WEEK 3 "Object Work & Physicality"

Excellent work this past week, everyone! Thanks once again for taking this deep dive into the essential spices of improv. Loving our conversations and wanted to add a few additional resources to this topic.

First, you shouldn't miss out if you've never watched Rowan Atkinson (aka Mr. Bean) perform his "The Piano Player" sketch. Yes, this isn't a moment of improvisation – but it is one of the greatest examples of object work in comedy history. Atkinson studied at the world-renowned LECOQ SCHOOL where Sacha Baron Cohen and Jacque Tati also studied. The school is noted for its innovative approach to characterization through intense physicality, object play and interaction, and more. Atkinson's mastery of these things is quite evident here.

And I wanted to share another amazing video essay from EVERY FRAME A PAINTING because several of you mentioned how much you enjoyed their essay on Jackie Chan and comedy. This video is about silent comedian legend Buster Keaton and "The Art of the Gag." I want you to focus on how physicality is used so subtly to produce such huge laughs. Keaton is the essence of the "commit to the bit" notion - maintaining deadpan expression while carefully considering comedic timing and overall pacing of a joke or gag. Also - this is the video that got me obsessed with movement on stage and screen (forward/backward, up/down, side to side), and the importance of this blocking and staging is articulated beautifully here.

Here's a quick one from the British version of "Whose Line is it Anyway?" playing a great game we've done in previous improv courses, "Party Quirks" – Simple object work and physicality with no more flash than needed. A great example of integrating this into your scene work.

And lastly, here's a link to a blog post by IMPROV CINCINNATI titled "On the Importance of Object Work." This is a fantastic post full of info and perspectives informed by improv teacher great, Viola Spolin. Read the post HERE.

https://www.improvcincinnati.com/blog/on-the-importance-of-object-work#:~:text=Spolin%20has%20a%20wonderful%20saying,be%20real%20for%20us%20all.