Improv L.A.

Improv Olympic have a theatre in LA aswell as Chicago. When I was in Chicago I chatted to Charna (who runs iO) about the possibility of classes in LA and she told me to give her a call when I got there. Now I thought it unlikely that anything would actually come of this 2 months down the line, but surprisingly it did. I was able to take 2 classes while I was there. One with Craig Cackowski and one with Dave Hill. They were both very good. I especially liked the class with Dave Hill. He comes across as a very nice guy, plus he is an excellent performer. Miles had a 'rant' about him because Dave makes it look so simple on stage.

I saw quite a few shows at iO West. What surprised me was how small an operation it is in comparison to iO Chicago. The audiences are also much smaller. I saw the Armando twice and the audiences were tiny. The thing is both shows were probably more entertaining than the Chicago Armando and yet the audience was smaller (in Chicago it sells out). I saw a few Harolds and some random shows. The standard seemed high at iO West although it was difficult to judge with the small audiences. iO West does have a nice feel in the sense that it is a place moving forward and growing. I saw a show at the Groundlings and was disappointed. It was a sketch show with some short-form improv scenes thrown in. The characters in the scenes were very good but most of the sketches seemed to lack a purpose. The majority didn't reach a climax. The improv was similar. I also saw a night of improv at UCB. I saw their Assscat show which appears to be the same as the Armando (monologist inspires scenes). The scenes were quick and there were lots of tag outs. It was very entertaining and the theatre was packed. I stayed for the panel of experts show. It was a full show of what is usually just a one scene short form game and worked due to the commitment and quality of the performers. They really took to their characters.

The improv scene in L.A. is very good. Only Chicago rivals it in the number of shows and places you can take classes. Relatively it is much less important in LA than in Chicago because so many people in LA are there for film and TV.