H.I.Larious gathers fourteen original Humorous Interpretation scripts, each one built for a single performer juggling a full cast of characters who are strange, sus, or ridiculous. This set includes the original plays from H.I.Larious, Volumes 1-4.
Sample scripts include: A kid's poisoned nail polish turns his goth older sister into a 50-meter-tall monster in My Sister, Gothzilla. A tree, a rock, and a stream try everything to impress the hikers who call their forest boring in Forest of Friendship. A ten-year-old self-appointed superhero patrols her elementary school without ever once catching the right villain in Nancy Brinkman: Elementary School Superhero.
Thirteen of the fourteen fresh new scripts come from legendary speech author Matt Mills, and they display his trademark flair: big original premises, rapid-fire jokes, and characters who commit completely to their own terrible ideas.
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Format: Humorous Interpretation, original comedies; Many scripts work as duo interpretation as well
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Cast: 1 performer, multiple characters
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Tone: Fast, absurd character comedies, from monster-movie mayhem to game-show and cop-show parodies
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Content: All plays appropriate for high school competition, with content notes and themes included in description.
All fourteen scripts are NSDA-eligible and properly formatted with copyright and ISBN. It's a full season of original HI material in one purchase, all tournament-proven for speech competition. Plus, they work well for comedy showcases, classroom character work, and audition practice, too.
Download digital files instantly after purchase. These comedies are ready for rehearsal and performance right now!
SCRIPTS INCLUDED
Boys Will Be Boys — Matt Mills
Humorous Interpretation · 1 performer, multiple characters
Melissa's dad has always wanted a son, so he's decided she'll be one unless she fails a series of extremely manly tests.
Dad still calls twelve-year-old Melissa "Jacob," and he's offering a deal: fail his lineup of manly tests and he'll finally drop the boy routine. Test one: insult a random six-year-old. Her winning line is so cutting that Dad rules it textbook girl behavior. Test two: fix his car, which has no ignition, a fake chicken in the engine, and a note about her being adopted. Test three: a baseball to the face. Melissa finally explodes, and mid-rant she mentions she loves The Walking Dead. Dad is stunned to learn a girl can like cool things, and the two discover they have plenty in common. A goofy father-daughter comedy with a dad who is one bad idea after another.
Running gender-stereotype jokes (which the script itself pokes fun at), slapstick including a baseball to the face, and a brief innuendo; no profanity.
The Family Business — Matt Mills
Humorous Interpretation · 1 performer, multiple characters
Jimmy's dad is a pet psychologist who insists animals talk to him, and Jimmy is mortified to discover they talk to him too.
Every morning, Jimmy has to sit in on Dad's therapy sessions with clients like Mister Sniffles, a cat with detachment issues over a ball of yarn. When Jimmy says he wants out of the family business, Dad hands him a patient of his own: a puppy. The puppy talks. So does the hawk Dad throws at him next, who isn't a morning person and keeps missing out on worms. Jimmy brokers a worms-for-fish trade, the hawk spreads the word, and soon a turtle, a very particular rabbit, and an enthusiastic salamander are lined up for sessions. Dad was right all along (the animals only stayed quiet around Jimmy because of doctor-patient confidentiality), and Jimmy has to say the two hardest words he knows: "I apologize." A sweet, silly father-son comedy with a menagerie of oddball patients.
Clean throughout, with a couple of mild jokes (a "bipolar" puppy, a "promiscuous" squirrel); suitable for most audiences.
Forest of Friendship — Matt Mills
Humorous Interpretation · 1 performer, multiple characters
A tree, a rock, and a stream are tired of hikers calling their forest boring, so they set out to impress somebody. Anybody.
Tree is the optimist. Rock is the cynic with the puns. Stream mostly says "splsh." Together they're a forest nobody respects: visitors call them stupid, compare them to prison, and suggest replacing them with a Dave & Buster's. So the trio tries everything. A joke (badly told). Seductive stream dancing. Total stoicism. Straight-up intimidation ("Do you have any idea how many dead bodies are floating inside me?"). Nothing works, and one hiker is busy leaving a one-star Yelp review, until an asteroid comes hurtling in and the forest pulls off the save of the century. Five stars! Then Rock makes one more pun, and it drops to three. Pun-packed nature comedy with a running gag for every character.
Clean, with a joking line about dead bodies in the stream and a bird-poop gag; suitable for any audience.
Fortune Favors — Jane Nicolaas
Humorous Interpretation · 1 performer, multiple characters
A carnival fortune teller about to be fired promises her boss he'll meet the love of his life today, in her tent. Now she has to deliver.
The Great Esmeralda's visions always come true. Mostly. Sometimes. (Her parrot, Cookies, keeps a running tally of the lies.) When Boss shows up to replace her tent with a parking lot, Esmeralda stalls with a prophecy: his true love will walk in today. Boss hides behind a curtain to watch, and Esmeralda gets to work. She talks Marge out of her marriage mid-palm-reading, splashes a "love potion" (really Tilex) on Boss for a woman who only wanted change for parking, and nearly gives up when the next customer is a little girl. Then the girl's mother walks in, and she's the woman who has been yelling at Boss on the phone all day about his divorce. One look, and sparks fly. Esmeralda's vision comes true after all, more or less. A squawky carnival comedy with a parrot who steals every scene.
