In baseball, the most elite athletes are called “5 Tool Players.” These all-stars specialize in five different categories: hitting for average, hitting for power, running the bases, fielding, and throwing. Because improvisers and professional athletes are so often compared (due to our similar income levels), I thought it’d be interesting to see what traits would make a “5-Tool Improviser.”

Here are the best traits you need to be a great all-around improviser:

1. Hitting For Average -- Scene Work
   It doesn’t matter what position you play, you will always have a job as long as you can maintain a high batting average. The same goes for your ability to perform scene work. If you have the ability to step into a two-person scene and execute grounded, patient play, you will always be able to find yourself a team or a slot to perform. It’s the foundation of all improvisation.
2. Hitting For Power -- Characters
   Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays… all were players who could change an entire game with a single swing any time they stepped into the batter’s box. If you want to be a power hitter in improv, you’ve got to be able to come up with iconic, three-dimensional characters. Improvisers who can create memorable characters can dramatically shift the energy of a show and have a lasting impact on an audience for years. As The Second City’s Michael Gelman used to say, when an audience leaves a show, they won’t remember the exact plot of what was happening in each scene, but they will remember the characters that made them laugh.
3. Baserunning -- Musical Ability
   Good base runners are electric athletes who specialize in scoring runs. Likewise, brilliant vocalists are electric improvisers who specialize in scoring points with your audience. Nothing lights up a crowd more than when the keys start playing, and someone confidently steps down stage and belts out an impressive tune. You can improve your mechanics to sing better, but you can’t teach raw vocal ability, just like you can’t teach speed. And just like it’s fun to watch someone sprint, boy, is it fun to watch someone sing.
4. Fielding -- Willingness to play for the audience, not yourself
   Snagging flies, fielding grounders, running down a pickle… yeoman’s work. Fielding is rarely sexy, and for improvisers, putting the audience’s pleasure above your own isn’t either. Some improvisers do too many bits on stage that are inside jokes with their friends, or they make references to things only improvisers will understand that goes over the audience’s heads. As satisfying as it is to stroke our own egos, we have to remember the only people we should perform for is the audience. Without them, we’re just doing rehearsal. Grab your glove, get down in the dirt, and make them laugh.
5. Throwing – Listening
   Having a strong and accurate throwing arm helps you prevent problems or stop them from getting worse. This arm prevents doubles from turning into triples. It stops runners from stealing second. It guns down someone at home plate from deep right field. Being able to throw is a basic skill that we often take for granted, but it’s essential in being a great player. The same is true for listening in improv. Hanging onto every word and making direct eye contact with your scene partners will not necessarily win you any big laughs on its own, but it will prevent you from losing track of the scene and allow you to make stronger, more authentic discoveries alongside your audience.

Sam Bowers was the director of Improv Nerd with Jimmy Carrane for five years. He has toured nationally with ComedySportz, created The Second City’s “24 Hour Sketch Comedy Competition,” and is a member of the iO Cagematch’s “Greatest Team Of All Time,” LL Cool Beans. Sam lives in New York where he’s the producer for Doctor Mike. Follow him @SamDonaldBowers.

Improvisers are always on the quest for a perfect improv scene. Is such a thing even possible? If so, what would such a scene consist of? In my endless crusade to remove all the fun from improv and analyze it in a painfully granular manner, (I did direct Improv Nerd's live shows for five years, after all). I broke down every brilliant scene I’ve witnessed and came up with this list -- the seven ingredients of the perfect scene.

After analyzing this, I came up with conclusion: While the perfect improv scene would utilize all seven of these things, you only need one of them for your scene to be a success.

So, if you’re in a scene and don’t know what to do, try leaning into one of these things to bring your scene to life. Beneath each element of a great scene, I’ve also included where you can go watch this type of play done well.

1. A Great Relationship
   A well-defined improv relationship features two or more characters who have a genuine emotional connection with each other. There are usually superficial elements that bring these characters together (family, coworkers, etc.), but also a rich, contextual backstory that creates a clear dynamic and/or want between the characters. Often there is a status difference between the characters and we see that status shift throughout the scene.

