Improv runs on “yes, and.” Try it on your friend’s weird idea before you shut it down.

The reflex when somebody says something odd is to explain why it will not work, which ends the idea before anyone sees what it could become. Improv gets around it with a rule: accept the offer and add to it. What you find is that most ideas are unworkable in their first form and interesting three additions later. The judging still happens, just not first.

Try it in the next conversation where somebody floats something strange. Say yes and add one thing before you raise any problem. Keep it going four or five turns, then decide about something that did not exist before.