In the world of improv and sketch comedy, Chicago reigns supreme. Nowhere is that more evident than in the eighth annual Chicago Improv Festival, now through May 1 at the Athenaenum Theatre and other venues.
CIF8 is bigger and more energetic than ever than ever before, with a celebrity soup roster of 125 improv and sketch ensembles.
They come from Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Minneapolis, Seattle, Chapel Hill, Toronto, Honolulu and Oslo, Norway.
The festival kicks off Friday, April 22 at the mainstage of the Athenaeum with ImprovOlympic West’s Beer Shark Mice, The SNL Writers, The Horatio Sanz All-Stars, The Defiant Thomas Brothers, and Bassprov, with special guest Horatio Sanz.
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| Keegan-Michael Key |
“This is the first year we’ve had performers from ?Saturday Night Live’ and ?MADtv’ at the same festival,” said CIF co-founder/executive director Jonathan Pitts. They are “MADtv’s” Keegan-Michael Key, Michael McDonald, Paul Vogt and Ron Pedersen, and “SNL’s” Sanz.
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| Mo Collins |
Mo Collins of “MADtv” fame (Starla on “Arrested Development”) returns to the Festival for the second time. She will make four appearances, including her one-woman show “Mo vs. Mo.”
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| Bill Kurtis |
Pitts noted that CIF8 added a motion picture element with Adam McKay, Second City alum and director of “Anchorman, the Legend of Ron Burgundy,” along with several cast members from the movie, including Bill Kurtis, narrator of “Ron Burgundy.”
CIF8 special guests include two legends: Ken Nordine (“Word Jazz”) of NPR and David Shepherd, original maverick of improv theater, co-founder with Paul Sills and producer and director of the Compass Players.
Pitts is excited about the new Implosion College Improv Showcase. Implosion is a group of professional comedy teachers and improvisers working to network the college improv community. Implosion will showcase more than 75 student performers at the Theatre Building over the festival’s first weekend.
Workshops abound April 29-May 1 for students of the comedy art. Teachers from four successful improv training centers (Annoyance Theatre, ComedySportz, Improv Olympic, and the Second City) will conduct sessions April 29 and 30.
On May 1, Annoyance Theatre’s Mick Napier instructs a Master Class. Napier is the recipient of the Festival’s Teacher of the Year Award. He also will perform April 29.
Improv/sketch celebrities will hold an Improv Forum April 29. They are “SNL’s” Tina Fey, Adam McKay and Tim Kazurinsky; “Curb Your Enthusiasm’s” Jeff Garlin, who lived in Chicago while appearing in Joan Cusack’s ABC sitcom; “MADtv’s” Mo Collins; Second City’s 1999 Main Stage Cast of Stephanie Weir, Rich Talarico, and Tami Sagher; and “Conan O’Brien’s” Kevin Dorff.
Performances take place at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport; the Theatre Building, 1225 W. Belmont; the Playground, 3209 N. Halsted, and the Cultural Center.
See a complete schedule of shows and more at www.cif.com. Tickets available through Ticketmaster, 312/902-1500, the Athenaeum, 773/935-6860 and the Theatre Building, 773/327-5252.
