Newsreader
Newsreader is a short-form game in which one performer plays a television news anchor delivering headlines while other players act out the reported stories in real time behind or beside them. The anchor may be unaware of the physical comedy happening nearby, or may react to it. The game rewards deadpan delivery, strong physicality, and the comic contrast between formal reporting and chaotic action.
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TV News
TV News is a short-form game in which performers play television news anchors, correspondents, and reporters covering improvised breaking stories. Other players act out the reported events in real time. The game rewards confident anchor personas, quick-witted field reporting, and the comic contrast between journalistic seriousness and absurd content.
Sportz Center
Sportz Center is a short-form game in which performers play sports broadcasters providing commentary on an event that is being acted out by other players. The commentators must describe, analyze, and provide color for the improvised action as it unfolds. The game rewards quick wit, strong voice-of-authority work, and the ability to heighten the mundane into the epic.
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.
Slide Show
Slide Show is a short-form game in which one performer narrates an imaginary slideshow presentation while other players freeze into poses representing each slide. The narrator must justify whatever positions the performers adopt. The game rewards quick justification and the comic contrast between the narrator's authority and the absurdity of the images.
Famous Last Words
Famous Last Words is a short-form game in which performers deliver dramatic or comedic final statements in response to various scenarios provided by the audience or host. Each performer must produce a distinct, character-specific statement appropriate to the conditions of their fictional demise or farewell. The game rewards invention, quick character establishment, and the ability to find the specific, surprising last thing a particular person would say.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Newsreader. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/games/newsreader
The Improv Archive. "Newsreader." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/games/newsreader.
The Improv Archive. "Newsreader." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/games/newsreader. Accessed March 17, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.