Skip to main content
 

Chicago's Best Improv

Shows five nights a week featuring Chicago's premier comedic talent.

 
 

The Home of Longform Improv

Since 1981, iO Theater has inspired and trained generations of America’s greatest comedic talents.

 

Premier Event Venue

Plan your next conference, celebration, or team-building event at the historic iO Theater. It's the perfect one-stop shop and a welcome break from your typical stuffy hotel conference room.

 

Take An Improv Class

Learn more about why tens of thousands of performers have chosen to learn at iO!

 

Harold Night

Come see iO's signature longform style of improv, The Harold, performed nightly by one of our house teams.

1
1

Featured Shows

We love all of our shows equally but here’s some we think you’ll really like. To see a list of all upcoming shows, click the View All Show button down below.

Improvised Shakespeare Company

Every Friday and Saturday at 8pm since 2006! Inspired by one audience suggestion, these dazzling players create a brand-new Shakespearean masterpiece right before your eyes.  Come witness the shows critics have called “staggeringly brilliant.”

Improvised Jane Austen

Every Saturday at 8pm, Improvised Jane Austen is a comedic ensemble that creates unscripted performances using Jane Austen’s tropes, themes, and language. Playing in Austen’s world, Improvised Jane Austen’s stories delight 21st century audiences with a modern sense and sensibility. Come for the humor, stay for the heart! Throughout the show’s run, Improvised Jane Austen’s has been Chicago Reader Recommended, named a PerformInk Critics’ Pick, voted Best sketch/improv troupe 2019 in the Reader’s Best of Chicago, and was featured on WTTW playlist, in Time Out, on WGN’s Daytime Chicago and most recently on CBS News Chicago

Whirled News Tonight

Every Saturday at 8pm. Twenty years running! The audience provides inspiration by picking their top stories from the day’s news. From these journalistic suggestions, a team of experienced improvisers create a fast-paced, topical, intelligent, & hilarious show.

Devil’s Daughter

Every Friday at 8pm! Devil’s Daughter features a cast of seasoned comedians who have performed together in Chicago and around the country for over a decade. This award-winning team has their own unique spin on a classic improv form, The Harold, and is known for their solo scenes, artistic style, and dastardly sense of humor.

CRUD COUNTRY

Friday at 8pm! Bizzare, sweaty, and stupid! Sketch comedy group “CRUD” brings their brain melting live show to the iO Theater.

CRUD COUNTRY is a variety show featuring performances from some of Chicago’s dumbest comedians, musicians, and entertainers of all kinds. Leave your neurons at the door and suck the koolaid from a hose!

Featuring: CRUD, Mary Mary, Jeff Braun, Maddie Davis, Peaches
THE FREE SHOW

Every Wednesday at 7:30pm– A free weekly show featuring Dumb John, Birdlady, and other iO House Teams. Never been to an iO show before? This is a great way to check out longform style improv from some of the best!

Tokyo Sketchers

The iO Theater is proud to present TOKYO SKETCHERS, for one night only, December 12th at 7:30pm Come see some of Japan’s TOP sketch comedians performing a show (in English, mostly) of sketch, video, music, and more! Performances by Saku Yanagawa, Kohei Ueda, Yoshizumi, Yutaro Yamaguchi, Naoki Tsukamoto, and Koki Hoshino

DNA: Best of 2024

Get ready for a show of only bangers. We compiled all our favorite sketches from 2024 and packed them into a show to bring you one hour of non stop laughs. Join Avi, Declan, Jake, Kelly, and Ziv as they navigate family fights, fairytales gone wrong, and how to tell your friend that they shouldn’t run the Chicago marathon. It’s a sketch show of the creme de la creme (and there won’t be any Christmas Carol parodies at all. None.)

Craigslist Playdate presents: Under the Tree

Do you love the charming predictability and heartwarming moments of Hallmark Christmas movies? Of course you do! So join Craigslist Playdate for an enchanting evening that brings the magic of Hallmark Christmas movies to life – all improvised!

