Back Dancing
Played in pairs, actors stand back to back and dance to different kinds of music. Their backs must stay in touch at all times.
Backwards Interview
An interviewer and interviewee perform an interview starting with farewells and working backward to the introduction.
Bag
This game is a format for a show where a team member takes a suggestion, and two players immediately sit in chairs and talk as if being interviewed in a documentary. After a short period, they are tagged out, and another couple sits and speaks on the suggestion.
Balancing the Stage
Imagine the stage is balanced on a central pivot; two players must keep it balanced as they move around. [12]
Balladeer(1) [10]
One player assumes the role of a medieval balladeer, singing verses of a narrative song that are then enacted and enriched by the remaining members of their troupe.
Balladeer(2)
This is like the short form version Balladeer(1), but in this long-form improv format, as soon as the balladeer stops singing or finishes the song, the characters start playing and talking independently. When their scene is done, the balladeer starts a new song, and so forth.
Bandaid Tag
One player is “it.” If a student is tagged, they must put one hand on the tagged spot as a “band aid.” They can continue to run, but if tagged again, they use the other hand. A third tag sends them to the “hospital” for jumping jacks to get back in.
Barnyard
Each person is given the name of an animal, with approximately three to five people having the same animal. No one is allowed to tell which animal they are. At a signal, each person makes the noise of their assigned animal. The first group to find all of their animals and sit down wins.
Barney
A silly warm-up game. Everyone is in a circle, with one person as a “caller” in the middle. The caller yells a letter to one of the players; that player must come up with a name of a person, an object or a service that can be sold, and a location, all starting with the given letter.
BarPro
This format refers to shows consisting of short games, played in small rooms like bars and tiny comedy clubs. A limited number of players (4-6) play improv games, introduced and usually directed by an MC.
Bartender
A patron proclaims woes to a bartender, who gives the worst possible advice for a silly issue.
Bat
A Harold performed in the dark, like a radio play.
Be A Because
An exercise for two players who sit shoulder to shoulder and play as one expert or inventor. They speak alternately, repeating, confirming, and completing each other’s sentences. The exercise trains the “Accept” principle by saying “Yes, and” to everything and building on it.
Beasty Rap
Everyone forms a circle and gets a beat running. The first player starts rapping a line on the beat. The next player adds a rhyming line, and so on, until a player fails to come up with a line, misses the beat, or fails to rhyme.
Beatnik Poet
One player serves as the host of a poetry evening, introducing a visiting poet who performs their original poem (with an audience-inspired title) in gibberish. After each line or two, the host translates the content into the local tongue.
Bedtime Story
One actor reads a “bedtime story” while others act out the scene for the audience.
Before or After
Two or more players play a free starting scene. After the scene, the audience is asked: “Before or after?”. “Before” means the next scene takes place before the start scene, “After” means it takes place after. The corresponding scene is then played.
Bell’s Kitchen
Players are divided into two teams forming parallel lines. The first player from each line steps forward. A caller provides an ask-for (e.g., “parents”). Players alternate ringing a bell and providing an original narrative lead-in for a scene connected to the suggestion.
Beneath the Line
Players work in pairs. A line of dialogue is obtained or assigned. One player sits as the receiver, and the other enters, establishing a dynamic and detailed context for the scene and relationship, then says the pre-determined line.
Best and Worst
Three guests assume the stature of an expert or pundit on a topic: the first offering “good” advice, the second “bad” advice, and the third the “worst” advice. A host asks questions, moving focus between the three.
Beyond Words
One player provides a random word to another, who quickly responds with the next unfiltered word that comes to mind. This new word becomes the impetus for the next player’s contribution.
Big Blob
Players walk across the stage, encountering a giant blob of goo. The leader describes the blob’s density, viscosity, and visibility, which impacts how players move through it. Subsequent players endeavor to move through the same blob.
Big Booty
A call-and-response game where the teacher is “Big Booty.” Players in a circle are numbered. When a player hears their number, they repeat it back, then call someone else’s number. If someone misses their number, they move to the highest number to the right of Big Booty.
