Human Props
Human Props is a short-form game in which audience volunteers are used as physical props within a scene, shaped and positioned by the performers to serve as furniture, doors, vehicles, or other objects. The game creates comedy through the awkwardness and absurdity of using real people as inanimate objects. It is a staple of audience-participation shows.
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Related Games
Ted Talks
Ted Talks is a short-form game in which a performer delivers an improvised presentation in the style of a TED Talk on an audience-suggested topic. Other players may provide slides, demonstrations, or audience participation. The game rewards confident public speaking, the ability to sound authoritative on any subject, and the comedic gap between expertise and ignorance.
Household Olympics
Household Olympics is a short-form game in which performers compete in improvised sporting events using ordinary household objects -- a spatula javelin, a sponge shot put, a toilet plunger hammer throw. A commentator narrates the action in the style of a sports broadcast, providing color commentary on technique, history, and drama. The juxtaposition of athletic gravitas with mundane domestic objects creates the game's comedy. The game rewards committed physicality and the commentator's verbal creativity and commitment to the sport's reality.
Props
Props is a short-form game in which teams of performers are given unusual objects and must quickly create as many comedic uses for them as possible. Each use is presented as a brief sketch or visual gag. The game was a signature element of Whose Line Is It Anyway and rewards speed, creativity, and physical commitment to absurd transformations.
The Bag
The Bag is a short-form game in which performers draw random objects from a bag and must immediately incorporate each item into an ongoing scene, finding justification for the object's presence within the established narrative. The objects are typically collected from audience members' pockets and belongings before the show, giving the game an element of authentic surprise. The game trains rapid object integration and the improvisational habit of treating unexpected material as an offer.
Commercial Capers
Commercial Capers is a performance game in which players create spontaneous advertisements for fictional products, combining exaggerated sales tactics with improvised scenarios. The game builds confidence in public presentation and rewards creative collaboration under time pressure. It works well as both a workshop exercise and an audience-facing performance piece.
Creature Comforts
Creature Comforts is a scene game inspired by the documentary interview format in which performers play animals or everyday objects being interviewed about the conditions of their lives. The deadpan documentary framing allows performers to make heightened physical and vocal character choices while commenting on recognizably human preoccupations through the indirection of a non-human perspective.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Human Props. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/human-props
The Improv Archive. "Human Props." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/human-props.
The Improv Archive. "Human Props." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/human-props. Accessed March 17, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.