Story – Robert McKee's Creative Storytelling Magazine Issue 005 – Drew Carey | Page 67

MCKEE
INTERVIEWS
DREW CAREY
both screwed, because no matter what I say, you’re going to say,
“Yes, Doctor.” And you say, “Hello,
Nurse.” Now I’m a nurse. You could
add to it and go, “You look lovely
in your dress today.” Now I’m a female nurse.
Okay, now the audience has to let
you pimp me a little bit. The audience has a laugh because now
I have to change and act female,
and I have to agree with everything
you say. “Well, let’s get the operation going.” So now we’re going
to operate. That doctor can do a
lot of things. They can do lunch,
but now I say we’re going to operate. This is how you make the list.
If we’re going to do an operation,
there’s scalpels and things. You’ve
seen doctor movies, so you start
to do things in your head and just
move around stage making lists in
your head. “I’m going to arrange
my scalpels, I’m going to wash my
hands, I’m putting my mask on,” so
that’s the list.
But it’s only three or four things
you’ve got to think of, so it’s easy.
You’re not making a big list. To
do a stand-up routine, you might
make a list of 20 things and really pore through some research,
depending on the subject. You
need three or four things just to
get to the next line because while
you’re doing your action—putting
your mask on—you’re thinking of
the next “and.” You’ve agreed that
you’re going to operate, and now

you’re thinking of the next “and.”
“Boy, I wish I hadn’t been drinking.”
Now I have a drunk doctor on my
hands and I have to think of what
a nurse would be doing, and how
to deal with the drunk doctor. As
long as you keep adding to it, then
you keep the scene going.
RM: Amazing, but it seems to
me inside all of that, of course,
you’re building jokes.
DC: Yeah.
RM: So you’ve got to be concerned about a number of
things, and certainly the timing.

use word puns. It’s all the things
they use in comedy writing, but in
improv, a lot of it is exaggeration
and making it bigger than it needs
to be or more dangerous than it
needs to be.
RM: But I’m just thinking that in
the midst of…
DC: I didn’t answer the question.
RM: No, no. In the midst of an
improv, there has got to be a
sense that we’ve gone too long
without a laugh.
DC: Oh, yeah. Right, a lot of time.

DC: Right.

RM: So then what?

RM: How do you build a situation to a point where the audience’s attention is peaking, and
then where do you get a punch
to explode all of that tension?
DC: In improv, you’re not really
looking for punchlines, per se. The
“ands” are really the punchlines
back and forth and the actions.
You’ll find yourself in funny situations. This little yes/and formula
really works some magic sometimes, because, you’ll be thinking
of an “and” to put in there and you’ll
add something ridiculous. That’s
where it really is—you’re looking
for a comic exaggeration or a minimization or something like that.

DC: Well, then you start sweating
and maybe somebody from the
back will come and help you out.
We were doing a show and there
was two doctors—that’s what they
ended up being. They said, “Let’s
operate on this guy,” and I ran up
to be the guy they were operating
on. I walked in, and I said, “Sorry
I’m late.” There was actually a lull,
and you just reminded me. It was
like a month ago, so there was little
lull there, so I just walked in and I
said, “Sorry I’m late.” I lay down on
a stool, and I got a big laugh because it was like, “Okay, well, time
to get operating.” And then they
realize there’s no body there. So
that’s the way you add things.

There are also improv games that

RM: There’s an expression in

Story Magazine // Issue 005