Scripting Humour in Conversational Agents: Improvisation and Emergence of Humorous Interchanges

This paper describes a creative project that will develop a pair of online computer-based conversational agents to interact as 'comedian' and 'straight man'. The project will interrogate the scriptwriting process as it is applied in a new media environment at the confluence of human and nonhuman agency. In the context of this paper the term 'scriptwriter' carries two inter-related definitions: first, as a producer and crafter of dialogue for a character; and second, as a developer of computer script to guide the interactions of the conversational agents. It can be argued that the scriptwriter (in both guises) is part of a larger system of circular causality and is thus embedded within structures that both constrain and enable their actions (Boden 1994, 2004; Bourdieu 1993; Giddens 1979) and makes intentional choices to achieve particular aims or outcomes. The interaction of the conversational agents is a result of a creative practice that allows for the emergence of improvised responses based on scripted dialogue choices. This paper will explore the inter-related issues of scriptwriting, emergence, and improvisation in a new media environment.