When you do many improv shows, you start to notice that a lot of the time you tend to get a lot of the same suggestions and ones that you have probably done a scene to a thousand times. Whilst it can be a lot of fun trying to work out how to approach these suggestions differently each time, it can also be exciting to try and get some interesting suggestions for a show.

There are many ways that you can get different suggestions for a show and whilst there is not right way or wrong way, here are a few ideas to get you going.

+ Direct the suggestions – The most simple way that you can do this is by sort of directing the audience into the angle that you want to have the suggestion. A lot of improv groups actually do this by saying something like ‘give us a name of an object that is something like a pineapple or a spatula’. By saying to the audience in the opening introduction examples of suggestions there is a very high chance that the audience will not ask for these.

+ Offer a prize – One of the fun ways to get interesting suggestions and also an interactive way with the audience is to offer a prize to the person who gives you the best offer. Acts like the Comedy Store Players do this by offering tickets to the next show. We used to do it at our shows as well but used to give chocolate away as it was a nice little surprise for the audience member. The suggestions you get are really fun and also really imaginative.

+ Think of a theme – Why not think of a theme it is a novel way of asking for suggestions but you can get some really interesting and fun ones. In a game we used to play we used to ask for an ‘ol timey profession’ this usually led to some really fun and interesting suggestions that can be really fun to play.