185

From Scratchpad

185 is an improv game played by the Ship of Fools and Purdue Improv Club during weekly meetings and Improv Shows.

Contents 1 Origins 2 Setup 2.1 Necessary Equipment 2.2 Performers 2.3 Audience Suggestions 3 Rules 4 Traditions 5 Distinguished Performers 6 Memorable Puns 7 Variants

[edit] Origins

185 is a classic improvisational pun game, and may go by other names such as 187 by other groups such as the Late Night Players.

[edit] Setup

[edit] Necessary Equipment

No special equipment is necessary for this game.

[edit] Performers

This game is for a large number of performers. Typically, the entire Ship of Fools will play this game with the exception of the emcee. The number of performers can reach around two dozen at weekly meetings of the Purdue Improv Club, as it is a very popular game and nobody is singled out for not contributing.

[edit] Audience Suggestions

The audience will suggest a series of nouns to be used in the course of the game. These nouns may include occupations, animals, things found at WalMart, a number of other persons, things, or ideas, but typically not many places.

[edit] Rules

Improvisationalists stand in line at the back of the stage. As the emcee determines a noun about which jokes will be told. Performers then come up and tell jokes of the form:

185 NOUNs walk into a bar and. . .

The emcee will change the noun in question following an exceptionally funny joke about the current noun that is unlikely to be topped. This continues for as long as time is alloted for the game, or until such a great joke is made that a natural stopping point has been reached.

[edit] Traditions

No specific traditions come to mind.

[edit] Distinguished Performers

• Wesley "Tab A" Allen
• Ryan "T-Rex" Garwood

[edit] Memorable Puns

• 185 chemists walk into a British pub and all sit down to enjoy a game on the telly. Suddenly, the fire alarm rings and there's mass confusion and panic until the bartender calmly and quickly ushers everybody outside. Miraculously, nobody is hurt, and a reporter asks the bartender how he managed to get everybody to safety. He calmly answers "Why, my dear, it's simply London dispersion forces".

(notably, there are slight departures for the formula depending on the joke at hand- the bar need not always be a bar, the objects need not always walk, and so on)

[edit] Variants

185 is somewhat similar to Dear Diary, World's Worst, and Last Action Hero.