   Where can I see it? TJ and Dave - Chicago/NYC

2. A Three-Dimensional Character
   A fully realized character will have wants, fears, strengths, weaknesses, faults, beliefs, doubts, traumas, and dreams. This character may also have unique physical/vocal traits, but he or she needs a unique point of view to become three-dimensional. When executed correctly, this is a character your audience will remember for years to come, and is often something you can turn into a sketch or even a screenplay.

   Where can I see it? Scott Nelson, SAND - NYC/Chicago

3. A Compelling Narrative
   A good story has a beginning, middle, and end, as well as clever twists, memorable characters, and no loose threads/plot holes. There’s often a genre component that sets up the story for expectations that can be cleverly played with by a savvy ensemble.

   Where can I see it? Hitch Cocktails - The Annoyance Theater

4. An Original Game
   A clever comedic pattern that everyone in the scene is aware of and heightens. Usually we see the pattern played out several times, then conclude when someone turns the game on its head with an ironic move acting as a punctuation mark. It’s the stuff many great sketches are born out of.Where can I see it? Cook County Social Club at UCB in LA and UCB Harold Teams in NYC/LA

5. Silliness
   Pure dumb, madcap goofiness. It’s impossible to contain, explain, and replicate. It’s funny because it was.

   Where can I see it? Cody Reiss - Comedy Central/NYC

6. An Impressive Feat
   A well-executed theatrical move such as a song, rap, challenging in-scene memorization, physical performance, or anything else that leaves the audience saying, “I could NEVER do that.” This is common in short form improv where performers are asked to improvise a scene AND accomplish a goal/play within rules at the same time.

   Where can I see it? ComedySportz, internationally.

7. A Genuine Discovery
   A moment in the scene where all the actors on stage and audience in the crowd discover something at the same time. It’s electric, magical, couldn’t possibly have been planned, and is the one thing that drives more people to take an improv class than anything else. It’s what keeps bringing us all back for more.Where can I see it? Anywhere two improvisers are listening to each other.

   Sam Bowers is the former director of Improv Nerd, Creative Director of Video for CSz Worldwide, and the Creator of The 24 Hour Sketch Comedy Competition at The Second City. Follow him on Twitter @SamBowers12

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Are you trying to form an improv group or looking to add more talent to your existing group? Or do you run an improv theater? If so, you might assume that your first order of business is to hold auditions.

However, holding auditions isn’t always the best way to discover the best talent.

This week, Improv Nerd director Sam Bowers shares his ideas for four alternative ways you can cast your shows...

***
Many improvisers are at their best when they are comfortable, calm, and thinking clearly. You know, things that have never happened during an improv audition. So, often, holding formal auditions only highlights improvisers who are both lucky and potentially capable of performing under extreme pressure.

While delivering in primetime is certainly a valuable skill, there are so many more skills that often don’t get shown unless someone is level headed, which they likely aren’t during an audition.

Unless you’re an equity theater like The Second City and are legally required to hold annual auditions, there are far more effective ways to discover talent. Here are four alternative approaches you can use to cast your shows.

For improv groups:

1. Host a Jam
   You’re a team of five that you want to turn into a team of six, and there are a bunch of performers on your radar. Throw a jam and invite all of them to come play. This doesn’t even need to be on a stage in a theater; even a house or backyard jam will do. This will allow your existing ensemble to get a ton of reps with all prospects in a low-stakes environment. If someone really stands out, ask them if they’d like to start practicing or playing with you. Nobody will ever know it was an audition.

2. Invite someone to practice
   Scout your community and highlight a player you think could really benefit your team. Invite that person to sit in on a practice. Make the environment as welcoming as possible and give them a solid one to two hours of play with your group so they can be comfortable and get a feel for your team’s vibe. This way, every member of your ensemble will have the chance to play with them, allowing everyone the opportunity to thoroughly analyze if this is someone you want to join your team.