Includes a running joke about a child's weight, use of the term "gypsy," divorce squabbles, and one cut-off rude line; no profanity.
The Game Show of Games Show — Matt Mills
Humorous Interpretation · 1 performer, multiple characters
Three clueless contestants compete on a game show where nobody, including the host, knows the rules.
Bob passes on everything, including his own introduction. Brashley overshares wildly. Samantha just wants the food she was promised. And host Sean runs the whole thing as if it makes sense. Round one asks contestants what they'd say if asked to tell about themselves (the winning answer: "shut up and get away from me"). Round two is the "Freestyle Stage of Freestyling," featuring a jaywalking routine, a hunger-fueled rap, a mall-themed interpretive dance, and a flat refusal to perform that the host calls the most freestyle of all. The final round? Freestyle rapping, obviously, because on this show nothing has to do with anything. A gleefully pointless game-show send-up with three wonderfully hopeless contestants.
Mild language ("butthead," a spelled-out "OMFG"), a brief reference to a first period, and jokey threats from the host; otherwise clean.
Gary the Unicorn and Tina the Man o’War Riverdance Their Way into the History Books — Matt Mills
Humorous Interpretation · 1 performer, multiple characters
A unicorn and a man o' war, fed up with their boss's species jokes, decide to win respect the only way they know how: competitive riverdancing.
Gary and Tina are entry-level accountants (at a company that steals from orphanages), and their boss Chelvin never misses a chance to mock a horned horse and a sea creature with polyps. Their plan to earn the world's respect: a televised riverdancing championship, on Fox News. They hire Hans and Nans, the winningest and scariest riverdancing coaches in the universe, who answer every routine with "Vomit" and "Again!" until it's finally good. On the big night the routine goes great, right up until the pair start chatting mid-dance and then ditch riverdancing for wild freestyle moves. Dead last, and an embarrassment to the universe. But back at the office, Chelvin turns out to be their biggest fan. Absurd, big-hearted office comedy with dance breaks built in.
Clean, with the boss's sexist and species-based put-downs played as the butt of the joke; suitable for most audiences.
The Lonely Girls Club — Matt Mills
Humorous Interpretation · 1 performer, multiple characters
A support group for single women books a guest speaker to teach them about men, and he turns out to be exactly the problem.
Moderator Trudy (43, knits Christmas stockings from her cats' fur) runs the meeting: Emily the worrier, Trishy the rich girl in denial, Pardge who's only there for the donuts, and Melissa, who speaks almost entirely in whimpers. The icebreakers go strangely (word association for "soulmate": "easily drugged"), and then guest speaker Rob arrives, flexing and offering chili off his biceps. Emily calls him out as a narcissist, and the group takes the lesson in exactly the wrong direction: to the club, to find more guys like him. When the men there prove her point, Melissa finally speaks up with a rousing speech about self-respect that swerves sharply into murder. Then a male feminist reporter walks over, and Emily's resolve lasts about one second. A quirky ensemble comedy with a sharp, silly edge.
Includes drinking jokes, an "easily drugged" punchline, a joke about a brother's death, insult humor, and a comic call to murder that goes nowhere; no profanity.
Moonraker Finds a Prom Date — Matt Mills
Humorous Interpretation · 1 performer, multiple characters
Moonraker has until Friday to register a prom date, and her diary would really like her to stop talking about it.
The teacher's deadline is firm (miss it and you get electrocuted, kidding, sort of), and Moonraker's options are thin. Hot James is taken by Gertha, who keeps him in line with threats against his grandmother. Rob has a fungus for hair, Sheldon's mother wouldn't approve, and Blake is wearing a shirt that says "I'm gay." So Moonraker challenges Gertha to a duel for James: an all-out eating contest that ends in a draw and a lot of groaning. While they're down for the count, James works up the nerve to ask out his real crush, Ali. Left dateless together, Moonraker and Gertha realize they want the same things, and they go to prom with each other. All of it is narrated to a sarcastic, deeply tired diary. A rapid-fire high school farce with a gloriously self-assured heroine.
Includes weight-based insults, a joke about accidentally killing a classmate, and over-the-top threats (including a pulled gun) played for laughs; no profanity.
Moonraker Versus High School: Part 00 — Matt Mills
Humorous Interpretation · 1 performer, multiple characters
Junior high is ending, the high school cliques are locking in, and nobody wants Moonraker in theirs.
Moonraker has a lot to tell her diary, and her diary would rather be asleep. Popular queen Bethany says no. Bethany's boyfriend Chad, who speaks almost entirely in the names of sports, agrees. The cafeteria tables turn her away one by one, including the math crowd, after she answers every equation with "pi." Then Bethany invites her to the party after all, which ends with Moonraker in a closet for Seven Minutes in Heaven, Chad holding a bucket of dirty ice, and one ill-timed fart that wrecks her reputation forever. That night, mathlete Gertron shows up to confess his feelings and offer her a spot in his group. Moonraker turns him down: she's a lone wolf, and high school will be four years of Moonraker-awesomeness. The origin story of a world-class narcissist, told at top speed.
