Pet Peeves
Pet Peeves is a short-form game in which performers play scenes built around audience-suggested annoyances or irritations. The characters' pet peeves drive the conflict and provide a built-in source of escalation. The game rewards relatable specificity and the ability to find comedy in shared frustrations.
Worth Reading
See all books →
Creating Improvised Theatre
Tools, Techniques, and Theories
Mark Jane
Whose Improv Is It Anyway?
Beyond Second City
Amy E. Seham
Drama Games and Improvs
Games for the Classroom and Beyond
Justine Jones; Mary Ann Kelley
112 Acting Games
Gavin Levy
Theater Games for Rehearsal
Viola Spolin
Theatrical Improvisation
Short Form, Long Form, and Sketch-Based Improv
Jeanne Leep
Related Games
Complaint Letter
Complaint Letter is a short-form game in which a performer delivers an increasingly overwrought letter of complaint, often composed from audience suggestions. The letter escalates in specificity, emotional intensity, and absurdity as it progresses, culminating in an outrageous demand. Supporting performers may act out the events described or respond as arbiters of the grievance.
Malapropism
Malapropism is a short-form game in which performers play a scene while deliberately substituting incorrect but similar-sounding words for the intended ones. The audience enjoys the comic confusion that results from the mangled language, while the scene partners must stay committed to the reality of the conversation. The game trains verbal dexterity and the ability to maintain scene logic under an absurd constraint.
Complaints Department
Complaints Department is a scene game in which one performer staffs a customer service desk while others present increasingly unusual, impossible, or escalating grievances. The desk representative must take each complaint seriously, respond with bureaucratic procedure, and attempt to resolve or acknowledge each case, while the complaints become progressively more surreal.
Rant
Rant is a monologue game in which a performer delivers a passionate, escalating tirade on an audience-suggested topic. The rant must build in intensity and specificity without losing coherence. The game rewards vocal commitment, comedic exaggeration, and the ability to find a genuine emotional core within an absurd complaint.
Emotional Quadrants
Emotional Quadrants is a scene game in which the stage is divided into four zones, each assigned a different emotion. Performers shift emotional state based on their physical position onstage. The spatial constraint externalizes emotional transitions and creates comedy when characters must cross emotional boundaries to interact. The game trains emotional agility and spatial awareness.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Pet Peeves. Retrieved October 15, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/pet-peeves
The Improv Archive. "Pet Peeves." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/pet-peeves.
The Improv Archive. "Pet Peeves." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/pet-peeves. Accessed October 15, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.