The Harold
1967-present · San Francisco / Chicago
Also known as Harold, The Classic Harold
The foundational long-form improv structure — a single audience suggestion explodes into three beats of three scenes each, bookended and separated by group games.
Known for
- First performed by The Committee in Concord, California in 1967; name reportedly derived from a gag in A Hard Day's Night ('What do you call that haircut?' 'Arthur.' Becomes 'What do you call that form?' 'Harold.').
- Codified by Del Close and Charna Halpern at iO (ImprovOlympic) beginning 1981; the form of record in Close/Halpern/Johnson's Truth in Comedy (1994).
- Standard roadmap: Opening (group game off single suggestion) → Beat 1 (three unrelated two-person scenes) → Group Game → Beat 2 (same three scenes return, games heightened) → Group Game → Beat 3 (scenes merge, connections surface, callbacks) → End.
- Performed by 6-9 improvisers; runs roughly 25-35 minutes.
- Close considered it a malleable/organic form, not a rigid script — variations like The Bat, Sybil, Armando, Movie, and Monoscene are all Harold derivatives.
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Notes
Canonical opening options include the Pattern Game (word association), the Invocation (Del Close’s four-phase ritual: “It Is / You Are / Thou Art / I Am”), organic openings (movement and sound build), group monologues, and press conference. The opening is supposed to “information build” — extract themes the ensemble then plants in scenes. Second-beat Game heightening and third-beat convergence are the craft distinctions between a merely functional Harold and a great one.
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