Canadian Who What Where
Canadian Who What Where is a variation on the classic Who What Where scene-building exercise, typically played with an apologetic or overly polite Canadian sensibility. Players establish character, activity, and location within the opening moments of a scene. The exercise reinforces the foundational skill of grounding scenes quickly with specific information.
Structure
Setup
Two performers. A scene suggestion is given by the audience or facilitator.
The Mechanic
Performers establish three pieces of information in the scene's opening moments:
- Who: the relationship between the characters
- What: what they are doing in this moment
- Where: the specific physical location of the scene
The "Canadian" element: all of this exposition is offered and received with excessive politeness, apology, and self-deprecation. Characters don't simply establish the world - they apologize for doing so, thank each other for clarifying it, and express gratitude for obvious information.
Example: "I'm sorry to interrupt your work, but I do wonder if perhaps you might have a moment, since we are, after all, at the dentist's office?" / "Oh, that's terribly kind of you to mention where we are! I had been so caught up in cleaning your teeth that I'd nearly forgotten!"
Training vs. Performance
In pure training use, performers can run the mechanic straight (without the Canadian element) to practice grounding scenes quickly. The Canadian overlay adds comedic texture to what is otherwise a technical exposition drill.
How to Teach It
How to Explain It
"Establish Who, What, and Where in the first few lines - but be extremely Canadian about it. Polite, apologetic, grateful. The audience needs to know where they are, who you are, and what's happening - and you're going to be very sorry about telling them."
Why It Matters
Who What Where is a foundational scene-building skill: audiences need to know who is in the scene, what the characters are doing, and where they are before they can invest in the scene's drama. Most improv students either over-explain this information (breaking the fourth wall to announce "I am a doctor") or under-establish it (leaving the scene in a void of unknown context). This exercise trains the middle path: weaving exposition naturally into character behavior and dialogue.
Common Coaching Notes
- The exposition should feel like natural scene action. Characters establish who they are through what they do, not through announcements.
- Use the Canadian element strategically. The polite over-explanation is a crutch that makes exposition forgivable in training. In performance, the exposition should be invisible.
- Three specific pieces. Hold performers to all three: Who, What, and Where must be established before the scene develops.
Debrief Questions
- How quickly did the audience know where they were?
- Which element was hardest to establish naturally?
- What's the difference between exposition that feels like acting and exposition that feels like announcement?
Worth Reading
See all books →
The Improv Handbook
The Ultimate Guide to Improvising in Comedy, Theatre, and Beyond
Tom Salinsky; Deborah Frances-White
Improvising Now
A Practical Guide to Modern Improv
Rob Norman
Improvisation
Use What You Know, Make Up What You Don't
Brad Newton
The Young Actor's Book of Improvisation
Dramatic Situations
Sandra Caruso; Susan Kosoff
Improvisation for Actors and Writers
A Guidebook for Improv Lessons in Comedy
Bill Lynn
The Improv Book
Improvisation for Theatre, Comedy, Education, and Life
Alison Goldie
Related Exercises
Who What Where
Who What Where is a foundational scene exercise in which performers must establish the who (characters and relationship), what (activity), and where (location) within the first few lines of a scene. The exercise trains the habit of front-loading essential scene information and ensures every scene begins with a clear foundation.
Who Where Why Am I
Who Where Why Am I is a solo and ensemble scene-starting exercise in which performers establish the full context of a scene through action and environment rather than dialogue, committing to a specific who, where, and why before the first word is spoken, training physical specificity, environmental grounding, and intentional entry.
Anyone Who
Anyone Who is a high-energy chair-based warm-up exercise in which players sit in a circle with one fewer seat than participants. The person left standing moves to the center and calls out a statement beginning with "Anyone who..." followed by a trait, experience, or preference. Everyone to whom the statement applies must leave their seat and find a new one, while the caller also scrambles for a seat. The last player left standing becomes the new caller. The exercise energizes the room, breaks down social barriers, and reveals shared experiences across the group. It functions as both a physical warm-up and a group-bonding exercise, making it particularly effective at the start of rehearsals, workshops, and applied improv sessions where participants may not know each other well.
Location
Location is the archive label for foundational exercises that train players to establish where a scene takes place through physical behavior, object work, and spatial detail. Across the confirmed source base, the core demand stays consistent: the audience should understand the setting from what the players do in the space, not from a quick verbal label. The exercise develops environmental clarity, specificity, and the habit of treating the setting as an active part of the scene.
Location, Relationship, Escalate, End
Location, Relationship, Escalate, End is a scene construction exercise in which performers build a scene through four discrete, progressive stages: first establishing a specific physical location, then establishing the specific relationship between the characters, then escalating the scene through increasing stakes or emotional intensity, and finally bringing it to a definitive end. The exercise provides a structured scaffold for scene construction and trains performers to execute each element with commitment and specificity before moving to the next.
John Cremer Characters and Scenes
John Cremer Characters and Scenes is a character-building and scene initiation exercise developed by UK improviser and educator John Cremer, in which participants develop distinct physicalized characters and then bring those characters into spontaneous scenes with one another. The exercise trains the connection between physical specificity and character logic, building confidence in initiating scenes from a grounded physical starting point rather than from dialogue or concept.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Canadian Who What Where. Retrieved September 29, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/canadian-who-what-where
The Improv Archive. "Canadian Who What Where." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/canadian-who-what-where.
The Improv Archive. "Canadian Who What Where." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/canadian-who-what-where. Accessed September 29, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.