M.I.'s Westside Comedy Theater
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - M.I.'s Westside Comedy Theater
OR:
M.I.'s Westside Comedy Theater on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

M.I.'s Westside Comedy Theater (Formerly Westside Eclectic) is a
comedy club A comedy club is a venue where a variety of comedic acts perform to a live audience. Although the term usually refers to establishments that feature stand-up comedy, stand-up comedians, it can also feature other forms of comedy such as improvisati ...
, theater, bar, and comedy training center located in
Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
.


Company history

In 1998, six improvisers from the improv group Mission IMPROVable at
UMASS Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the Ma ...
moved to
Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
to train and perform. By the year 2000, the group began touring their short form comedy show and in 2001 they performed at NACA (National Association for Campus Activities). They began performing shows at colleges all across the country. Soon thereafter, the group grew, hiring more improvisers so that they could perform more widely, travelling in their van nicknamed "Vanarky". In 2002 the first handful of M.I. performers came out to
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
to develop a sketch pilot for
MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
, but were not picked up in favor of
Human Giant ''Human Giant'' is a sketch comedy show starring writer/performers Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel, and Paul Scheer, and directed primarily by Jason Woliner. The show ran for two seasons on MTV. In 2008, the group was offered a third season and was rep ...
. However, they continued to be permanent fixtures on many of LA's most popular comedy stages. The theater was opened on April 1, 2009, by former members of Mission IMPROVable, including
Lloyd Ahlquist Lloyd Leonard Ahlquist (born January 18, 1977), better known by his online alias EpicLLOYD, is an American internet personality and rapper best known for the YouTube video series ''Epic Rap Battles of History'', along with Nice Peter, Peter "Nice ...
, co-creator of the
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
series ''
Epic Rap Battles of History ''Epic Rap Battles of History'' (ERB) is a YouTube web series and music project created by Peter "Nice Peter" Shukoff and Lloyd "EpicLLOYD" Ahlquist. The series pits historical and pop culture figures against one another in a rap battle format ...
'' At the time of the theater's founding, Ahlquist served as general manager and artistic director. Co-founder Sean Casey (owner The Glendale Room & The Lyric Hyperion Theater & Cafe) took over for Ahlquist in 2011, where he managed the theater's expansion and renovation, expanding programming to 7 nights a week. The current General Manager is Chris Gorbos.


Notable past and present performers

Many
comedians A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who ...
have performed at the theater, including;
Cole Stratton Cole Stratton (born September 21, 1976) is an American actor, comedian, podcaster, writer and producer, best known as one of the Co-Founders of SF Sketchfest, the San Francisco Comedy Festival and the co-host of the Pop My Culture Podcast. Ear ...
,
Alonzo Bodden Alonzo Bodden (; born June 13, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer and former political commentator. In 2004, he won NBC's reality competition TV show ''Last Comic Standing'' in its third season after being the runner-up in ...
,
David Alan Grier David Alan Grier (born June 30, 1956) is an American actor and comedian. Known for his roles on stage and screen, Grier gained popularity playing multiple roles in the American sketch comedy television series '' In Living Color'' (1990–1994) ...
,
Tig Notaro Tig Notaro (born Mathilde O'Callaghan Notaro, March 24, 1971) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, radio contributor, and actress known for her deadpan comedy. Her acclaimed album ''Live'' was nominated in 2014 for the Grammy Award for Best ...
,
Kevin Pollak Kevin Elliot Pollak (born October 30, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, impressionist and podcast host. He has appeared in over 90 films; his roles include Sam Weinberg in Rob Reiner's ''A Few Good Men'', Jacob Goldman in ''Grumpy Old Men ...
,
Neal Brennan Neal Brennan (born October 19, 1973) is an American comedian, writer, producer, director, and podcaster. He is best known for co-creating and co-writing the Comedy Central series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006) with Dave Chappelle and for his N ...
,
Demetri Martin Demetri Martin (, ''Dimitrios Evangelos Martin''; born May 25, 1973) is an American comedian, actor, writer, director, cartoonist and musician. He was a contributor on ''The Daily Show''. In stand-up, he is known for his deadpan delivery, playing ...
,
Aziz Ansari Aziz Ismail Ansari ( ; born February 23, 1983) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He played Tom Haverford on the NBC series '' Parks and Recreation'' (2009–2015) and created and starred in the Netflix series ''Master of None'' (2 ...
,
Bill Burr {{Infobox comedian , image = Bill Burr by Gage Skidmore.jpg , alt = , caption = Burr in 2018 , birth_name = William Frederic Burr , birth_date = {{birth date and age, 1968, 6, 10 , bi ...
,
Zach Galifianakis Zachary Knight Galifianakis (; born October 1, 1969) is an American actor, comedian and writer. The accolades he has received include two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Critics' Choice Movie Award. Galifianakis ...
,
Russell Peters Russell Dominic Peters (born 29 September 1970) is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, and producer. He began performing in Toronto in 1989 and won a Gemini Award in 2008. In 2013, he was number three on ''Forbes'' Forbes Celebrity 100, list o ...
and
Dave Chappelle David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian and actor. He starred in and co-created the satirical comedy sketch series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006) before quitting in the middle ...
. Currently, Mission IMPROVable has over 50 members and performs over 350 shows a year from Hawaii to Singapore. M.I. Productions is also involved in projects for film, TV and created an alcohol awareness show ''A Shot of Reality'' for colleges and military bases across the country. The founders appear together onstage at the theatre weekly in The Grind, a longform
improv Improv may refer to: *Improvisation, an act of spontaneous invention **Improvisational theatre (includes improvisational comedy) **Musical improvisation Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of im ...
show for 10 years before retiring the show in 2019.


Theater information

The training center runs seven levels of courses in
improvisational theatre Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv or impro in British English, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its ...
and two levels of courses in
stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage (theatre), stage and delivers humour, humorous and satire, satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical comedy, physical acts. These ...
.


References


External links


Official Site
{{authority control Improvisational theatre American comedy troupes Sketch comedy troupes Comedy clubs in California Performing groups established in 1998 Theatre companies in Los Angeles Tourist attractions in Santa Monica, California