Holidays From Hell
Forget about ghost stories! Sometimes the scariest stories are the ones that come from spending the holidays together with our loved ones.  Put your holiday stress aside and let Chicago’s best comedians and improvisers make light of guest storytellers’ horrific holiday stories. Fun for the whole family, or no family if you’d rather get out of the house and escape.
Jewish Comedy Project presents: A Chanukah Carol

A Chanukah Carol is a celebration of Jewish joy open to everyone! (Except kids). Join our cast for an exciting sketch comedy show *loosely* themed around A Christmas Carol. Watch as Scrooge’s haphazard journey through Chanukah Past, Present, & Future teaches him to reconnect with his roots and celebrate the miracle of Chanukah!

An Improvised Hollymark Movie

The countdown to Christmas begins with the magic of Improvised Hollymark Movie. Borrowing from the beloved series of Hallmark holiday movies, this cast will create an entirely improvised film based on the suggestion of a holiday film yet to be seen. Created and produced by HFC Productions.

Khol’s Cash presents: TGIF

Start your weekend off laughing at one of the hottest improv shows in Chicago! Every Friday at 10pm , iO house team Kohl’s Cash presents a completely original show based on your suggestions. With different openers every week, drink specials, and clean restrooms, you’ll for sure be saying TGIF (That’s Good Improv Fridays).

The Creamboy Show!

Every Saturday at 10pm. Comedy so good you’ll lick your lips and pat your belly. Longform improv from iO House team CREAMBOY, featuring different opening acts each week. Don’t miss this show, who knows, you could become the lucky audience member chosen as the Cream of the Week. Get your tickets now!

Thursday Night Thunder

Feel the power every Thursday Night Thunder with iO house teams Kismet and Big Deborah. Sit back and let the professionals steer you through an evening of high energy, eccentric, emotionally charged sets guaranteed to leave you feeling blown away.

Lil Sluggers: In The Dugout

Catch home team Lil Sluggers in The Dugout every Thursday night as they present a grand slam showcase of improv, bits, and slugs! Each week is a unique run around the improv bases featuring an all-star visiting team and a set by Lil Sluggers inspired by your life.

Trapped In A Musical

Saturdays at 8pm! Present by Malarkey Comedy, Trapped In A Musical is a completely improvised Broadway-style musical that the cast finds out about in the moment.

ComedySportz

Presented by Malarkey Comedy. Chicago’s longest running short-form improv show (founded in 1987) and the only comedy show in Chicago EVERYONE is welcome at – from age 8 to 80, our inclusive ‘everyone is welcome’ approach to comedy makes us perfect for patrons of all ages. Fridays and Saturdays!

Duluth: An Improvised Midwest Murder

Based on the hit FX show “Fargo”, Duluth takes audiences into the world of true crime in the Midwest. Each week, the cast of Duluth will improvise a story of murder, malfeasance, and general mayhem, all set against the backdrop of an audience member’s hometown.

The Armando Diaz Theatrical Experience and Hootenanny

Created in 1995 by iO alum Armando Diaz (not the Italian general), the Armando is a historic improvisational form where actors improvise a series of interconnected scenes based on the true events and life experiences told from a guest-monologist. Featuring new players and a surprise celebrity guest each week, come watch the longest running comedy show in Chicago at it’s originating home, the iO Theater!

Food & Drink

Grab a bite before, during or after the show

Bar and Kitchen open at 4:30 pm
Wed-Sun
Open at 11:30am on Sat and Sun

No tickets required, all ages welcome

View the Menu
Want to take a class?
Join the thousands who have trained with us!
Signup for Classes
Reserve our historic venue  for your next event today
View our event spaces & Amenities

The skills we use to train talent on our stages are the same skills applied in collaborative settings across the entertainment and corporate world, in writer’s rooms, board rooms and beyond.

What we offer
Our Proud partners