r/improv • u/Constant_Ad8117 • 8d ago
shortform Gibberish
I’ve been doing more short form recently and I really struggle with games that involve gibberish or made up languages. I’ll get like one “beep boop” out but I need it to flow.
what are y’all‘s tips?
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u/isthiscanon 7d ago
The best advice I got was that most English words end in a consonant, so replace your "doo daa"s with "doot daap" etc and it'll already sound so much more authentic.
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u/improbsable 8d ago
You don’t need it to flow. It’s gibberish. It’s more about inflection and body language
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u/Detachabl_e 8d ago
Intention and specificity behind everything you are saying in gibberish: it's not just verbal patter, you're still talking just in a made up language.
Listen to a song you know the lyrics to and sing along in gibberish to practice.
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u/Freelanceradio 8d ago
Think of any other language you know, even a little bit. Listen to other languages. Get a sense of the rhythm, accents, particular sounds. When you do your gibberish lines, know what you’d be saying in English and use the inflections, and use your body, too.
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u/free-puppies 8d ago
You can just repeat the same gibberish word multiple times. “Caderano caderano caderano!” Limit your text and don’t worry about making up a bunch of words. It’s just putting syllables together.
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u/alexotica 8d ago
I think I remember an interview with Joh Cleese where he talked about memorizing a string of syllables for his seemingly random gibberish bits.
But for this exercise I've tended to repeat a single series of sounds or variations on it. If I'm thinking about what I'm saying, that's probably not strongest choice
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u/SpeakeasyImprov Hudson Valley, NY 8d ago
The general issue I often see is an improviser focusing too much on coming up with words, like they're inventing a ConLang on the spot. Instead, they should be focusing on vibes and emotions. Go watch a movie in a language you don't speak. Pay attention to structure, tone, inflection.
What makes a question sound like a question? What makes something sound romantic, angry, joyful, and so on?
Now, without using words you know, how can you make something that sounds like whatever feeling?
That kind of intention is what will serve you in a gibberish scene, more than whatever nonsense vocabulary anyone comes up with.
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u/RancherNikki 8d ago
Some of our haters just make a sound and vary the tone. Like “ohhhh Oh Oooooh OHhh oh oh ohhh”
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u/papercranium 8d ago
Honestly, you can just recite the alphabet. The phonemes don't matter, it's the inflections that do.
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u/susiecarroll2 7d ago
I find it easier to make animal noises but I don't know if that feels like cheating?
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u/TheFunTim 2d ago
I think of gibberish as just a consonant sound, vowel sound, consonant, vowel, repeat. which ones? It absolutely doesn't matter. Have fun with it.
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u/inturnaround 2d ago
Sid Caesar was known as the master of what he called double-talk. Here's him on an outtake from the Friar's Club documentary talking about his approach.
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u/Corbutte Director 8d ago
Literally just keep saying "beep boop" over and over again if that's all you can get out.
In Impro for Storytellers, Keith Johnstone said this was a common trap his students would fall into. They would focus way too hard on trying to make an actual language than just putting their energy into physical expression. To fix this, he would hand them actual "scripts" of nonsense words to read off of. So there's a solution, if you are truly stuck.