Tim Saccardo is a comedy writer and director, born and raised in Middletown, Rhode Island. He is currently an Associate Producer on TBS's 10 Items or Less and a writer for The Huffington Post's comedy/news site www.236.com and their Wikipedia parody site www.Dickipedia.org. Tim has written and directed several videos for the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre's site www.UCBcomedy.com, one of which won him a Stony Award for Best Web Video from High Times Magazine. He also performs sketch and improv comedy regularly at Hollywood's UCB Theatre and Improv Olympic West.

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Production Blog, Week Six
John Lehr, Bob Clendenin, and Chris Liam Moore just put on an improv comedy clinic in scene 7 of episode 307, “The Milkman”. They’re the three most experienced improvisers in our cast, and when they get to share a scene together, it’s always hilarious. So funny they make you forget that you’re spending your morning in the sweltering attic of a Reseda grocery store that’s been redressed to look like Leslie Pool’s bedroom.

It might sound cliché, but they play together like a jazz trio. Which is to say they listen to each other. Not just hear each other, but truly listen to the words that are being said, and the meaning behind them. That’s the secret to improv. When your scene partners are talking, it’s easy to fall into the trap of just waiting for them to finish so you can say the hilarious thing you’ve already thought of. But high-level improvisers like John, Bob, and Chris know that the funniest lines actually come from honestly responding to what has just been said, taking that information as truth in the scene, and building on it. This notion of saying “yes, and…” to your scene partners allows improvisers to create things together that none of them would ever make on their own.

For example, because the guys just kept agreeing and adding, agreeing and adding, they ended up at a place where the following lines weren’t just funny, but also were somehow honest and appropriate to the scene:

Leslie: “Carl, you caused a nine car pile up in the parking lot. A woman’s head was severed and they found it up in the roof, clogging a ventilation shaft!”

Richard: “Are you wearing an adult diaper right now? Move around on the bed and let’s see if we hear anything crinkle.
Carl: “My reaction time is a little fritzy since the electrical snafu.”
Leslie: “I’m not going to put my father’s underwear in a landfill just because they have skidmarks.”
Carl: “I will eat your crust! …that sounded better in my head.”
Richard: “Leslie, are you wearing your dead mother’s panties?”

Some of those lines might end up on the actual scene, and some might not, but the point is, watching such exchanges for two seasons at 10 Items or Less has lead me to develop several “comedy crushes” on our actors that have lasted anywhere from a day to several weeks. What’s a comedy crush? Well, I’m not sure it’s a term anybody else in the world uses, but in my life a comedy crush is when you enjoy an actor’s work so much that it turns into a brief little love affair. You simply can’t get enough of watching them. They can do no wrong. Did you see the way they just tilted their head? HILARIOUS! Did you hear that kind of leaky tire way they exhaled during that last take? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

There’s just something about watching actors improvise for hours and hours that makes you feel a connection to them. They’re not reading lines from a script, thought up by a group of writers. They’re saying what they actually think and believe. They’re being funny in their own unique, idiosyncratic way, which is why it’s so easy to crush on them.

John’s style is a free-associative stream of consciousness that feels like he’s emptying his brain out on a table and rummaging through every single thought he has on a given topic, right in front of you. It’s not just entertaining, but it’s also impressive for just the sheer volume of funny material he generates consistently all day long, all week long, all season long. I’m pretty sure every single person on our crew has had a comedy crush on John at one point or another and when we’re all having a beer after work, everybody always has their favorite John Lehr line of the week.

Bob, on the other hand, is more of a comedy sniper. He likes to hang back in a scene, watch what’s going on, waiting for the perfect moment to strike with a perfectly placed line. If John’s strength is generating material, Bob’s strength is listening to all that material and responding with perfectly quirky yet somehow appropriate Carl Dawson lines without missing a beat. I had a solid two week crush on Bob and his timing this season.

Chris comes from an extensive theater background and his biggest strength as a comedic improviser is being completely grounded and real in his character no matter how crazy the scene or the actors around him get. Nobody in a scene with Chris can get away with saying anything silly or inaccurate without him calling them out on it and forcing them to explain themselves. And improvisers scrambling to justify why they just said something ridiculous is where some of the best comedy comes from. My crush on him this year started when I began noticing how he always makes scenes funnier even if he’s not the one getting the laughs. In sports lingo, Chris is a team player.

That being said, all of you are cordially invited to attend John, Bob, and Chris’s comedy clinic. Class will be held in episode 307, “The Milkman”, beginning in Leslie’s bedroom near the top of the second act. And for homework, please write your favorite lines from that scene in the comments section. Class dismissed.


The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer/speaker and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Turner Entertainment Networks, Inc.”