Good, Bad, Worst Advice
Good, Bad, Worst Advice is a short-form game in which performers offer three tiers of advice on an audience-suggested problem: sensible, questionable, and catastrophically terrible. The escalating absurdity creates a reliable comic structure, and the contrast between tiers generates the game's comedy. The game rewards calibrated comedic intensity -- each tier must be clearly distinct from the last -- and the ability to commit fully to advice that is increasingly outrageous.
Structure
Setup
An audience member describes a problem or dilemma -- typically a real-life situation -- that the performers will advise on. Three performers are assigned to the three advice tiers.
Round Structure
Each performer offers advice on the same problem according to their assigned tier:
- Good Advice: Sensible, practical, and reasonable. This is the baseline against which the other tiers are measured. The comedy begins when the contrast with subsequent tiers becomes apparent.
- Bad Advice: Questionable, misguided, or irresponsible. Escalation from the good tier is clear, but the advice remains within a recognizable frame of thought.
- Worst Advice: Catastrophically terrible, dangerous, or absurd. Maximum commitment to the bit. The advice escalates as far as the performer can take it.
Multiple Rounds
The game can run multiple rounds with the same or different problems. Performers may rotate tiers across rounds to keep the game varied.
Ending
The game ends after a set number of rounds or when the host determines the game has peaked. A strong closing moment from the Worst Advice tier typically provides the natural button.
How to Teach It
Objectives
Good, Bad, Worst Advice trains calibrated escalation: each tier must be clearly distinguishable from the previous one. It also develops commitment to outrageous premises and the ability to find the logic inside an absurd position.
How to Explain It
"Three kinds of advice on one problem. One of you gives advice you'd actually follow. One gives advice that might get someone in trouble. One gives advice so bad it should be illegal. Calibrate -- make sure each tier is clearly different from the last."
Scaffolding
Introduce the tier structure before asking performers to improvise within it. Run a demonstration round to establish the expected range before performers attempt the game themselves.
Common Pitfalls
Performers often drift toward the same comedic register across all three tiers, making Good and Bad advice indistinguishable. The game loses its engine when escalation is absent. Coach performers to locate the Worst tier first -- the maximum -- and then work backward to calibrate Good and Bad relative to it.
How to Perform It
Audience Intro
"We need a real problem from someone in the audience -- something you'd actually like advice on. Our performers are going to give you three kinds of help: good advice, bad advice, and the worst advice anyone has ever given."
Cast Size
Ideal: 3 performers, one per tier. Can be played with 2 performers alternating tiers.
Staging
Performers stand in a line or are spatially distinguished by their tier. Clear physical separation helps the audience track which tier is speaking.
Wrap-Up Logic
End after the Worst Advice tier lands a strong beat. The host can close with a callback to the contrast: "And that's why we don't give that person a radio call-in show."
Worth Reading
See all books →
The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual
Matt Besser; Ian Roberts; Matt Walsh
Directing Improv
Asaf Ronen
The Improv Handbook
The Ultimate Guide to Improvising in Comedy, Theatre, and Beyond
Tom Salinsky; Deborah Frances-White
Improvisation for Actors and Writers
A Guidebook for Improv Lessons in Comedy
Bill Lynn
Impro for Storytellers
Keith Johnstone
Funny on Purpose
The Definitive Guide to an Unpredictable Career in Comedy
Joe Randazzo
Related Games
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Advice
The Good the Bad and the Ugly Advice is a short-form game in which three performers play advisors who give progressively worse counsel on a problem brought by a fourth performer playing a person seeking help. The game generates comedy through the contrast between the sincerity of the advice seeker and the escalating uselessness or toxicity of the advice received.
Agony Aunt
Agony Aunt is a short-form game in which one performer plays an advice columnist or talk show host while others present absurd personal problems. The advice-giver must respond with confident, specific guidance no matter how bizarre the situation. The game creates comedy through the contrast between earnest expertise and outlandish subject matter.
Worlds Worst
World's Worst is a game in which performers compete to demonstrate the absolute worst possible version of a named role or situation. The game liberates performers by celebrating failure, rewarding the bold choice that abandons all concern for quality or approval.
Expert
Expert is a short-form game in which a performer plays a world-renowned authority on a topic suggested by the audience, fielding questions with total confidence regardless of actual knowledge. The comedy emerges from the contrast between the character's unwavering certainty and the absurdity of the claims. Scene partners or audience members ask questions, and the expert responds with authoritative detail, treating every answer as established fact. The game rewards commitment, verbal fluency, and the willingness to build elaborate fictions without hesitation.
Nuclear Bomb Chicken
Nuclear Bomb Chicken is a short-form game in which two performers play a scene with escalating stakes, each daring the other to back down from an increasingly absurd or dangerous commitment. The game functions like a comedic game of chicken: both performers raise the stakes higher and higher until one breaks, creating a climactic moment of surrender or mutual destruction.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Good, Bad, Worst Advice. Retrieved October 15, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/good-bad-worst-advice
The Improv Archive. "Good, Bad, Worst Advice." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/good-bad-worst-advice.
The Improv Archive. "Good, Bad, Worst Advice." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/good-bad-worst-advice. Accessed October 15, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.