Introduction to Comedy

* Brother, I have bad news 10-15 Mins

Aims: Improvising, being serious about silliness, characterisation, trying out new ideas

1. Make an audience, explain that you are in a monastery. You might even choose to put atmospheric music on.
2. Nominate a head monk who stands in front of the audience, palms together and head down in prayer.
3. One by one, participants get on the stage as monks, walking slowly, palms together and head down. They walk to the head monk and say, “Brother, I have bad news . . . ”
4. They must then improvise something “bad” that they did. For example; “I accidentally knocked Brother Josie into the cesspit . . . I set fire to the kitchen again . . . I milked the horses instead of the cows . . . The Bishop ran off with the Queen”
5. The point of the game is to try and make the head monk laugh.
6. If the head monk doesn’t laugh, the participant stands next to them in prayer, gradually forming a line of monks.
7. If anyone in the line laughs, the game has been won.
8. You can reset with a different head monk, or the teacher can play the head monk so the group work together to make them laugh!