157

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Audience participation Rating: 4
Audience suggestion: Inanimate object
Members involved: Whole troupe

OVERVIEW

Get a suggestion from the audience of an inanimate object. One by one, the actors walk to the front of the stage and tell the old joke: 157 blanks walk into a bar. The bartender says “we don’t serve blanks here.” So the 157 blanks say (fill in bad pun). The idea is to make a pun using the suggestion. The idea is that it’s a competition between the actors

INTRODUCTION

The next improv we are going to do is called 157. Have you ever heard the old joke “157 blanks walk into a bar.” The bartender says “we don't serve blanks here.” So the 157 blanks say “whatever.” For instance, if it was “bananas,” it would go: 157 bananas walked into a bar. The bartender says “we don’t serve bananas here.” So the 157 bananas said “that’s ok, this place didn’t have much of an a peel anyway.” Now that you get the idea, I need a suggestion of an inanimate object.

DO’S
Try to make the puns funny
Try to come up with them fast
You can start the joke before you think of a punch line
If you can think of a couple of them, do them rapid-fire, one after the other
Run to the center of the stage or to the mic
Push the other actors out of the way
Change the meaning of the suggestion or add to it
Make a real bad pun
I mean, real bad
Ask for another one if it gets stale

Don’ts
Go to the gutter too much
Worry if you don’t have one
Take the first suggestion — tell them to holler up lots of suggestions
Worry that the puns are bad (all puns are bad)

Skills needed
Quick wit
No fear
Good vocabulary
Ensemble skills
Be punny
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