Shoot from the Hip
Shoot from the Hip (often abbreviated as SFTH) is a London-based British improv group comprised of four members: Tom Mayo, Sam Russell-Holmes, Luke Manning, and Alexander "AJ" Jeremy. The group was first formed in 2011 and started posting recordings of their shows onto YouTube in 2018. They rose in popularity in 2022 after clips of their shows went viral on TikTok. Their shows are made up of two halves: the first half, in which they play a variety of short form improv games; and the second half, which mostly consists of an improvised play that is based on a title given by an audience member. In the first half of their shows, Shoot from the Hip plays a series of short form improv games that more or less have an element of audience participation. The group has a handful of games that are staples in their shows, although they're not afraid of venturing beyond these games. The members alternate who comperes[1] each game throughout the show. Genre Two members start a scene based on an audience prompt, and another member can yell "FREEZE!" whenever they like and ask the audience for a genre of film/television/theatre. The members onstage then have to continue the scene in that genre. Change Two members start a scene based on an audience prompt, and another member can yell "CHANGE!" whenever they like, which forces the members to change what they just said/did. Translator One member becomes an expert in a particular field (this is often in the format of "teaching an animal to play a sport", where both the animal and the sport are chosen by audience members) who speaks a foreign language (which is just gibberish that vaguely sounds like the target language) of the audience's choice. Another member plays the role of the expert's translator, and has to "translate" the words that the expert is saying Letters Two members are given a topic to complain about, and they have to write a letter of complaint saying one word at a time. Alternatively, they are sometimes given a fiction character to write a break-up letter to. In recent renditions of the game, there is an extra section where the remaining two members are also onstage and they write a response letter, also saying one word at a time. Recent games of Letters also feature three members onstage, although the concept is still the same. Timewarp Two members start a scene based on an audience prompt, and another member can yell "FREEZE!" whenever they like and move time forwards or backwards. They also have to ability to control the flow of time (i.e. making it move in slow motion or speeding it up). Freeze Tag Two members start a scene, often with one member personifying an emotion and another member becoming an object, both of the audience's choice. The offstage members can yell "FREEZE!" whenever they like, replace one of the onstage members by assuming their position, and start a brand new scene. Puppets Two members start a scene based on an audience prompt, but they can only speak and cannot move their bodies whatsoever. An audience member is selected to come onstage and move the members' bodies themself. A third or fourth member often joins the scene later on if needed.