10 Minutes with… 10 Minutes with Jay Sukow

A masterclass on raising the stakes by Ninja Jay

If you’re anywhere near online improv these days, you won’t miss a guy doing “10 Minutes with… Everyone on the Planet”. (Well there’s a few of them now, actually. But the OG is Today Improv’s Jay Sukow.) What’s remarkable is that Jay not only plays with the pros, but with everyone who hasn’t even finished Improv 101.. and it always works. 🤔

“10 Minutes with..” is a great resource to learn improv. I usually pop one episode on my daily commute to listen to every type of improvisers in the world (I like watching students even more). And see what tricks Jay is up to this time. Because in each video Jay operates like a ninja and uses 3,712 different techniques invisibly. But the aim is always to make his partner look good. Workshops give us theory, but 10 Minutes is really the real-life arena where we can see Ninja Jay (Ninjay?) stealthily go in- and out of a scene and change tools effortlessly. At the end of the scene, Jay’s partner gets all the credit, while Ninja Jay stakes another partner to make them look good.

See collection: Today Improv videos

Today I highlight techniques #451 and #452 for Ninja Jay to raise the stakes: by the classic way of doubling down, or by the inventive way of priming.

Doubling down on your partner’s move

Raising the stakes means making a move or situation important. And one of the classic ways to do this is by doubling down on your partner.

10 Minutes with Abhishek Goyal
FB: https://www.facebook.com/jaysukow/videos/10159064042135809/

In this scene, Abhishek Goyal lays down groundwork for the scene, and then introduce a device at the top: The Inner Voice (2:40). Abhishek went bravely off-video and played Jay’s inner voice to establish a troubled father-and-son relationship, right off the bat. A veteran move.

Now that this device is established, see what Jay does at 5:28. He turned the table right back at Abhishek! Going off-video himself and played Abhishek’s inner voice. Extremely powerful move. By doing that, it doubles down on Abhishek’s move. When Jay does the inner voice, he doesn’t make his own move look good, but he made us see that that Abhishek’s move purposeful and important. But I see you, Jay Sukow.

Priming the scene

But Ninja Jay also has another tool. Ninja Jay can preemptively raise the stakes.

10 Minutes with Andri Panayi
FB: https://www.facebook.com/jaysukow/videos/10159054574935809/

On other sets, Jay plays at a slower pace because he lets his partner organically find the scene. In this scene with Andri Panayi, at the top of the scene there is a cookie crumb in Andri’s teeth. Andri adds information subtly like “this is embarassing” (3:41), “we’re really good friends though” (4:05), keeping the scene semi-open to interpretation.

Now if I were a young ninja, I might have panicked and immediately laid down all information so I can play at my court. However, Kage-level Ninja Jaysensei waits for Andri to lay down the foundation, because he wants Andri to play at her court. Yet, Ninja Jay doesn’t let the scene flounder. He added the importance of the scene without knowledge of what the scene is about. With moves like:
- “It’s done. People aren’t going to remember what happened” (6:05)
- “I’m sorry and I think about it a lot. I wonder if it would affect our relationship” (6:40)

With these moves, anything Andri said after is going to be gold. This is like priming a scene — if this scene was a spring, then these moves coil it in and put a lot of potential energy into it. And in the process makes Andri looks really good (in addition to being a talented player herself). Andri played with this potential energy with great ease, like smashing a volleyball after a setup. When Andri said “Well, you were in a dark place”, that line made soo much sense and important.

(For bonus, Jay set up to Andri to look good one last time with a pun ️(13:00): “What kind of cheese isn’t your cheese?” Andri: “Nacho cheese” ❤️ )

It’s very cool that raising stakes can be done in so many ways and timing. Repeating a line right after, calling back much later, or even setting up preemptively. You will discover new ways yourself too. Play more. Raise the stakes for your partner.