3. Ask someone to sit in on a show
   “Hey, ______ dropped out tonight, do you want to sit in with us?” Even if it’s totally manufactured, this is often a very low-pressure way to see if someone can deliver with your team in front of a live audience. Since they’re dropping in last minute, they can’t be expected to full-on crush the show, but you can see how they handle a live audience and play with your team. If it goes well, you can naturally invite them to join you more often, and then permanently. If they tank, everyone can thank them for stepping up to fill a hole that night and move on, without that person knowing they were auditioning in the first place.

For improv theaters:

1. Pull up performers from your classes
   This should absolutely be your method if you run an institution that offers a training program. At the end of your training program, offer an indefinite opportunity for students to perform during an off night or less-valuable slot. Several ComedySportz cities call this “minor league,” while many other theaters call them “house teams.” By giving these actors the opportunity to perform a version of your show every week, you can easily track their progress and continue training them to fit your philosophy. This also removes the folks who don’t really have their heart in it, such as people who come out of nowhere and nail an audition, only to quit six months later. When a player seems to be ready for your main ensemble, or you have the need for more bodies, pull up the players who are delivering week in and week out.

Sam Bowers is the director of Improv Nerd and the co-producer of the 24-Hour Sketch Comedy Competition, happening Feb. 10 from 8-9:30 p.m. at Second City.

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Last week, Improv Nerd director Sam Bowers shared some of his best advice for how you can sell out your improv show or sketch show. He should know. Sam recently co-produced the first-ever 24 Hour Sketch Comedy Competition at The Second City, which played to an oversold crowd.

You can read the first five tips here. And lucky for us, Sam had so many great tips that we couldn’t include them all in one blog. So we saved five more tips to share them with you this week. We hope this inspires you to get your next show off the ground and in front of an audience!

6. Be Original
   Fresh ideas are increasingly difficult to come by in our continued improv-explosion, but a sharp one can draw an audience. I was incredibly interested in iO’s show “Improvised Jay Leno’s Garage.” I couldn’t possibly fathom how that was going to work because I’d never seen anything like it, so I bought a ticket and went. Create a truly original idea and people will come.

7. Provide An Incentive For Performers To Bring Crowds
   This was our most successful tactic in selling out the 24 Hour Sketch Comedy Competition, and also the model for the ever-successful “Cagematch” format. We created an incentive for the performers to bring as many audience members as possible because the audience would vote on which team was best. Essentially, their chances of winning were going to be higher if they brought more people.

8. Create Stakes
   Remember The Hunger Games, where audiences ravenously watched as the tributes competed for their literal lives? While I don’t recommend forcing improvisers to fight to the death (actually how Second City runs their general auditions), creating stakes will make people more excited to see your show. For the 24HSCC, we required all teams to pay $50 up front to register. This meant teams were literally staking cash on their hopes to win the contest, with the winner taking home $250 in cash prizes. With real money on the line, audiences were attracted to the risk.

9. Target an Audience
   Creating a show for a specific audience will inevitably yield higher ticket sales, particularly from people you may not already know (REAL HUMANS???). The Annoyance Theater famously rose to prominence thanks to several signature shows in the late ’80s/early ’90s, including The Real Life Brady Bunch. As one of the most successful TV shows of the ’70s, fans of The Brady Bunch turned out in droves to watch this cast of comic misfits perform word-for-word reenactments of episodes (cast members such as Steve Carell, Jane Lynch, and Susan Messing didn’t hurt either). What fervent fandoms exist and how can you make a show about them?

10. Take Care of the Audience
    ComedySportz founder Dick Chudnow talks of seeing a stand-up comedian rip into an audience member several decades ago, causing that person to leave the show in tears. Dick’s belief was that this person would probably never go to another comedy show again because of how traumatic it may have been. Instead, Dick created a show that seeks to protect the audience from beginning to end. I apply this philosophy to every show I produce by respecting my audience with regards to the content presented on stage, as well as with the high production value of the work. My co-producer, Griffin Griggs, and I hand-selected teams we believed would produce good work. We provided these teams with enough time to actually write and rehearse a quality piece of material, including giving them a tech rehearsal and a chance to smooth out their performance.With me directing the 24HSCC from the booth and Griffin hosting from the stage, we were able to ensure the flow of energy was effortless and smooth, allowing the audience to enjoy the show without ever being taken out of the experience. We made sure the audience felt like the priority, and that’s the kind of treatment that spreads by word of mouth.(Photo courtesy of Dave Audino, DEA Photo and Film)

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Improv Nerd director Sam Bowers recently co-produced the first-ever 24 Hour Sketch Comedy Competition at The Second City. The 24HSCC pitted 10 sketch teams against each other to see who could write and rehearse the best sketch within 24 hours, ultimately putting them up in a rapid-fire revue for an audience and panel of industry judges.