Big Fish Small Fish
Players sit in a circle and pass a pattern. The starter says “Big Fish” and holds hands close. The next player can pass “Big Fish” or change to “Small Fish” (hands wide apart), which reverses direction. Players who miss a rule do a forfeit.
Bidirectional Satellite TV
Similar to Satellite Radio, but with movements. Players in pairs establish a beat. Player 1 makes a new movement on every beat, and Player 2 mirrors the movements with a delay of one or more beats. [85]
BLANK Family
A family all share the same attribute (emotion, occupation, animal trait).
Blind Association Circle
Players in a circle establish a rhythm and freely associate on the previous player’s word. The trainer taps players to close their eyes, then walk around with eyes closed while continuing to associate, and finally try to reconstruct the circle with eyes still closed. [86]
Blind Freeze
Players take turns not watching the scene (being the “blind” player). When “freeze” is called, the blind player turns to see the positions, tags one out, assumes their position, and starts a new scene inspired by it. This makes it impossible to plan ahead.
Blind Harold
This is a Harold, played with all players sitting down with their eyes closed. For a performance, all the lights would be turned off in the theater. It is primarily a listening exercise.
Blind Lead
One player is blindfolded, and the room is filled with obstacles. The rest of the group leads the blindfolded player through the room by talking. Also known as “Airplane” or “Mine Field.”
Blind Line Up
Players line up and are numbered. Two numbers are called, and those players step on stage immediately with a physical and vocal offer. They accept and explore each other’s offers to figure out the scene.
Blind Musical
This is like a musical version of Pockets: the audience writes simple sentences on slips of paper. Players draw slips and, every time they do, start a song that begins with the sentence on the slip, trying to integrate the info into the story.
Blind Typewriter
One player serves as the typist, writing aloud and pantomiming. The characters in their imagination come to life, embodied by teammates. The scene alternates seamlessly between the typist’s narration and the embodied dialogue and action of the onstage characters.
Blocked vs Unblocked Scenes
A classic Keith Johnstone exercise where improvisers practice accepting and building on offers instead of blocking them. It involves steps where both block, one blocks and one accepts, and finally both accept and build. [92]
The audience is asked for five things that give them the blues. Then, improvisers perform a blues jam about those elements.
Body Hide
Played in groups of 4-6, students must “hide” one of the group members with their bodies. The teacher and audience try to see pieces of the hidden person, calling out what they can see as the group adapts to hide the whole person.
Body Image
Characters are based on body tricks – keeping mouth small, clenched fists, etc.
Bong Bong Bong
Four players, three with ears closed and backs turned. The fourth player gets a common expression and has one minute to communicate it to the second player using only mime and gibberish. The second communicates to the third, and so on. At the end, players explain what they thought they understood.
Boom Chicago
One player starts by miming their location. A second player enters, establishing their relationship in a single sentence. The first person presents a problem, and a third player enters to fix it. All three shout “TADAAA!” when the problem is fixed.
Boris
Two players perform an improvised interrogation scene (interrogator and suspect). The interrogator randomly throws unconnected elements to the suspect, who must incorporate them and get into more trouble. An invisible thug, Boris, assists the interrogator, torturing the suspect when answers are unsatisfactory.
Bucket
Three players are onstage with a bucket of water. Players one and two start a scene, and player three sticks their head in the bucket. When player three runs out of air, they raise their hand, and player one must justify an exit and relieve player three. Player one then submerges their head, and player two starts a new scene where player three justifies their wet head.
Bumpity Bump
Players form a circle, sharing names and remembering neighbors. A leader in the center points to a player and says “right” or “left.” That player must say the name of the person to that side within three seconds. If the leader says “Bumpity, bump, bump, bump!”, the player names people on both sides.
Bunny
Everyone circles up, and the “bunny” (two quote fingers) moves about the circle to a “ooh, ahh, ooh, ahhh” beat. Wherever the bunny lands, the people on either side support the bunny by dancing towards it. The bunny can go slow or fast on command.
Bus Stop
Players collaboratively build and recognize the Game of the Scene. A simple bus stop is constructed, and players enter silently, one at a time, to wait for the bus. As each new character arrives, players pay attention to teammates’ choices and gently mirror and build on evolving dynamics.
