“Yes, and … ”
What you just read was not a sentence that I forgot to finish. Rather, it is one of the fundamental rules of improvisation.
Improvisational comedy, or improv, is based upon the idea of creating a story or situation from nothing, save for the occasional prompt or cue. Improvisers must depend on their environment, their quick wits and most importantly, their partners, to have a successful sketch.
The “Yes … and” principle says that an improviser should never disagree or ridicule the contributions of a fellow improviser during a sketch. For example, if one person says “I am a clown with bunny ears” and the other says “no you’re not, that’s stupid,” the latter person has just completely destroyed the efforts of the former to create a story that could potentially get the audience laughing. Instead, the second improviser could have said “Yes, and I am the director who is shooting your horror film!” So, as a general rule, improvisers always agree with their partners, try to build on what their partners say and create a story from scratch, no matter how preposterous.
When I took my first improv class at the DSI Comedy Theater in Carrboro, I understood this rule in principle. I thought to myself “yes, yes, just agree with the other person. Alright, I get it.” But I realized very soon after that this is easier said than done.
When my partner (who was also a beginner) told me he was a Justin Bieber body-double, I said, without even thinking “No you’re not, you look nothing like him!” The scene devolved into a dumb argument about whether or not my partner was ugly, until we resorted to fighting each other until our instructor mercifully ended our failed attempt at improv by yelling “Scene!” I need not tell you that my instructor, in his frustration, quit his job and set fire to the building with all of us still inside.
With practice, I got a little better at the “Yes … and” principle, to the point where I actually made a couple of people laugh! The rules of improv started to make sense to me, and I found myself wondering what would happen if I applied this fundamental rule in real life.
It used to be that when someone would make a joke or say something ridiculous, I would laugh if it were funny or sometimes make fun of that person in an attempt to look cool. Sometimes, I would say nothing at all. Now, when a friend or acquaintance says something “controversial,” I try to add on to their statement. I not only accept their words, but I make my own contribution to the dialogue. The result is that I have had hilarious exchanges with my friends, and made boring situations into really fun ones.
The “Yes ... and” principle doesn’t only apply to comedy or being funny, however. Part of the point of the rule is that you are giving the person you are interacting with your approval. Most people want to be agreed with—it gives them social validation and a feeling of importance. To be in agreement, in most cases, is to be in harmony. Approval is productive, disapproval is destructive.
Out of sheer insecurity, I used to disparage or debunk the ideas and plans of my peers, rather than seeing the merits in what they had to say. They usually dropped whatever subject they were trying to talk about, and sometimes agreed with me that their idea was quite ridiculous. I realized that without the approval of others, no idea, no matter how good, will come to fruition.
Healthy collaboration should mean that everyone’s contributions are accepted and improved. Some ideas that were simply absurd 100 years ago have turned out to be both true and possible. I believe every idea is a valuable thing, to be absorbed and perfected.
So the next time someone says something to you that you have never heard before, try beginning your reply with this:
“Yes, and … ”
Milap Mehta is a Trinity senior. His column runs every other Friday.
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