How to Play
Two to four players will create an improvised scene. The audience chooses one of the players to speak gibberish in the scene. The other players speak English and act as if they understand the gibberish speaking player perfectly. Inspired by the Wookiee in the Star Wars movies.
The gibberish can be any type of gibberish, it doesn’t have to mimic the way the Wookiee spoke in the movies.
Origin
Wookiee Talkie came to us from Andy Sarouhan who teaches and performs improvisation in San Francisco.
The game is called ‘Wookiee Talkie.’ A cross between Wookiee and walkie-talkie. I’d like to say the name was my idea, but a high schooler came up with that. When I invented the game, my original name was ‘Code Switching’, like what folks do who speak two languages. But let’s be honest—Wookiee Talkie is a way better name. ~ Andy
Note
This reminds me of a fun activity. When you are out in public with you improv friends, start speaking gibberish with each other. You must act as if you don’t understand the local language very well…but you do understand each other. See if you can keep it up without revealing what you’re really doing. I think this comes from Impro or Impro for Storytellers by Keith Johnstone.
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