You found our list of the best improv prompts and topics to act out.
Improv prompts are random scenarios for improvisation activities. For example, “holiday mascots on criminal trial” or “a family booking a vacation to space.” The purpose of these topics is to give actors a starting point for unscripted sketches. These ideas are also known as “acting prompts”, “improv starters” and “improv suggestions.”
You can use these starter questions during large group improv exercises, fun theater games, or Zoom improv activities.
This list includes:
- funny improv scenarios to act out
- improv ideas
- improv topics
- improv scene ideas
- drama scenarios to act out
- improv situations
- improv examples
- improv character ideas
- improv ideas for two
Here we go!
Random improv scene generator
We made this handy improv prompt generator to come up with scene ideas for improvisational activities. You can also ask for audience suggestions to come up with scenarios for sketches.
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Funny improv prompts
- You suspect that your new boss is secretly a vampire
- Chaperoning a school trip to an amusement park
- Holiday mascots on criminal trial
- A writing team trying to think up new fortunes for fortune cookies
- A family booking a vacation to space
- Staff meeting at a zoo for mythical creatures
- The first meeting of an unlikely fan club
- An award ceremony with bizarre awards
- Grand opening of a restaurant gone wrong
- Halloween store employees packing up bizarre and unsold costumes
- Surprise birthday party where the guest of honor is late
- Birthday party for a 300 year old
- An open house at a clearly haunted house
- College orientation for unlikely majors
- Fairytale characters at a speed dating event
- Guide leading a tour through the weirdest museum ever
- Career day full of made-up jobs
- Interviews for a poison-food taste tester
- A group of time travelers from the past in a grocery store
- Paparazzi hired to take wedding photos giving instructions to the bridal party
- Wedding where all audience members object for ridiculous reasons
- If Willy Wonka ran a factory full of healthy foods
- An exercise class for action movie stars
- If history books were written like tabloid magazines
- Celebrity secret Santa
- A time traveler from the past is a contestant on “The Price is Right”
Random improv prompts
- Support group for evil henchmen
- Band of thieves planning an unlikely heist
- Genie who can only grant wishes that the whole group agrees on
- Pitching movie ideas to an executive
- A passenger suddenly realizes they are on the wrong flight as the plane takes off
- Attending a funeral for a rich person’s pet
- Future archeologists trying to explain everyday objects from present day
- PR team trying to rebrand a misbehaving celebrity
- Meeting a significant other’s family for the first time
- Family reunion
- Pirates hunting for buried treasure
- Driving class
- Group of superfans camping out in line
- Parents watching kids play on the playground
- The unlikeliest music festival ever
- If social media existed during important moments in history
- Auditions for a talent competition
- The waiting room at a plastic surgery clinic
- A haunted office
- A group of boy scouts or girl scouts trying to earn modern-day merit badges
Serious improv prompts
- A family reunites after a long time apart
- Saying goodbye to loved one at the airport
- A group of older folks share the lessons they wished they had learned sooner
- A group support group shares their biggest life regrets
- An employee made a major mistake and must tell their boss and team
- A group of executives negotiates a business deal
- A customer service team tries to solve a problem for a disgruntled customer
- A sales team tries to win back an unhappy client
- A team of detectives tries to solve a murder
- A group of patients waits in an ER waiting room
- A team of negotiators strategize how to solve a hostage situation
- A jury debates whether or not a defendant is guilty
- A group of strangers stranded at the airport talk about their destinations
- A group participates in a mediation
- A group strategizes how to survive a natural disaster
- A group stranded on a deserted island sets up camp
- A team confronts a team member who was caught lying or stealing
- A boss responds to employees who are upset and panicking over rumors
- A group says goodbye to and thanks a retiring employee
- Group has to deliver difficult news
- Group diffusing a bomb
Improv scene ideas
- A person auditions actors to pretend to be their family members
- Famous movie couples go to couples counselling
- A group of literary characters wonder into a bookstore and discover their own stories
- A group of contractors arrive to renovate a gingerbread house
- A family moves into a furniture store display
- Filming how-to videos for simple tasks
- An evil villain transforms world leaders into toddlers
- A team suddenly speaks different languages
- Superheros adjust to retirement
- A broken teleporter transports a group to random locations
- Tryouts for new cereal mascots
- A realtor tries to sell famous fairytale character homes
- A genie grants wishes to pets
- Snow White gets an office job
- White House staff briefs a new president on the country’s biggest secrets
- Cave parents confront their children about drawing on the walls
- Astronauts explore a new planet
- If pessimists wrote horoscopes
Improv scene opening lines
- “You got the stuff?”
