My very personal improv toolbox
All the things that I've used to make good improv:
Straight man tactics:
- Status - Play high, play low, switch, switch back.
- Context - Events, events, events (what's something that's happened that relevant? what about something that's coming up? what happened between you two?), relationship, environment.
Character:
- Starts - Start with a "you" or "and" sentence, start with a "character noise", start with a "character voice".
Scene:
- Conflict of interest - Misaligned is good, keep it up. Play with aligning (start aligned - this is actually very easy - dip toes back into alignment, etc.), but know that mis-alignment and conflict are great.
Reminders:
- You are at your worst when 1) you think you are really good, potentially better than others, and 2) when you are trying to be funny.