Improvised Comedy

Improvised comedy (or improv) is a form of comedy where the performers create scenes, games, or entire shows on the spot, usually based on suggestions from the audience. There's no script, no plan - just quick thinking, playful offers, and a whole lot of listening.

It’s the art of making it up as you go along - but with structure. Improv isn’t just chaos (although it can look like it); it’s a set of tools, games and formats that help performers co-create funny, surprising, and often moving moments live on stage.

While improv can include characters, physicality, and narrative, its heart lies in collaboration, agreement, and spontaneity.

Key features

• Unscripted and made up in real-time

• Often based on audience suggestions

• Can be short-form (quick games and scenes) or long-form (entire shows or stories)

• Performed in groups, with a focus on ensemble and listening

• Usually scene-based, with performers talking to each other rather than to the audience

Core principles

• Yes, And… — building on each other's ideas

• Making your partner look good

• Playing the truth of the moment

• Following the fun — if something’s working, go deeper

• Being changed — allowing offers to affect your character

Styles and formats

• Short-form improv: Fast-paced games with clear rules (e.g. Whose Line Is It Anyway?)

• Long-form improv: Looser structures that build scenes and stories (e.g. The Harold, Armando, or Monoscene)

• Improvised musicals, soap operas, murder mysteries, even fully improvised plays

How it's different from...

• Stand-up: Improv is collaborative and unscripted, stand-up is usually solo and written.

• Sketch: Sketch is pre-written, performed the same way each time. Improv is never the same twice.

• Clown: Clown shares improv’s love of spontaneity, but is more focused on audience connection and emotional vulnerability.

• Character Comedy: Improv may feature characters, but character comedy is usually scripted and solo.

Examples

• Asking the audience for a location and playing a full scene in a laundromat

• Playing a game where every line must rhyme

• Creating a new genre movie from scratch based on a one-word prompt