"It's nice to hear about clowns working together who normally are not performing partners.  I think that requires a special talent." - Lee Mullally, commenting on hearing about a performance Angel Contreras and I did together at the 2013 California Clown Campin' program.

Improvisation is the skill that allows me to work together with Angel Contreras and other clowns who are not normally my partners. First, I'll describe two common improvisational games, and then how I apply them to performance.

Yes, And -- The participants form two lines. The first person in the right line steps forward and makes a ridiculous statement. The first person in the left line steps forward says, Yes, and..." and responds with a related statement. For example, the first person might say, "The sky is a beautiful shade of green today." The second person responds, "Yes, and the clouds are a beautiful purple." Then they go to the end of the opposite line and the next people at the front of the lines step forward to repeat the process. The application is that if you say "no, you are wrong" during an improvisation you have set up a roadblock that stops the flow of ideas. No matter what your partner does, you have to accept and build upon it.

Mr. Answer Man - This is one that participants and staff played during Jeff McMullen's improvisation class the last day of the 2013 California Clown Campin'. In this case three volunteers lined up in front of the rest of the group. Together they formed the Answer Man who could respond to any question. However, each of the three was limited to saying one word at a time. As they took turns answering they had to build upon what the previous person had said. For example, if asked, "why is the grass green?" the first person would say, "The." The second person would say "grass." The third person would say "is." The first person would say "green." The second person would say "because." This would continue one word at a time until a phrase was produced, and one of the players ended the answer by announcing the name of a punctuation mark. A possible answer to my sample question is "The - grass - is - green - because - it - looks - up - at - the - trees - and - turns - green - with - envy - period."

Mr. Answer Man teaches several important components of improvisation. First, you are not in control. You can not force the direction that the improvisation will follow. You take one step, but your partner may change direction of the improvisation with their next step. Since you can't say no, you have to say yes and go in their new direction. Second, you need to pause giving your partner time to respond. There is an action - reaction chain. You act in some way. Your partner reacts to what you have done by performing an action. Then you react to their action. Your reaction is actually an action to which they react.

Here is a specific example. The first night of California Clown Campin' featured a show where each of the staff members did a brief performance so they were all in make up and costume. This was followed by an Open Mike session where participants could perform brief routines. An adorable nine-year old named Zoe performed a very cute song. She was in regular clothes. When she concluded, Jeff McMullen put his coat on her. Angel Contreras put his hat on her. She lifted her arms as she accepted the applause of the audience. Then she took off the coat and hat, dropped them on the floor, and returned to her seat. I stepped forward, picked up Jeff's coat, opened it, and went towards him to help him on with it. Angel didn't say anything, but in the spirit of "Yes, and" he decided he would help me hold the coat open. Jeff's "Yes, and" action was to put his right arm into the left sleeve. I was standing on the right next to the empty sleeve so my "yes" action was to put my right arm into the right sleeve. Jeff removed his right arm from the left sleeve. Angel was standing there next to the empty left sleeve so he inserted his left arm into that sleeve. Angel and I paused and looked at each other. I pulled my arm out of the right sleeve, but turned it inside out. Jeff turned it right side out using his right hand which meant it ended up on his right arm. Angel removed his arm from the left sleeve. Jeff inserted his left arm. I stepped away from the other two so the audience could see that Jeff was now wearing the coat. Jeff picked up Angel's hat and threw it at me. I tried to catch it on my head, and missed. I picked up Angel's hat and threw it to him. He tried to catch it on his head but missed. He picked it up and threw it back to me. I missed catching it. I tossed it to a man seated in the front row near me. He threw the hat towards me, and I caught it on my head. The three of us applauded his ability to make an accurate throw. Then we took a short bow, and exited the stage area.

What opportunities do you have to develop improvisational skill? When you play an improvisation game how can you apply its principles to your performances? If you normally perform solo, where can you find the opportunity to perform with other entertainers?