185
1990s-present
Also known as One-Eighty-Five, Walks Into a Bar, Line Gag, 185 Walk Into a Bar
Players line up; audience gives a noun (e.g., 'clowns'); each player steps forward with: '185 [nouns] walk into a bar. Bartender says we don't serve [nouns]. The [nouns] reply: [punchline].'
Known for
- Pure punchline game — not scene work; Improv Encyclopedia notes 'not strictly improv theater.'
- Jokes rely on puns, homophones, or idiom subversion based on the noun.
- Played popularly on Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza.
- Common as a one-joke break between longer games in short-form shows.