Riffing is Human Nature
What is riffing? How do you do it?
Riffing is co-creating humor in a constructive way (usually with a “Yes, and…” approach). This is of course in direct opposition of Comedic Sparring, where people are creating humor together but in an antagonistic way (trying to “get” someone).
Riffing, like comedic sparring, is improvisational. This means that there aren’t really any specific rules, but there are ways that a session can be killed and there are ways to avoid that.
Riffing is about building together on some kind of shared premise. You are furthering someone’s perspective or adding a new perspective of your own. This can only really happen if everyone really understands what is being joked about. One way to kill the flow is for someone to make a joke that makes it clear that they don’t really understand the premise of the bit.
I think even a tonal shift can sometimes be quite jarring. For instance if your joking is pretty good-natured but then someone spins it in a mean-spirited direction, this could be the end of the riff topic. However a more savvy group might instead try to gently redirect back to the more well-tread territory, or could just go with the flow and be more mean-spirited in subsequent jokes.
This article in the HuffPost, “Five Things That ‘Kill the Scene’ in Improv and In Life” makes a lot of good points, especially about wanting to “be the star”. Riffing is not standup, you should allow other people to take turns and offer their own interpretation or elaboration of the group bit.
Why do we riff?
It’s creation and community all in one! This is the humor equivalent to a jam session with your friends/garage band, a flash mob, theater, etc. It’s a great way to connect and enjoy each other’s company.
I think that the improvisational and collaborative nature can create a sense of presence and togetherness by taking comedic risks together and making each other laugh. A lot of my fondest memories in person or in group chats are from when we were all riffing together.
I think this tweet encapsulates some feelings I have:
(Suddenly turning serious after riffing with you for 15 minutes) it’s actually sick what you’ve been saying
@John_Attridge on Twitter
A recent personal example is when I was watching a sunset with a friend and he joked about Auriel’s Bow in Skyrim (which I was unfamiliar with) which “shrouds the sun in sudden darkness […] creating a false-night in which a vampire is unaffected by the daylight” (Source). I then joked that I should have seen his title “Bringer of Eternal Night”.
Whether or not you, reader, find this funny is actually beside the point. All that matters is that the parties involved in the riffing are having a fun time. This is actually a bit of hermetic riffing, which is just to say that it requires some specific background knowledge for an interlocutor to actually find it funny. You don’t have to be familiar with Skyrim/The Elder Scrolls, but you do have to understand a bit about Fantasy RPGs for the joke to make the most sense.
Just because riffing is “human nature”, does not mean that it comes naturally to all people. Some people don’t have the talent or more often the interest. Everyone has different senses of humor but also different ways that they like to engage with another person. Some people, like myself, really enjoy engaging with others through comedy/humor, while for others they prefer a more serious or genuine conversation. This isn’t to say that you can’t have a serious relationship with someone whom you like to riff with, but I do think that more playful/less serious dynamics can be harder to break out of if the foundation is humor/irony.