Bits & Improv

I have been personally performing improv for about 14 years. I’ve performed Narratives, Montages, Free-forms, Armandos, La Rondes, Deconstructions, Movies, Harolds, Bats, Genres, Detours, Townies, Slackers, Monoscenes, Rooms, Living Rooms- just about every form one can think of. I like learning and doing them because it’s its own form of inspiration- jostling my preconceptions and removing ruts you might be in. Ultimately, I’m a sucker for the freedom of a montage.

The new frontier seems to be bits. Bits? Yeah, bits.

I’ll explain my conception of bits before we go further though. I get this question a lot: what is a bit and how is it different from game?

A bit is like an umbrella that an entire show exists under. The show can absolutely exist without that umbrella. This is a Harold. This is a Harold if aliens performed it. Take it into a scene too. This scene is a father giving “the talk.” This scene is a father giving “the talk” but he’s an alien. Take it into the meta-world! This is a short-form show. This is short-form show, but the improvisers are aliens.

I recently saw an article by the great Will Hines, imploring for a return to form- ‘we don’t have to do bits,’ (paraphrasing, of course) and while I do love some straight-forward improv, I think the normalcy of improv is splitting at the seams a bit. It’s well and good to invent a form but after a point they seem to be iterations of one another. People still frown upon montage (don’t get me started on my disdain for this logic), and they exclusively do forms so demanding of formulaic thinking that their work becomes exactly that, work.

Bits feel like an escape. It can revolutionize even the simplest form and make folks rethink every choice they land on. I get it though: I scene work and game play seem to have dropped off the face of the Earth, but I don’t think it’s because of bits. Some of my favorite and unique moments are born of bits.

The biggest problem I have with bits is that folks seem to think they just get plopped wherever. They require a ton of careful thought, and a clear goal. How does it start? Is it super repeatable/applicable? How does it conclude? Too often I see folks forgo scene work, or character, or whatever for the bit. I’ve seen so many shows where the bit is: ‘improvisers mad at each other,’ which is taxing and frustrating to watch- especially, if it’s not well thought out. It’s just a person yelling at someone else about how mad they are. Super fun.

Ultimately though, the same could be said of long forms and scene work. It all requires careful thought- something improvisers are told to disengage from. Sure, when you’re performing, lose yourself a bit. But set yourself up to succeed. It’s why we practice and rehearse.

Or at least some of us do (shade thrown!)…