At the our Youth Group, we’re often stuck for games to play. But one that can be fun is Whose Line is it Anyway. If you’re not familiar with Whose Line, it’s an improvisational television show that used to be very popular, and it’s also fun to play in youth groups or at parties—as long as people are willing to set aside their shyness, and act.

For example, here are some games that are easy to play, even with people who aren’t familiar with the show:

• Questions Only: The participants act out a scene, but they’re only allowed to speak in questions. For best effect, there should be two people in the scene, and others on standby; whenever one of the actors says something that’s not a question, that person gets buzzed out, and another takes his/her place.
• The Dating Game: This game involves four people: Three contestants, and one “straight man.” It’s set up like a dating game show, where the three contestants are vying for a date with the “straight man,” except that each of the contestants is assigned a strange identity. (See below for examples of strange identities, that we’ve sometimes used.) The idea is for the contestant to figure out the identities of the contestants, by asking the types of questions somebody might ask on such a game show.
  
  For example, Contestant 1 might be a Muppet. The “straight man” might ask something like, “Bachelor #1, if we were to go on a date, where would you take me?” to which Contestant 1 might answer, “Sesame Street.” That kind of thing.
• Alphabet Game: Two (or more) participants act out a scene, where each line of the scene begins with the next line of the alphabet.
  
  “How are you?”
  “I’m fine.”
  “Just checking.”
• Commercial Moods: Two participants perform an infomercial for a particular product, and throughout the scene, they occasionally get assigned a mood (angry, happy, sad, etc.), and have to continue the scene in that mood.
• Sound Effects: Two contestants act out a scene, while two other people provide the sound effects for that scene.
• Whose Line: Two participants act out a scene, but throughout the scene, they occasionally have to work in lines which are given to them. They are given these lines on pieces of paper at the beginning of the scene, but aren’t allowed to look at them. It’s easiest to understand if you’ve seen it on the television show; there’s an example transcript online you can read, from the show. Below are some sample lines we’ve used. The stranger they are, the funnier they are during the course of a scene.

These are some examples, but there are numerous others. Really, these are all just improv games, so any improv game will work.

Strange Identities

Here are some examples of identities that we’ve used in the past, just to give you an idea. Of course, you can always come up with your own, and we often do:

• co-anchor being fired because of anchor
• wanting too much attention
• grade 6 student
• turning into werewolf
• falling in love with audience member
• 1920’s mobster about to get caught
• angry grandmother
• camera shy
• wedding co-ordinator
• mad scientist trying to take over the world
• can’t handle stressful situations
• fast food employee
• French chef
• martial arts master
• aerobics instructor
• runway model
• home shopping club host
• unsuccessful poet
• a Muppet on sesame street
• Dracula/Werewolf
• having a fight with his/her partner backstage
• A Teletubbie
• Rude beauty salon employee
• Beauty Queen/Actress from the 50’s
• Really bad mime
• Really dry stand up comic
• Man going through his mid life crisis
• Southern Baptist preacher
• Very nervous driving instructor
• A fly
• A desperate actor who has only come on the show to be "discovered"
• The mother of… (for example, for the dating game, the mother of the contestant)
• Humpty Dumpty
• A hypochondriac
• A disco maniac, stuck in the 70’s
• A heckler
• A cowboy
• A secret agent, protecting the president
• A snowman who’s melting (and not too happy about it)
• Santa Claus
• A lounge singer
• A college student cramming for an exam at the last minute
• An angry father on a long road trip with the family
• A sports announcer
• Panics over the slightest thing
• For Strange Newscasters, one of the characters is doing the traffic from the traffic cam, but the pilot has collapsed, and s/he has to take over the controls

Scenes

Here are some example scenes. As with the strange characters, you should always feel free to create your own.

• 2 Star Trek fans at a convention
• 2 candidates for President at a debate
• 2 astronauts about to leave for a trip to Mars
• someone at a job interview
• 2 people on a bus on the way to a historic site
• 2 people in the army about to go to battle
• 2 people waiting for plastic surgery
• someone buying a pet from the pet shop
• someone sneaking in food to the movie theatre
• someone calling the plumber to get the toilet fixed
• someone trying to get out of a speeding ticket
• at heaven’s gates with St Peter
• someone trying to talk their way out of grade 9 initiation
• James Bond meeting his arch enemy
• Action scene from the old Batman and Robin
• 2 people on a blind date
• one person firing the other, who is begging to keep his/her job
• A general briefing the president that the Earth is about to be destroyed by a comet
• Crossing the border, while trying to smuggle a truckload of diapers
• A commercial for laundry detergent
• At an old West saloon, waiting for the arrival of the notorious Ugly Gang

Strange Lines

Following are some examples of strange lines we’ve used. You need to put each line on a piece of paper, and the participants usually put the scraps of paper in their pockets, to pull out at appropriate parts of the scene.

• Indeed, I am the true Lord Of The Dance.
• What’s that thing in your nose?
• Being a woman just got better.
• I’m a complicated man, and no one understands me but my woman.
• Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?
• Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman.
• All the girls say I’m pretty fly for a white guy.
• But what if my diarrhoea comes back?
• I am woman, hear me roar!
• Luke, I am your father.
• Help me Obi-Wan Kenobe, you’re my only hope.
• Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids.
• Whatchu talkin’ about Willis?
• It’s time to release the baboons!
• Why, oh why, did I swallow that fly?
• The same thing we do every night Pinky, try to take over the world!
• Honey, I’m home! Oh, I forgot, I’m not married.