Improv Endowment: What It Is and How to Do It Well

Endowment games were some of the first touchpoints I had with improv. Familiar with these guessing games from years of watching Whose Line Is It Anyway?, it wasn’t until I began improvising myself that I learned that endowment in improv is a key element of both cooperation and character building.

In improv, an endowment is a type of offer where you label your scene partner(s) with characteristics, attitudes, or behaviors, which they then adopt in your scene. Endowment shows good cooperation, giving your improv scene partner specific attributes to “yes and” as you build a scene together.

So, how do you practice good endowment and incorporate it into your improv scenes? Below, I’ll discuss why endowment is so important in improv, how to accept endowments gracefully, and what improv endowment games and warmups are best for practicing this essential skill.

What Is Endowment in Improv?

Endowment is a key element of cooperation in any improv scene and can be a really supportive choice. Endowing your scene partner with a physical trait, quirk, backstory, accent, or other characteristic helps them make more specific choices, which makes your improv more realistic and interesting.

According to Improv Encyclopedia:

Endowment is attributing other players with physical, emotional or other characteristics, or getting other players to do something, or to behave in a particular way.

Improv Encyclopedia, “Endowment”

Endowments can help establish the who, what, and where of a scene. For example, if you begin a scene by saying, “Felicity, I know you can’t smell it, but your cat stinks like rotting garbage,” you’ve just endowed your scene partner with several characteristics right off the bat:

• His/her name is Felicity
• There is something wrong with his/her sense of smell
• S/he has a cat that stinks.

You’ve given your scene partner several gifts (including the “who” and “what” of the scene), which s/he can now accept, moving the scene forward.

Accepting Endowments Shows Good Agreement

In order to accept your endowment, your scene partner will justify your claims and incorporate them into his/her character through words, actions (object work), and mannerisms. In this hypothetical scene, for example, your scene partner may do the following:

• Words: “Felicity” responds immediately, verbally accepting the gift: “I’m sorry. My allergies have only gotten worse since I got Mr. Whiskers. I thought by the 7th cat, I’d have developed an immunity to dander.”
• Actions/Object Work: “Felicity” reaches down to pick up her cat and continues to pet him throughout the scene.
• Mannerisms: “Felicity,” having established that her lack of smell is due to allergies, periodically sneezes throughout the rest of the scene.

In these examples, the improviser accepted their partner’s endowments, justifying them and adding new details (their cat allergies and 7 cats). These are just a few of the ways you can “yes and” your scene partner’s endowments, building on them to create a specific, tangible world together during your scene.

Denying Endowments Can Halt Your Scene

In improv, endowment is a two-way street. If your scene partner gives you an endowment, you should accept it, even if it’s not how you were envisioning your character or the scene.

How many times have you watched an improv scene where an improviser suddenly forgets they have a French accent? Or goes from being a father of two to a childless bachelor? These mistakes are usually unintentional, but they can pull an audience out of a scene.

One method to ensure you don’t forget an endowment is to take action to accept it immediately. If you’re sitting down when your scene partner endows you with a limp, you’re more likely to remember and embody it if you get up to walk immediately rather than 5 minutes later.

If you’re not sure how to accept an endowment, double down. Maybe you know your French accent stinks or you’re not familiar with the occupation your scene partner gave you. Rather than ignoring the suggestion or glossing it over, double down and go for it. It’s not only the most supportive choice, the audience will enjoy seeing you commit.

Improv Endowment Warmups

One of the best ways to get better at giving and accepting endowments is to practice. A great improv coach once told me, “you should warm up for the set you want to have.” Choosing endowment-focused warmup games can help prepare you to incorporate this skill into your scene work.

Name, Occupation, Quirk

In this warmup game, everyone stands in a circle. The first person calls out a random name (e.g., Jane Victoria McQueen). The next person in the circle states an occupation (e.g., pig farmer). A third person calls out a quirk or personality trait (e.g., hates getting dirt on her clothes). The fourth person then steps into the center of the circle and gives a quick monologue as this character, embodying all three endowments. The game resumes with the next person in the circle calling out a new name, and so on until everyone has given their monologue.

Character Endowment Circle

In this game, everyone stands in a circle with one person in the center. One by one, each person in the outer circle approaches the improviser in the center, starting a very brief scene with them. The improviser from the outer circle should begin the scene with an endowment(s) for their scene partner (e.g., “Lester, you’re 87. Don’t you think it’s time to retire from running this farm?”), and the person in the middle must “yes and” the endowments and embody this character for the duration of the short scene. Then, another improviser approaches and begins a new scene with a new set of endowments, and on around the circle until everyone has gone.