Fart humor, a party prank, and a passing joke about a classmate's dog; no profanity.
My Sister, Gothzilla — Matt Mills
Humorous Interpretation · 1 performer, multiple characters
Timmy tries to poison his goth older sister's nail polish and accidentally turns her into a 50-meter monster.
Becky has spent years tormenting Timmy: announcing to the school that his favorite movie is Pretty in Pink, embarrassing him in front of his crushes, and knocking down every fort he builds. With help from his best friend Chazz (who can't stop breaking in through sliding windows), Timmy brews up some poisoned black nail polish. Something goes wrong in the mix. Becky grows into a towering, fire-breathing goth monster who calls the whole town sheep, flattens the sheriff and the fire department, and smashes Timmy's antidote. When the military rolls in, Timmy steps up to defend her: she's just a kid who doesn't fit in. The general agrees, the town is spared, and Becky moves into the backyard. Giant-monster mayhem with a soft spot for misfits.
Cartoonish monster-movie violence (characters squashed and impaled for laughs), an attempted poisoning, a dark joke about a cat, a puberty joke, and one "holy crap"; mild language.
Nancy Brinkman: Elementary School Superhero — Matt Mills
Humorous Interpretation · 1 performer, multiple characters
Ten-year-old Nancy patrols her elementary school as a self-appointed superhero, and she has never once correctly identified a villain.
Stealth jeans? Check. Phone that only dials City Hall? Check. Dora the Explorer t-shirt? Super check. Nancy Brinkman (ten years old, mild eczema) hits the halls ready to fight crime. A toy dropped in the mud is clearly foul play. A girl celebrating a 93 on a test is clearly a drug lord. And a big kid shaking down a little kid is clearly a bully, until Nancy punches him and learns they were rehearsing a scene for drama class. In the principal's office, she unmasks Principal Allen as the evil Doctor Gramimuto, which gets her expelled. New school, same uniform, and wouldn't you know it: another toy in the mud. A rapid-fire superhero parody with a hero who never learns.
Slapstick punching, drug-dealing accusations played for laughs, and a bit of pee humor; no profanity.
Slumber Party Live — Matt Mills
Humorous Interpretation · 1 performer, multiple characters
Two best friends get zapped into their TV during a slumber party and have to channel-surf their way home.
Tammy is the bossy one. Julia is the one carrying the TV. When the set won't turn on, Tammy prays to the TV gods, remembers the magic word, and lightning whisks them both inside. First stop: "The Fake Housewives of Mylanta," a reality show full of botoxed bickerers who can't move their faces. Click. Next, "Paranormal Investigators," where two ghost hunters poke them with rods and declare them tragic lost souls. Click. Then a Chris Hansen sting, where Julia finally tells Tammy how she really feels and both girls get arrested anyway. Tammy wakes up grateful it was all a dream and vowing to be a better best friend, right up until Julia hands her the TV to carry. A channel-flipping reality-TV parody with a best friendship at its center.
Includes a parody of a predator-sting show in which the two girls are mistakenly arrested, plus mild bathroom and body humor; no profanity.
Stuart the Cowardly Cop — Matt Mills
Humorous Interpretation · 1 performer, multiple characters
The most timid police trainee in Smellyville, Iowa, has exactly one thing that turns him fearless: being called fat.
Stuart can't assemble a gun (he builds the drill from Armageddon), can't recite the motto (his version is about athlete's foot), and his plan for an armed perp is to apologize and curl into the fetal position. Washed out for the year, he hits the streets to practice thinking like a cop. A raving man threatening to gut him gets a cheerful chat; a harmless old lady waiting to cross the street gets cuffed as a cocaine kingpin. Then crime lord Danny McDanny storms the precinct, and Stuart talks himself out of shooting him, right up until Danny calls him "fatso." Officer Stuart is born, and the next person to mention his weight had better hit the deck. Deadpan cop-show parody with a perfectly ridiculous hero.
Cartoonish gun violence (a crime lord is shot, and a shotgun is pointed at an old woman for laughs), cocaine and kidnapping jokes, and weight-based insults; no profanity.
Walkie Talkie Bob — Matt Mills
Humorous Interpretation · 1 performer, multiple characters
Josh can't talk to girls, so a fast-talking salesman named Bob offers to do the talking for him, for a fee.
Josh's attempts at conversation tend to end with a girl reaching for a shotgun. Enter Bob Bobson, self-proclaimed inventor of human speech, who for $19.95 a minute (negotiated down to a dollar a day) will speak on Josh's behalf. Bob's track record: asking out Josh's teacher for him with a bird-themed double entendre, inventing a dead mother to get him out of the principal's office, getting doused in apple juice by a girl convinced he's a demon, and accidentally getting Josh engaged at the mall. Josh fires him. Then a girl asks to borrow his phone, spots his Spock wallpaper, and Josh asks her out all by himself. A rapid-fire dating comedy with the worst wingman in history.
Comic threats with weapons (a shotgun, a chainsaw), mild innuendo, a joke about a mother's death, and references to drinking; no profanity.