Gibberish Expert
Pre-1980s
Also known as Foreign Expert, Alien Expert
One performer lectures or answers questions as an expert on an audience topic, speaking only in gibberish; a second performer translates each line into English.
Known for
- Canonical Spolin-lineage game; Second City training-center staple.
- Translator should give 'obvious' interpretations, not invented jokes — audience imagines the joke.
- Physicality of the expert must carry meaning since words don't.
- Variant: expert tells a story (rather than lectures) while translator narrates.