Improv Comedy Techniques: Slogans Explanation

Video Transcript

"LES MCGEHEE: And here is my book, "Plays Well With Others." I tell some stories and then I go to a handbook. We have a handbook of games. And in that handbook of games, there are some games what would call freeze games and we're going to try a couple of those in this segment. One of those freeze games is going to be slogans. Would you explain and set us up a slogan. JOE PARSONS: Sure. LES MCGEHEE: Ladies and gentleman, Joseph Parsons from Austin, Texas. JOE PARSONS: Thank you very much. Slogan is very simple. It's a lot like what you've seen in your everyday life. We're going to be creating slogans for real products, but these are perhaps the rejected slogans for these real products you will [INDISCERNIBLE]. So for example if the slogan was Coca Cola, their real slogan is Coke Is It but we may say something like blank--like coke isn't the or something that's actually clever. So... LES MCGEHEE: So what's--from our producers over here, could you give us a brand name product to try and improvise on? We don't want to know what we're doing ahead of time, we could have found out ahead of time, that'll make it harder to improvise. PRODUCER: Always Maxi Pads. LES MCGEHEE: Always Maxi Pads. Comedy audiences like to suggest feminine hygiene products and so this is actually a very normal suggestion even though it's afternoon where we are. So we're going to give that a try anyway. Always Maxi Pads, Joe? JOE PARSONS: New Always Maxi Pads now always mouse pads. LES MCGEHEE: My new Always Maxi Pads, if you're one of those people willing to call that portion of your life maxi. See, so the way we play this game is we just take turns. There might be four or five of us and whoever has an idea jumps forward and knocks that idea out. If they have two in a row and other people don't that's fine, but we always keep the spot hot. So with two of us, one of us always is ready to go with something, but it gets harder to get a good joke out if people started judging it because nobody went so even if you don't have an idea you go out. And it's a real blessing if you can surprise yourself with an idea while the audience is being surprised and all of us at the same time, that's a real treat. "