Whose Line Is It Anyway

Have you ever been in a workshop and needed an activity to lift the mood and inject some energy into the group?

High Energy + Your Well-Designed Process = Excellent Creativity and Productivity.

‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’ is a quick icebreaker / energizer that requires attention, listening skills and quick responses from your Participants.

You can use it at the beginning of the day with a group that don’t know each other yet, or after the lunch-break to counter the ‘afternoon slump’, or even at the end of a day to make sure everyone goes away in a great mood.

It is 100% guaranteed to get your group laughing together.

And as there’s no pressure for them to come up with their own jokes it doesn’t create uncomfortableness!

Objectives

• To re-energize a group and give a sense of ‘lightness’.
• To demonstrate the importance of Active Listening.

When Would You Use It?

• As an Icebreaker or mid-course Energizer to get the group laughing.
• Useful in a group with a lot of spare energy, or perhaps after facilitating a ‘dry’ or difficult subject to reset the mood.

Are There Any Rules?

• Participants may not show their joke punch-lines to each other.
• They may answer more than once if they think the punch-line fits.
• Only one joke punch-line per delegate.
• This could be done standing or sitting, but is best when everyone stands in a circle.
• No complaining about the jokes please Participants!

Resources Required

• Facilitator to read the joke ‘set-ups’.
• Hat/bag to hold the punchlines.
• Up to 20 participants.
• Jokes handout (you’ll need to cut up the punch-line sheet beforehand – they’re in the slides you can download for free below).

Process

1. The Facilitator puts individual joke ‘punch-lines’ into a hat/bag and passes it round the group for each person to randomly select one, remind them not to show theirs to anyone else.
2. The Facilitator reads the joke setup (first line) and if a Participant thinks they have the punch-line they shout it out. If the group are sitting down you can ask them to stand up to deliver their line to increase movement and energy.
3. If it’s incorrect the Facilitator says ‘its not your line!’ and you read the set-up again until the correct line has been given.

Secret Sauce

• Before you start this quick icebreaker make sure the Participants know why they’re going to be doing a fun exercise now. Some people might feel it’s a little unserious. The reason is because an injection of energy and fun increases quality and productivity later on.
• Allow the fun to continue as long as possible – laughter is great for the creative juices!
• You could also use song lyrics (guess the next line) or famous film quotes instead.
• In a larger group, add in some extra random punch-lines that don’t fit any of the jokes. They may get used anyway, and often these generate as much laughter as the correct line.
• Good to do this after lunch when the group is feeling a little tired and sleepy.

Your Master List of Jokes