Justification can be a really important part of any improv scene, especially when a character’s choice veers into unusual or absurd territory. In improv, justification allows you to ground that unusual thing and give a logical explanation for it, enabling your scene to move forward. So, how do you practice good justification?
Here are some great improv justification games:
- Arms Race
- Blind Line
- Conscious, Subconscious
- New Choice (Ding)
- Sound Effects
Read on to learn more about these improv games, as well as the role justification can play in both long and short form improv.
What Is Justification in Improv?
According to the Improv Resource Center Wiki, justification is “an act of clarification in scenework, when a choice needs to be further contextualized or explained for the benefit of the show.”
In the UCB style of improv, justification can be an integral part of exploring the game of the scene. In addition to heightening, UCB’s Comedy Improvisation Manual recommends exploring the logic/reasoning behind each absurd or unusual choice, asking “Why do I [or the other character] have this absurd or unusual behavior?”
When the straight man offers a justfication [for absurd behavior of another character], he is setting up his scene partner for further heightening in the next move. … When you can form sound and logical explanations for absurd behavior, you are playing your scene at the top of your intelligence.
Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh, Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual, pp. 129-130
Will Hines, author of How to Become the Greatest Improviser on Earth, claims that justification is also important because it can help prevent improvisers from making choices arbitrarily rather than “from some authentic place.”
We say “don’t think” but we don’t mean “be arbitrarily random,” we mean “let the very bottom of your brain make the choices and everything will fit together into an organic whole that the top of your brain didn’t see coming.” We say “justify” or “have a why” but we just mean — “be connected to it, don’t just pick random idea balls from the manatee pool.”
Will Hines, Improv Nonsense
Justification, then, can be seen as a way of clarifying choices in an improv scene, as well as a way to deepen characters’ perspectives (by saying to oneself, if this is true, how would I rationalize this for my character?) and further the comedic elements of a scene.
In short form improv, justification is used as the main element of many short form games, where the humor of the game revolves around improvisers justifying absurd choices. These are great games in their own right, but they can also be great improv exercises for practicing justification.
Improv Justification Exercises/Short Form Games
Arms Race
Arms Race is a game for four improvisers. Two people improvise a scene based on an audience suggestion, but they must put their hands behind their backs. Instead, the other two improvisers stand behind their teammates, sticking their hands through the gap between the original players’ arms and side. The improvisers then play out the scene with their teammates controlling their hand and arm movements.
The goal of this game is for each pair of improvisers to build off of each other with good give and take and agreement. The “arms” should give the “speaker” plenty of arm/hand movement to justify, but they should also work to justify the the speaker’s words and emotions through their motions. For example, if the speaker says, “I can’t believe it!” the “arms” person might put their hands on the speaker’s face in a “surprised” motion.
In this way, both speaker and arms must practice constant justification, providing a logical explanation for each other’s choices while moving the scene forward.
Blind Line
In Blind Line, two or three improvisers act out a scene based on an audience suggestion. The catch is that one improviser must periodically read pre-written lines that s/he has never seen before (often audience suggestions written down before the show) and incorporate them into his or her dialogue.
You can have audience members (or fellow improvisers if rehearsing) write down random lines of dialogue on slips of paper, which the improviser should keep in his or her pocket and pull out periodically throughout the scene. Alternatively, this game also works really well when pulling random dialogue from plays or movies.
The “game” here is to have all the improvisers work together to justify the “blind lines” the one player reads, providing a rationale and incorporating them seamlessly into the scene, regardless of how seemingly random or absurd they are.
Conscious, Subconscious
In this improv justification game, two people act out a scene while two other improvisers play their subconscious minds personified. This usually works well with the two main characters seated in chairs with their respective “subconsciouses” standing directly behind them, but you can use any configuration that makes it clear which player is whose subconscious mind.
The two “conscious” characters carry on a scene based on an audience suggestion, but their subconscious minds keep making comments, requiring both conscious and subconscious to justify the other’s choices, since they are playing the same character.
The order of the dialogue goes like this:
Player 1 (conscious) speaks Player 1's subconscious speaks Player 2 (conscious) speaks Player 2' subconscious speaks Player 1 (conscious) speaks ... Etc.
NOTE: It’s important to remember that neither conscious player can hear the other’s subconscious, so each conscious person must react only to what the other conscious character says or does. However, the conscious players can and should react to their own subconscious thoughts, and the subconscious should take cues from the conscious players as well.
The mechanics of this game can be a bit complicated to start out with, but it’s really fun once you get the hang of it, and it requires everyone to listen really closely and constantly justify other’s choices.
New Choice (Ding)
In New Choice (also known as Ding), two or more improvisers act out a scene based on an audience suggestion. But, at any time, a third improviser can ding a bell (or ring a buzzer, or call out freeze) and demand they make a “new choice.” At that point, the improvisers must freeze, and whoever said the most recent line must make a new choice and say (or do) something completely different.
The caller can “ding” a performer once or multiple times in a row, prompting that improviser to make continuous new choices. Once the caller lets a new choice stand, the improvisers must justify that statement and its place in the scene.
Sound Effects
In this improv game, two improvisers play a scene based on an audience suggestion, while two other improvisers stand off to either side of the stage and make sound effects for the two main characters. (That is, the “sound effects” person on the right makes all the sound effects for character A, while the “sound effects” person on the left makes all the sound effects for character B.)
The two improvisers playing the scene must justify any and all sound effects, providing actions and statements that provide a logival explanation for even the weirdest sounds. In turn, the sound effects creators should also justify any actions or statements made by the two people in the scene.
For example, if one character says “let me just start my car,” their sound effects person should create a car ignition sound effect. If, as the characters are driving along, a sound effects person makes sputtering noises as if the car is breaking down, the two people in the scene must accept this reality and act accordingly.