Do you have to be particularly quick-witted or clever or light
on your feet to play that scene? Not really. It’s a perfectly
straightforward conversation. The humor arises entirely out of
how steadfastly the participants adhere to the rule that no
suggestion can be denied. If you can create the right
framework, all of a sudden, engaging in the kind of fluid,
effortless, spur-of-the-moment dialogue that makes for good
improv theater becomes a lot easier. This is what Paul Van
Riper understood in Millennium Challenge. He didn’t just put
his team up onstage and hope and pray that funny dialogue
popped into their heads. He created the conditions for
successful spontaneity.
3. The Perils of Introspection
On Paul Van Riper’s first tour in Southeast Asia, when he was
out in the bush, serving as an advisor to the South Vietnamese,
he would often hear gunfire in the distance. He was then a
young lieutenant new to combat, and his first thought was
always to get on the radio and ask the troops in the field what
was happening. After several weeks of this, however, he
realized that the people he was calling on the radio had no