I’ve often found myself wishing I could do more improv than I have time for, looking for ways to practice improv alone in between classes and rehearsals. Sometimes you can’t meet with others in person, or you just want to sharpen your skills while you’re driving to work or loading the dishwasher. So, I’ve compiled some of my absolute favorite solo improv exercises.
Wondering how to practice improv alone? These solo improv exercises will help you practice character development, association, rhyming, and more:
- Character Ball
- Character Gauntlet
- Three-Line Solo
- One-Minute Rant
- Name Rap
- Da Doo Ron Ron (Solo)
- Improvising to Prerecorded Songs
- Sybil
- Phone call
You can do improv exercises alone, and this can be a great way to use downtime to sharpen your character development skills and practice thinking on your feet. I’ve broken the list below into improv exercises that focus on character, exercises for rhyming/musical improv, and solo exercises for performance. (Yes, you can do a solo improv performance!)
Solo Improv Character Exercises
Here are three character-centric improv exercises for one person. These exercises are great for moving beyond your go-to stock characters—all while improvising alone!
Character Ball
In this simple exercise, throw a ball at a wall or other hard surface. Every time you catch the ball, pause to give a brief monologue in-character. Toss the ball at the wall again, and when you catch it, change your character. Keep doing this past the point that you start to run out of character ideas, and speed up as you go for an added challenge!
Character Gauntlet
This is an intense character monologue exercise. Set a timer for 15 seconds and start a monologue as a character. When the timer goes off, switch to a different character. Repeat until you’ve been switching characters for several minutes.
You can alternatively set a timer for 2 minutes (or longer) and see how many characters you can go through in that time.
The goal of this game is to stretch yourself, forcing yourself to change characters quickly and move beyond your usual stock characters. What you discover may surprise you. 🙂
Three-Line Solo
Three-line solo is a solo improv variation of a three-line scene. It works exactly like three-line scene, except you play both characters. Character 1 (you) initiates the scene. Character 2 (also you) responds. Then, character 1 ends the scene with one final line.
The goal of a three-line scene is to create a complete scene in only 3 lines, establishing the who, what, and where of your scene quickly.
A three-line solo has the added challenge of switching between distinct characters quickly. Ideally, you should do a series of three-line solos right after the other, which will help you practice creating new characters without allowing them to bleed into each other.
Solo One-Minute Rant
The one-minute rant is a great improv exercise for one person, and you can do it just about anywhere: while commuting to work, vacuuming, gardening. The sky’s the limit (though if you do it with other people around, they may look at you strangely).
Start by looking around you (or pull up an online improv suggestion generator). Identify an object or word to use as inspiration, then go on a one-minute rant about that object, adopting a strong character. Keep going for a whole minute. Then, pick another word and start a new rant with a completely different character.
(This is also a great improv warmup exercise to do with a group, each taking a turn to give a one-minute rant.)
Musical/Rhyming Improv Exercises for One Person
Musical improv is a passion of mine, but even if it’s not your thing, practicing these solo rhyming and musical improv exercises can help you think (and respond) quickly on your feet and embrace creative choices.
Name Rap
The Name Rap is a quick rhyming game that I discovered in Michael Pollock’s amazing book, Musical Improv Comedy: Creating songs in the Moment. To start, you pick a name (one syllable to start, or multisyllabic if you want a challenge). Then you do the following rap, filling in the bolded parts below with words/lines that rhyme with the name:
I know a guy/girl/etc. whose name is name. A line about this person that rhymes with the name. That's what I know about a guy/girl named name.
So, for example, you might rap:
I know a girl whose name is Kate. She really loves to roller skate. That's what I know about a girl named Kate.
You then keep repeating this rap with the same name, challenging yourself to come up with different rhymes each time (e.g., hate, wait, bait, late). Once you run out of rhymes, switch to a new name.
Da Doo Ron Ron (Solo)
Da Doo Ron Ron is typically played a group warmup game, but I think it works really well as a solo improv exercise too. Just sing all the parts yourself. This will force you to come up with more rhymes with less time to think in between!
The format (and melody) is based on the Crystals’ song of the same name. Here’s the format (the bolded parts will change each time):
I met him/her/them on a day of the week, and his/her/their name was name. Da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron. Line about the person that rhymes with their name. Da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron. Do-do-do-do yeah! Short line that rhymes with the name. Do-do-do-do yeah! Short line that rhymes with the name. Do-do-do yeah! Short line that rhymes with the name. Da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron.
And here’s an example verse you might sing:
I met her on a Tursday, and her name was Jane. Da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron. She was too scared to get on a plane. Da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron. Do-do-do-do yeah! Flying was a pain. Do-do-do-do yeah! It drove her insane. Do-do-do-do yeah! So at home she'd remain. Da doo ron ron ron, da doo ron ron.
This is a great group warmup, but challenge yourself by practicing this improv exercise alone (and with multisyllabic names).
Improvising Songs Over Prerecorded Tracks
Improvising songs is hard, which is exactly why improvisers should try doing it. It requires you to think about song structure, to think quickly on your feet, incorporate rhymes (if you can), and maintain a quick pace. If you’re interested in musical improv and would like to practice musical improv alone, one of the best ways is to improvise songs to prerecorded tracks.
How to find prerecorded tracks for musical improv:
- Michael Pollock’s book, Musical Improv Comedy: Creating Songs in the Moment, comes with a CD of tracks specifically designed for musical improv. It’s currently out of print, but you can occasionally find a good deal online or at your local improv theatre. (And it’s really excellent.)
- Karaoke versions of show tunes. Search YouTube for karaoke versions of songs you are not familiar with. If you know the songs, you may be tempted to sing the melody as written (though making up new words to an exsiting melody can also be a great improv exercise).
- Backing Tracks for Improvisers CD: Joe Samuel created a CD of backing tracks for musical improv performers. I haven’t tested this CD out myself, but you can buy it for $8.99.
Solo Improv for Performance
Yes, you can put on a solo improv performance. The two formats below work well in front of a crowd, though you can of course also practice these improv exercises alone.
The Sybil
The Sybil is basically a one-person version of a Harold, where you begin with a character monologue, then transition into a series of related scenes—except you play every single character. (It’s as hard as it sounds.)
According to Improv Encyclopedia, the rules of the Sybil are as follows:
– you play all the characters and their dialogue in the scenes
– monologues are either internal (to the character) or to the audience, addresses as a group (a minister preaching to a church, a person introducing himself at a job interview).
Improv Encyclopedia, “Sybil”
Want to see how it’s done? Check out Andy Eninger’s (the form’s creator) epic Sybil performance below:
The Phone Call
I learned about this solo improv exercise from the People and Chairs blog. The improviser calls up an audience member to the stage and asks them to describe 3-5 important people in their life (or, use an online improv suggestion generator if you’re doing this as a solo exercise at home).
Once you have enough info, improvise a phone call to (or from) each of these people, only filling in one side of the conversation (leaving the audience to infer the other person’s dialogue based on your responses).
Hopefully, you now have enough ideas to fill any commute or household chore with solo improv fun. Did I miss anything? Share your favorite one person improv exercises below!