Introduction To Comedy

* Name, Name, Boom 5 Mins

Aims: Being comfortable making mistakes, concentration, name learning, listening, being silly, quick reactions

1. Make a circle.
2. The teacher is in the middle of the circle.
3. The teacher will point at three people.
4. The first two people they point at say their own names. For example: “Samantha, Ahmed,” but the third person says “Boom”.
5. Repeat and continue in this format, getting faster and faster.
6. If someone makes a mistake, everyone gives them a round of applause and the person who made the mistake bows.
7. Encourage them to experiment with the bow and make them as elaborate as possible.
8. Repeat until they are confident with the format and then replace the second person’s name with a clap “Name, clap, boom”.

* Name Circle 10 Mins

Aims: Making mistakes, energy, concentration, name learning, quick reactions.

1. Everyone stands in one large circle to begin.
2. One person starts by passing a clap to someone else.
3. They must make eye contact with the person, clap and say that person’s name at the same time.
4. The person they clapped at then repeats the process with someone else.
5. Continue until everyone has had a turn.
6. Encourage them to get faster.
7. After everyone is confident, we split the group into two circles.
8. They will repeat this game in their smaller circles, but this time, if someone makes a mistake, the circle celebrate with whoops.
9. The person who made a mistake bows and goes to play with the other circle.
10. Encourage them to get faster and faster.

Discussion:

What did those games have in common?

Answers: They are all geared towards making mistakes. If no one made a mistake, then the game would become quite stale and boring.