Yes, and. Yesand, Yes and. Yes. And. Yes: And. Yes; and. Yes&

If you ever talk to an improviser about improv, within the first twenty seconds you know what “Yes, and” means. It is more than a commandment, it is more than rule, it is more than a law, and it is the founding axiom of all improv. No “Yes and” No Improv.

“Yes and” is shorthand for agreeing with whatever your partner says and building upon it. And let me radically edit my previous post. “The first line in the improv scene is the greatest line ever. It’s brilliant, angels weep at it’s beauty, scientists use it to calibrate their instruments.” Yes’ing to it is easy because the line is so beautiful.

The And is the hard part. The And is the critical part. The And is more important than the yes.

Because And is when you have to come up with the following – Your state of mind, your wants, your partner’s state of mind, your partner’s wants (based on what he gave you). And you have to add to the physical nature of the scene.

Without the Yes, you don’t have a scene. If you are lucky it will be a spectacular failure (more on this in a future post). With just “Yes” you are forcing your partner to do all the work.

For example, I was in a scene with one very good player, we were in prison and he was ready to break out. I agreed with him,
Dave (not his real name): Tonight Louie, we are breaking out of the joint.
Me: OK, how we gonna get out?
Dave: Use this window…
And Dave paints a scene where this is the most minimally secure prison in the history of Western Civilization. And I’m riding his coattails.

I agreed with him, and asking the question of how we are going to get out made him do all the work. It focused the scene on the plot, and we just explored the ‘prison’ with it’s open first floor window, unsecured door. It was quite a lame scene and it was my fault.

Dave: Tonight Louie, we are breaking out of the joint.
Me: Dave, ain’t nobody broken out of this jail in 40 years.
Dave: Use this window…
Me: Mitchell went out that window in 1983 and was never seen again…
Dave: That means he escaped… /We can try the door
Me: That’s not what the guards say../ Stevens went out that door in 1986 and was never seen from again…

Or

Dave: Tonight Louie, we are breaking out of the joint.
Me: I’ve grown accustomed to this place.
Dave: We can use this window.
Me: All my friends are here….

In the alternative, I agree with his premise “I’m in prison and I want to escape…” but I add to the scene by telling him it’s impossible, but being completely misguided in my concept of a successful escape, or in the second scene I have my own wants which are different from his. This focuses the scene back onto the players and creates a natural dynamic tension, where the character’s relationship is explored more.

Heck, here’s an idea of how an outright “No” can still work in a scene.
Player A: We have to fold these sheets, take this corner.
Player B: No, those aren’t sheets, that’s dog-sh** (I want to try to keep this blog clean).

So Player B is a jerk-ass, but not a total one
Player A could say:
I got it at Macy’s, I like the color – Turning the scene into a discussion of each person’s taste.
I can’t see anything without my glasses – a Mr. Magoo type scene.
Well since I lost my job, this is the best we can do – An economic misfortune scene.

So, while the Yes gets all the praise and the press, it’s the and doing the hard work.