How To Run An Online Improv Comedy Jam

We’re halfway through 2020. If you’re an improviser (or even if you’re not), you may well have used your lockdown/quarantine time to try some online improvisation. You’ll have rehearsed with your team or been inspired to start one; watched or played a show; attended a course or a jam. Hopefully (and probably thanks to online conferencing platform Zoom), you’ve met a whole new friend group of international players. Lockdown has, amazingly, opened up an opportunity for beautiful global connections via our screens.

The DDG Improv jam embraced this unique opportunity: we slid online the very day the UK lockdown began (Monday 23 March). It was a surprisingly seamless transition from a real-life room to a virtual one, with around the same number of participants (although an excitingly fresh demographic) and definitely as many laughs. Some people hate Zoom improv but I’ve found it to be an intriguing cousin to the real-life (IRL) original form.

There are very similar aspects, of course, but I suggest you view it as a parallel/mirror world to the real-life form. Kind of like learning a new language; there’s lots of slow, clunky translation until you’re fluent and thinking in that language, but do persevere. Some moves simply won’t work but out-there experiments can be brilliantly successful.

A while back I wrote a blog called ‘How To Run An Improv Comedy Jam’. Now here’s an online-jam tick-list for you. If you have a current real-life jam you can bounce it over to online like we did. You could even leap in from scratch and run your first-ever show from the comfort of a Zoom room. Lockdown/quarantine might be lifting but you can still play with some new global friends online.

Tech Check

It feels like pretty much everyone uses Zoom or Facebook Live for online improv. DDG uses Zoom; it’s a closed room and we don’t broadcast our show. We’ve found Zoom to be great and even if you’re a bit nervous of a new platform, be brave and just give it a go. You’ll need a pro account: it costs money but it’ll let up to 50 people in at one time for as long as you like. If you want an audience as well as jammers, either invite audience members to your closed Zoom room, opt for Facebook Live or link up to a viewing platform such as Twitch or YouTube. On Zoom, the audience can get involved/be more present just by turning on their cameras or microphones or writing suggestions and encouragement in the chat box. If you choose a viewing platform like FB Live or Twitch, your audience only has the option to write comments. We use Zoom.

Room Size

You don’t need a big crowd on Zoom to have fun – in fact a lot of screens and voices can make it unpleasantly hectic. IRL (in real life), DDG hosts a weekly walk-in of 25-50 people: 20 or so of those jamming, three guest teams, our DDG teamsters and the rest audience. Online, however, we’ve found that 20 jammers feels borderline overloaded. If you do decide to run a big room, consider having breakout rooms with a trusted/experienced jam captain in each. DDG have tried it both ways (big group with breakouts for our two-person scenes section and smaller shows without breakouts). If you have a big group and no breakout spaces, your show will doubtless run too long. Our show IRL runs 8pm-10.15pm with a 10-minute interval: any longer and the audience becomes overtired. Online, we run 8pm-9.30pm with a five-minute comfort break, which feels just right. We let the group in 15 mins early and we keep the room open afterwards for anyone who wants to hang out and chat. You can experiment show by show and see what’s most fun for your cohort.

Sign-Ups

Either advertise a Zoom room directly across your platforms / networks or create the extra step of a sign-up via an email address. The problem with directly announcing a Zoom room link publicly is that you leave yourself open to Zoom-bombing (malicious disruptors). DDG ran our first four months of online sign-ups via our usual DDG show email, which worked fine. We’ve now moved over to our usual IRL ticketing platform Eventbrite. It’s free for everyone and will streamline admin: intake is capped automatically and means that jam emails aren’t constantly hitting the inbox. Of course, if the cap is reached and jammers start knocking on your email door for entry, it’s your call: how available do you want to make yourselves? Similarly, prepare to ask yourself how late in the day you’ll let in a jammer who’s keen but disorganised or opportunistic. They might need this support network for their mental wellbeing. However, please remember that your self-care is just as important.

Zoom Technique

Zoom use has obviously gone wide in 2020 but there’s occasionally someone in the room who’s new to this technology or who’s new to improv ­– or both! Aim to support anyone who’s unsure of tricks like ‘change background’ or ‘hide self-view’, or who’s on a phone or tablet rather than a laptop or bigger work station, without slowing down the whole night. Check in with the group, have a slick intro that you can rattle off and invent a clear ‘help, please!’ signal, so a jammer can just put a hand up to the camera, for instance, to get your attention. Likewise, you can invite use of the chat box for fun or support.

I think that instructions need to be a little more forthright than IRL and certainly can be slowed down for the benefit of those with dicey connectivity or who are processing in a second language. Whatever your show style, halt proceedings at any point if things become rowdy, confusing, problematic or offensive – but I always like to assume that guests don’t want to be difficult or disruptive. Weak WiFi adds another whole layer of pain: just hope that people will be patient and try to keep moving along for the good of the group.

The Actual Improv

It’s a great way to connect but expect less fluidity and nuance and more clunks and clashes. Jam Captains can call ‘scene’ by actually turning on their camera as well as saying ‘scene’, so as to be completely clear. Have fun with backgrounds, household objects, costumes, themes, running jokes, call-backs, character work, silent scenes, meta offers, off-camera offers and messing around with how you frame something (eg. coming way up close to your camera, walking off camera, or ‘passing’ an object ‘through the screen’). A few shows, a few returning jammers, and the atmosphere can be relaxed, friendly and supportive. Some people take up more screen-time than their fair share: if it happens repeatedly then add a polite request for people not to be screen-hogs into your opening speech. Conversely, there’ll be people who find it hard to get into an online montage. Maybe have a dedicated Captain send any wallflowers a private chat message encouraging them to hop into view.

Awareness

At DDG we reflect on all our jams formally in show notes. We examine how we’ve done as hosts and jam captains and flag issues. It’s a delicate art that invites one to unpack hidden stuff (“Did Sam mean to be problematic or are they just inexperienced?”) and one’s own shortcomings (“Could I have brought that shy player on a bit more skilfully?”). Team DDG takes its Fun Police role seriously and online, clear boundaries are even more crucial: you can’t have a friendly but firm word in the bar afterwards and you don’t know in what shape a person who’s been acted upon might be after they’ve left your Zoom room. Not to mention the inevitable question-mark over the general mental wellbeing of your global guests in 2020. We’ve a policy of gently catching up with players after a show via email if we feel they might need support. You’ll doubtless play with people from across the world and have the joy of folding in cultural difference and embracing a wider community view; try to meet your players were they are and always remind the room off the top to keep offers ethical, respectful and ‘professional’.

Donations!

Your jam may be free but people like to show their appreciation and Zoom / social media ads cost money. Kofi and By Me A Coffee are easy to manage and a relatable way to invite support. Explore your options with this because people have preferences: your grateful guest might use PayPal, for instance, but that to donate via Stripe is a hassle for them.

Self-Care and Wellbeing

Self-care is paramount. Play the long game with your passion and protect yourself from burnout. As much you or your guests love what you’re doing, enjoy sensible breaks: it’s surprising how much online improv can take it out of you. As if to prove the point, we at DDG, bucket and spade in hand, are on our annual August break – just like every year for the last five. We want to be sure we have the energy for another half-duckade bringing you a space to play… whether it’s online, back in the real world – or both!

 Thanks for supporting DDG online. Have a relaxing summer and see you in September.

By Victoria Hogg, director of The Offer Bank.