Waffling

When improvisers find themselves talking without making choices, circling around decisions without committing to any of them, they are waffling. The term describes unfocused, meandering dialogue that fills time without advancing a scene. Rather than making a specific offer or taking a clear position, a waffling performer hedges, equivocates, and avoids defining anything concrete. The result is a scene that stalls, leaving both the performers and the audience waiting for something to happen.

Keith Johnstone identified waffling as a symptom of fear, specifically the fear of making mistakes. When performers become anxious about choosing the wrong thing, they default to choosing nothing at all. Kelly Leonard, in "Yes, And," echoes this diagnosis, describing waffling as "another symptom of fear" in which a performer freezes and avoids "doing anything resembling taking a position, making a declarative statement." The underlying logic is self-protective: if a performer never commits, they can never be wrong. But in improv, the refusal to commit is itself the mistake.

The concept is closely related to wimping, the habit of accepting an offer without adding anything to it. Edward Nevraumont, in "The Ultimate Improv Book," describes the connection directly: when both players in a scene wimp simultaneously, the result is "a double wimp," an impasse where neither performer is willing to define anything. This mutual avoidance is "often called waffling." Where wimping is a failure to build on what a partner offers, waffling is the broader failure to make any decision at all, even when any decision would suffice. The improv glossary compiled by Virginia Scott Loh-Hagan defines it simply as "failing to make decisions." Some practitioners also use the term "hedging" interchangeably; Gina Campbell, in "Improv to Improve Your Leadership Team," cross-references hedging directly to waffling.

In ComedySportz, waffling is formalized as one of the three main fouls. As Amy Seham documents in "Whose Improv Is It Anyway?," the referee insists that fans repeat the name of the foul and perform a two-handed wavy gesture. The penalty signals that "the scene is stuck and going nowhere." This public naming of the behavior serves a pedagogical purpose: it teaches audiences and performers alike to recognize stalled scenes.

Teaching approaches to waffling vary. Dan Diggles, in "Improv for Actors," notes that waffling is a natural tendency, observing that "there's nothing wrong with this, it's normal: life" trains people to avoid bold choices. The work of improv is to override that training. Jan Belt, in "Acting Through Improv," introduces the concept through structured exercises. Students first practice accepting offers agreeably, then practice "accepting with resistance," which Belt defines as waffling. By letting students experience the difference between genuine acceptance and resistant hedging, the exercise makes the distinction visceral rather than theoretical.

The antidote to waffling is commitment. Making a choice, any choice, gives a scene direction and gives a partner something to respond to. A wrong choice can be redirected; no choice leaves everyone stranded. Improvisers who recognize waffling in themselves can treat it as a signal to act rather than to think harder, understanding that the impulse to wait for the perfect offer is precisely what keeps that offer from arriving.