The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Everyone shares something positive, something that did not go well, and something challenging. Creates psychological safety and normalizes honest sharing.
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Related Exercises
Offering Support
Partners practice offering genuine support and encouragement to each other's ideas, building a foundation of psychological safety.
Emotional Endowment
Emotional Endowment is an applied improv exercise in which partners endow each other with an emotional state or characteristic that the other must accept and embody. One player assigns an emotional reality to their partner -- "You are devastated," "You are secretly thrilled" -- and the partner must accept that endowment fully without negotiating, correcting, or breaking the offer. The exercise develops awareness of emotional offers, the practice of acceptance, and the difference between explaining an emotion and inhabiting it.
A Truth about Me
Participants share personal truths in a structured format, building vulnerability, trust, and authentic connection within the group.
Drawing the Line
Drawing the Line is an applied improvisation exercise in which participants explore personal and group boundaries through physical and verbal activities. Using the stage space and structured improvisational scenarios, participants develop practical awareness of where their own comfort limits are, how to name and communicate those limits clearly, and how to recognize and respect the limits of others. The exercise is used in ensemble-building, trust work, and applied settings focused on consent and professional boundary-setting.
What I Like about That
Participants respond to each other's offers by stating what they like about them before adding their own contribution. Trains positive framing and genuine acceptance.
Trust
Partner and group exercises designed to build and demonstrate trust through vulnerability, reliability, and mutual support.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly
The Improv Archive. "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly.
The Improv Archive. "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly. Accessed March 17, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.