And the best news? The show was completely sold out. Pretty impressive for a first-time event.

So how did he sell it out? Here are some of Sam’s best tips on how to promote your improv show or sketch show to make sure you get butts in the seats.

1: Promotion
People won’t come to your show if they don’t know you’re having a show. Using physical promotion, such as posters or postcards, is only effective if you already have a brand, like Chicago sketch queens Spookie Dookie (Maureen Monahan and Claire McFadden), as they have an audience that already recognizes them. Spending money on posters without an existing audience will result in a lot of posters in the trash.

I highly recommend the use of consistent and diverse Facebook video. Nothing filters higher algorithmically on Facebook than native videos that are uploaded directly to Facebook, not linked via YouTube, which means more people will see a video post than any other. This method has proven quite successful for my team, LL Cool Beans, as it allows us all to remain in the communal zeitgeist. Even if you’re not a video editor, programs such as Adobe Spark and iMovie make it super easy for anyone to just get something out there.

2: Choose a highly visible venue
In Chicago, the most recognized name in comedy spaces is The Second City, followed closely behind by iO Chicago and The Annoyance. It will be easier to get audiences to come to these spaces because they are familiar with them and have a favorable opinion of them already. These institutions also typically have an effective infrastructure for marketing and ticket sales, giving your show a sense of legitimacy and allowing your audience to develop respect for your product before even arriving at the venue. These venues will likely take a bigger cut of ticket sales (unlike a smaller space where you may be able to pay to rent the space and make all of the money after the rent is paid), but it’s worth it to make less money if you can draw bigger crowds and make a bigger name for yourself and your group.

3: Create a High Quality Product
In regards to ticket sales, The Improvised Shakespeare Company is the most successful improv show in Chicago. This is because they are, without question, the highest quality improv product in the city. Improvised Shakespeare performs five shows a week at iO Chicago, consistently selling out the Friday/Saturday 8 p.m. shows, and often selling out the other, later/Thursday slots as well. Creator Blaine Swen has designed an artistic infrastructure from casting to rehearsal to the damn bow at the end of the show that is designed to consistently create an A+ improvisational product. Audiences return every week not because they care about Shakespeare or improv, but because it’s the best product in the market every night.

4: Get As Many People On Stage As Possible
People invite their friends and family to see them perform. The more people you put on stage, the more people will get invited to buy a ticket. For the 24HSCC, for example, we featured approximately 40 performers. Structuring how you utilize this high volume of bodies is essential to creating a good product, but if your only goal is to sell tickets, invite 100 people to perform and let me know how it goes (please send footage).

Another common tactic for getting more bodies on stage is to book an opening act for your show. Remember, the goal of an opener is not only to build energy for the main event, but to also bring people to watch them perform and fill out your house. While a highly talented opener might do well at pumping up your crowd, they also might be less incentivized to invite their friends and family to watch if you don't give them a decent time slot. I recommend bringing in newly established teams that don't have regular runs and giving them at least 12 minutes to perform. They will be more likely to bring people to watch.

5: Select a Smaller Venue

It’s easier to sell out small theaters. The 24HSCC would not have sold out The Second City Mainstage (295 seats), but we did easily sell out Judy’s Beat Lounge (58 seats oversold to 65 people). Don’t be afraid to play to a physically smaller room, because playing to a sold out space, no matter how small, makes everyone happy.

Check back in next week for the rest of Sam’s tips about how you can make sure you sell out your next improv show!

(Photo by Dave Audino, DEA Photo and Film)

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