Improv Complaint Letter
Two players write a letter of complaint together, one word at a time, alternating strictly — "Dear... Sir... I... am... writing... to... complain...". The formal-letter frame does the heavy lifting. It gives a shape — greeting, grievance, demand, sign-off — that pulls the words forward, while the shared authorship makes the sentence swerve somewhere neither player planned. For a second round, they can write the reply — the company answering the complaint, just as absurd and just as polite. It is a two-person one-word game with a spine. The letter format keeps the grammar honest — a letter has to keep making real sentences, so nobody can drift into nonsense — and the complaint premise guarantees rising stakes. Each word can raise the outrage, name the faulty product, or over-apologise. Great for listening, for accepting your partner's word instead of steering it, and for finding the comedy in officialese.
🎓 Notes for the teacher
Insist on strictly one word each, in turn — the discipline is the whole game. The moment someone sneaks in two words, the shared authorship and the surprise are gone. Keep the letter's skeleton visible — greeting, the complaint, a demand, a sign-off. When players know the next beat, they stop panicking and start playing. The reply letter is the best part. The same two build the company's response — coach politeness colliding with absurdity ("we sincerely regret that the badger...").
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