Audience Warm-Ups
Audience Warm-Ups refers to a collection of techniques used to engage and energize a live audience before a show begins. Common methods include call-and-response games, group participation exercises, and quick demonstrations of improv concepts. Strong audience warm-ups establish trust, set expectations, and create the collaborative atmosphere that improvised performance depends on.
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An Improv Fable
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Improv Show
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The Improv Illusionist
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Related Exercises
I Need A…
I Need a... is an audience suggestion technique in which the host or performer calls out for audience input by announcing the type of suggestion needed: "I need a profession!" or "I need a relationship!" The technique structures audience interaction and ensures performers receive useful, specific material rather than random responses. As a teaching exercise, it trains students to identify what type of information would most serve a scene and to ask for it specifically rather than accepting whatever is offered.
Shriner's Warm-Up
Shriner's Warm-Up is an energetic full-body warm-up in which players perform a series of exaggerated physical movements in unison, often including arm circles, knee lifts, and ridiculous dances. The shared absurdity of the movements bonds the group and breaks through self-consciousness. It is a classic pre-show ritual in many improv communities.
Tagout
Tagout is a fundamental improv technique and exercise in which a performer on the sidelines physically tags a player in a scene to replace them and initiate a new scene or take the scene in a different direction. The technique is the backbone of many long-form structures. As an exercise, it trains the instinct to recognize edit points and enter with purpose.
Heave Ho
Heave Ho is a group energy exercise in which players build shared physical momentum through synchronized movement and vocal sounds, working toward a collective release. The group rocks or sways together, building rhythmic energy through a repeated "heave" motion, until a shared peak is reached and the group releases with "ho." The exercise builds group synchrony, physical awareness of collective rhythm, and the experience of shared energy building to a shared release.
Primal Screams
Primal Screams is a vocal and physical warm-up exercise in which players release tension through full-bodied shouting, growling, or other primal vocalizations. The exercise gives performers permission to be loud and uninhibited, clearing the way for bolder vocal choices in scene work. It is typically used early in a warm-up sequence to break through self-consciousness.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Audience Warm-Ups. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/audience-warm-ups
The Improv Archive. "Audience Warm-Ups." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/audience-warm-ups.
The Improv Archive. "Audience Warm-Ups." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/audience-warm-ups. Accessed March 17, 2026.
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