- “I told you that was a bad idea.”
- “Are you sure about this?”
- “You will never believe who I ran into.”
- “You gotta help me!”
- “Follow that car!”
- “What did you do?”
- “I have never been so offended in all my life!”
- “Of all the people in the world, why does she have to date him?”
- “This is a stickup!”
- “Good morning class, I am your substitute teacher.”
- “Do you have the time?”
- “What year is it?”
- “Where am I?”
- “You disgust me.”
- “You have a lot of nerve!”
- “You must be the new guy.”
- “Is this your first time?”
- “I can explain everything.”
- “I would like to file a police report.”
- “What are you doing here?”
- “Where were you last night?”
- “You must think I am pretty stupid.”
- “This is the best day of my life!”
- “Tell me you have good news.”
- “The results of the presidential election are in.”
- “Reporting to you live from the scene…”
- “This is not what it looks like.”
- “Can you do me a favor?”
- “Hold this for a second.”
- “Did you see which way he went?”
- “How do you know the bride and groom?”
- “I need a refund.”
- “Are you going to answer the phone?”
- “He proposed to you where?!”
- “Did you hear that?”
- “You look ridiculous.”
- “Why the hurry?”
- “Fire!”
- “How much is this going to cost me?”
- “What is the diagnosis, doctor?”
- “I didn’t do it, I swear!”
- “Let me show you how it is done.”
- “I never thought I would find you again!”
- “Thought you tricked me, did you?”
- “Do you have any idea how expensive this is going to be?”
- “There will be grave consequences if you choose incorrectly.”
- “Are you really going to wear that?”
- “Why do you want to work here?”
- “I did it! I solved the mystery!”
- “Can you keep a secret?”
- “I knew you would be back.”
- “Well, well, well, what do we have here?”
Improv setting ideas
- Space station
- Meeting room
- Hotel
- Hospital
- Art gallery
- Amusement park
- Mall
- Aquarium
- Zoo
- Haunted house
- Mansion
- Field trip
- Sports stadium
- Family reunion
- Job interview
- Reality show
- Orientation
- Party
- Cruise
- Fashion show
- Restaurant
- Park
- Beach
- Bus
- Airplane
- Airport
- The DMV
- High school
- Nightclub
- Open house
- Library
- Audition
- Movie theatre
- Escape room
- Museum
- Racetrack
- Dressing room
- Wedding
- Grocery store
- Doctors office
- Lawyers office
- Elevator
- Graduation
- Submarine
- Factory
- Police station
- Ice cream shop
- Parking lot
- Middle of the ocean
- Desert
- Highway
- Farm
- Subway
- A foreign country
- A fictional universe
- Battlefield
- Coffee shop
- Fast food restaurant
- Drive-thru window
- Middle school dance
- The Olympics
- Laboratory
- Bathroom
- Garden
- Balcony
- Cab
Improv character ideas
- A detective with amnesia
- A parent who has misplaced their baby
- Lottery winner
- Game show host switching careers
- An alien trying to blend in with humans
- A dog that can suddenly speak English
- A clown who gets mad when people laugh at him
- Window cleaner who is afraid of heights
- Character from a musical who does not understand why no one breaks out into random song and dance with them
- Survivor of a horror movie
- Translator
- Historian who makes up fake stories
- Statistician who cannot stop quoting statistics
- Person who mistakenly thinks they are on a hidden camera prank show
- Dancer who denies that they are currently dancing
- Clumsy bartender
- Person who misquotes famous sayings
- Old-timey detective
- Rom com protagonist who falls in love with everyone she talks to
- Person who only gives one word answers
- Fortune teller making predictions
- A preschool teacher
- Aging rockstar
- Narrator who does not know other characters can hear them
- Superhero with strange superpower
- Person possessed by a series of different ghosts
- Child genius
- A preteen that makes innuendos out of everything
- Person who brags about being able to do completely normal things
- Video game character in the real world
- The worst advice columnist in the world
- Mad scientist
- Salesman who cannot stop selling things
- Person who is allergic to strange things
- An interior designer for supervillain lairs
- Sleepwalker
- Mermaid in disguise
Final thoughts
Improv activities can loosen up a group, sharpen quick-thinking and reaction skills, and speed-up team building. However, it can be difficult to think up unique and interesting scene ideas. Using pre-made improv prompts can save time and help actors jump into the scene. Once you act out a few ready-made situations, the audience may even feel comfortable shouting out scenarios. However, you are welcome to use the improvisation generator any time your teammates have a brain block.
Next, check out this list of icebreaker games, this truth or dare generator, and this list of the best improv books.
