish the "base reality" at the top (who are the characters, where are we, when are we, what does the audience NEED to know), then introduce an unusual thing. That unusual thing is then "heightened" to the end.

Consider this Census sketch from SNL. We understand Tina is the census taker and Betty is the person being interviewed. She gives weird answers and the answers get progressively weirder until you can't go any further and then it ends. The same thing is in play in this fantastic job interview sketch.

Sketches usually occur in two varieties:

Crazy person in a sane world: Chris Farley's Matt Foley, Molly Shannon's Mary Catherine Gallagher, Belushi’s Samurai, Forte's The Falconer, Key & Peele's genius substitute teacher sketch.

Sane person in a crazy world: This protest sketch from SNL and the greatest SNL sketch ever - The Mr. Belvedere Fan Club. (I call these scenes "Chorus of Fools.")

Note how all of these sketches start relatively "straight" to set the stage. You have to remember your audience is coming in cold, so usually the first page of your script is just letting people know what's happening and where. That's when something unexpected or unusual happens. The conflict between what should happen and what is happening is what makes us laugh. Once a pattern of unusual behavior is established, it creates anticipation from the audience that the next thing will be just as unusual, so be sure to honor that.

Sketch comedy is all about setting up and subverting expectations. But once the audience is "in" on the subversion, they anticipate it and look forward to it. The first time David S. Pumpkins appears in that elevator, it's weird and shocking to us. Maybe it makes us laugh the first time. But it becomes funnier through repetition and seeing the exasperation of the "straight men" in the scene. We go from becoming observers to participants.

It's about improv comedy, but I think the UCB manual is the comedy book I'd keep if I had to get rid of all but one. It explains the broad concept of "Game," which is the UCB's term for "the funny part." The gist of it is that you have a "normal" as the base layer that you build your comedy on top of. And the concept of Game applies to all comedy imo: improv, sketch, stand up, prose, film, TV...

Look at something like Parks & Rec. It takes place in the real, "normal" world, and every character has their own weird point of view or personality quirk (their Game) where the comedy comes from: Ron Swanson is an anti-government government employee, Tom Haverford is obsessed with swag and being a hip hop business mogul, Chris Traeger wants to be the healthiest man alive, Andy Dwyer is a total idiot, etc. The show puts these characters in various situations, and the jokes come from how they react to those situations through their unique lenses.

I would also recommend the How to Write Funny series (but really, you probably only need the first book). I'm not a fan of the terminology used, specifically the "funny filters," which I think sounds cornier than Nebraska, but overall I think the methodology explained is pretty good (a lot of it is just Game, but a little more dialed in).

Edit just to add that I think /u/TheBaconBurpeeBeast is right on: performing comedy is the best way to get better at it. Write some jokes, do some open mic nights, you will get immensely better at writing jokes that people will laugh at

What's your goal?

Not knowing that, here's my recommendation:

Buy the UCB Improvisation Manual and Truth in Comedy.

If the UCB book resonates more with you, take a UCB class. The classes are all about putting the tenants of their textbook into practice.

If Truth in Comedy resonates more with you, take an iO class. Their classes are likely to follow the spirit of that book.