Newsreel

This next warmup involves three players at a time and allows you to practice both giving and receiving endowments. Player #1 states a time and place (e.g., Mars in the year 3000). Player #2 says a character’s name and an object/thing they’ll need to interact with (e.g., Jimmy is trying to clean the flame decals off his spacesuit). Then, player #3 must accept both endowments and give a brief monologue as this character, in this location, with this object. When finished, the players rotate, so everyone has a chance to give a monologue. (For a more detailed explanation of this game, check out Improv Does Best.)

Improv Endowment Games for Performance

While endowment is a key element in many long form improv scenes and short form games, there are several improv games that completely center around the idea of endowment, called “endowment games” or “guessing games.”

In these games, it’s the audience who endows an improviser(s) with specific attributes, and the improviser must guess based on puns, hints, and allusions from his or her scene partners.

In each endowment game below, one person (the guesser) leaves the room while the rest of the team gathers attribute suggestions from the audience. When the guesser returns, they must join in a scene, all while trying to guess the attributes they (or others) have been endowed with. The other players must give good clues without breaking character or making the answer too obvious, which helps build both good cooperation and group mind between team members.

In most of these endowment games, players can encourage more audience participation by instructing the crowd to clap when an improviser is “hot,” or on the right track, with their guesses and to hiss when they are “cold.”

Party Quirks

In Party Quirks, one player is the host of a party and must guess the quirks or characteristics of his/her guests throughout the scene. The host leaves the room, and the other improvisers get audience suggestions for personality traits (e.g., is afraid of heights, has 10-inch-long fingernails). You can alternatively ask for suggestions of famous people, lie actors or fictional characters.

The host returns to the stage and the scene begins as they prepare for their party. Each “guest” arrives one at a time, and the host must continue the scene while trying to guess each guest’s quirk. As new guests arrive, they can give supportive hints to help the host guess others’ quirks. Once the host correctly guesses a quirk, that player must make an in-character excuse to leave the party, until all guests have gone.

Press Conference

In this endowment game, one improviser takes on the role of a well-known individual giving a press conference about a world crisis. This improviser leaves the stage, and the other players get two audience suggestions:

• Who the person giving the press conference is (often a well-known fictional character, historical figure, or celebrity)
• What the crisis is

When the guesser returns to the stage, the other improvisers act as reporters asking questions about the figure’s response to the current crisis, all while dropping clues to the guesser’s identity and the nature of the crisis. In this game, it’s very helpful to give hints for one clue at a time rather than trying to get someone to guess their identity and the crisis simultaneously.

Baggage Claim

In this endowment game, two improvisers act as airport employees, and one (the guesser) is a passenger that has just deplaned and has come to pick up their luggage, which has been held back at the baggage claim. The passenger exits the stage while the audience provides a suggestion for a speciality item in this passenger’s luggage. When the guessed returns to the stage, the baggage claim attendants must get the passenger to guess this unique mystery item so they can identify his/her luggage.

Repair Shop

This endowment game is very similar to Baggage Claim, but instead of an airport, the scene takes place at a repair shop where two mechanics are fixing a customer’s (the guesser’s) mystery item. The item comes from an audience suggestions, and the customer must try to guess what item the mechanics are fixing.

The Dating Game

The Dating Game is a classic improv game based on the old gameshow with the same name. One improvisor acts as the gameshow host, one as the contestant, and three as eligible bachelors or bachelorettes eager to go on a date with the contestant. The contestant leaves the stage while the other improvisers get audience suggestions for quirks or personality traits for each potential beau. When the contestant returns, the host starts the gameshow, allowing the contestant to ask several questions of each bachelor/bachelorette (while attempting to guess their quirks).

After several rounds of this (usually no more than three), the contestant chooses who s/he’d like to go on a date with, guessing which quirk each bachelor or bachelorette was endowed with.

Mob Boss (Or Criminal Investigation)

In this game, one improviser plays a criminal mastermind (the guesser) who is being interrogated by two police officers. The criminal leaves the stage while the other two improvisers get three suggestions from the audience about the crime:

• The victim’s identity (e.g., Aaron Burr)
• The murder weapon (e.g., a feather boa)
• The scene of the crime (e.g., the auto section of a Walmart).

One of the police officers then leads the criminal in for questioning. They play out the scene as an interrogation, trying to get the criminal to “confess” to the specifics of his/her crime, all while dropping hints for the guesser.

CS-Why

This endowment game is very similar to Mob Boss, but with a twist: Instead of two police offers interrogating a criminal mastermind, three police officers or CSI-style investigators are investigating the scene of a murder. The chief officer/investigator (the guesser) goes offstage while the improvisers ask the audience for three suggestions: the identity of the victim, the murder weapon, and where the body was found.

When the chief investigator returns to the stage, the two subordinate investigators try to get him/her to guess who was killed, what killed that person, and where it all happened. (It can also be fun to have a fourth improviser on the floor as the dead body, using their physicality to provide an additional clue.)

Hopefully, these improv endowment games and warmups will give you plenty of practice and performance material so you can work to make your scene work even more supportive and cooperative. Happy improvising!