We sat down for a quick chat with The League Of Improv’s founder, performer and producer, Damian Arnold, about the upcoming UnderBelly Boulevard residency starting on the 19th of September.
What’s the weirdest one-word audience suggestion that somehow sparked improv gold?
Had a bachelorette group in one night and one of them shouted out, “dildo!” This somehow ended up creating a comic odyssey that led from a sex dungeon in a made up Bond villain’s lair, to a retirement home in Lincolnshire where an underground wife-swapping society for the elderly was operating, and finally to a pizza restaurant that was a front for an Italian mafia gang with comically awful Bronx accents. So, a very warm thank you to that lovely audience member, we had a great show.
When Jake hands the baton to the troupe after his stand-up, what’s your favourite kind of curveball to run with?
Well, Jake’s so clever, so his stand up is what you might call, semi-improvised. Jake goes out and has some friendly chats with audience members, gets to know them a bit, and finds out some lovely facts about who they are, what’s going on in their lives etc…. From there, because he’s so talented, he creates a fantastic atmosphere and rapport with the audience and comes up with some great material purely based on his, in the moment, off-the-cuff conversations with whomever he’s speaking with from the audience. During this, we’re all standing upstage in a semi-circle, listening intently. The conversations and interactions that we witness, and specific points of interest in these exchanges that jump out and catch our attention, give us the ideas that we need to base our improvised scenes on. So if some guy says he just attended his ex-wife’s second wedding, or something unusual like that, that’s going to stand out, and I’m sure one of the improvisers would use that as some kind of impetus to start a scene that explores an awkward wedding.
If you had to sum up your improv philosophy in three improvised sound effects, what would they be?
Ok, gonna have to go with a fart sound effect first, but a subtle one, then have to go with a water drip sound effect, and then a champagne cork popping. Going with these as they’re the first things I could think of, and now, improv philosophy represented by those three sounds? No idea, but I’ll go with fart for representing big comic choices, a water drip tea represent the idea of remembering the value of silence onstage and the importance of listening, and a champagne cork popping to represent always celebrating your scene partner and remembering to endeavour to make them look like a genius.
What’s a moment from The League of Improv that made you think, “There’s no way anyone’s going to believe this actually happened”
Well, recently one of our team mates, Zoe, played an incontinent dog with one eye. I couldn’t believe it when it was happening, and also watching Zoe struggling and failing to restrain herself from giggling was pretty fun.
Do you ever spot a story thread in Jake’s set and secretly think, “Oh no, we’re really doing this tonight”?
Hahaha! Recently, a woman in the audience was sharing her experiences regarding breastfeeding, and I thought, Oh goodness, I have nothing to offer on this subject, but four of the cast ended up doing a great scene off of it. I just stood offstage in admiration and watched them create some great improv and some very funny scenes.
- After years of shows, is there still a type of scene, character or moment that makes you break onstage — even when you try not to?
I have great difficulty keeping a straight face whilst improvising. I find it very hard when I’m up there with such funny people who are playing hilarious characters in very silly situations. This is something I’m sure I’ll be working on forever. If I can get one day get through a great improv scene packed full of laughs without breaking, I’ll be very proud of myself – but I fear that day may never come. The thing that really gets me every time is accents. Also, I have to add that whenever I’m lucky enough to be onstage with my dear friend Brian Jack, I pretty much find it impossible to look at him and not laugh, I have to look at his forehead; if I look him in the eyes, I’m toast, he’s just too funny.