There is one thing that fascinates me about improv and that is how it is portrayed in Television and Film. This is becoming more and more apparent in recent years because the comedy art form is sort of in fashion. There are some interesting topics that we can gain from these ways they are displayed so every so often we are going to look at different scenes from different shows and films.

I always like to talk about televisions shows and the way that improv is portrayed in the programme. Now today the show and episode we are discussing does not mention improv BUT it sort of works on it even though it is scripted. I liked the erratic craziness that it brought and felt it would be a fun episode to mention because there are so many elements that can relate to the comedy style in it.

In Frasier’s opening episode for season 4, Daphne’s ex-boyfriend from the United Kingdom decides to visit her in Seattle and because she doesn’t want to get involved with him, she gets the Crane family to help her on the spot to help her lie to him.

Whilst the whole episode is scripted there are some key elements that I thought would be fun to discuss which relate to improv:

Yes and

The one key thing to take from this episode is the use of accepting what is thrown at you. It is fun watching characters like Niles eager to play along (because he gets to be Daphne’s husband) where as you then have characters like Fraser who are reluctant but then still accept what is given to them. It is a key thing in improv to do and this is a very good episode to watch for this reason alone.

Accepting the crazy

The father walks into all the drama later then everyone else and when he discovers out what is going on he decides to tell a lie himself and go really crazy with what his career used to be as he finds the whole situation ridiculous. He decides to say that he was an astronaut before he retired and there is a beat where everyone is surprised and not sure what to do with that information and they accept it and play along. This can happen in improv scenes, someone can walk in and say something so bizarre that it may not fit into the location or the story but you have to find a way that makes it work and that is where the comedy comes from.

Commit

Lastly, the one thing we can learn from this Frasier episode is that the more you commit to a role, the more it will look true and the more people around will accept the crazy that is happening in from of them. This is evident in the programme when Daphne’s old flame is convinced everything that he is being told is true as he ha a major problem when she decides to flirt with him when she finds out he has money and he finds it appalling to do this in front of her ‘husband’.