Improvised Shakespeare Company

Every Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm– 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 7:30pm, 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 7:30pm. 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 7:30pm! 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.

Oxymorons!

The Fest: Vol 1

VanDuvall & 4rd Productions, in collaboration with The iO Theater, announces a new single day BIPOC Comedy Festival: The Fest Vol. 1! On June 19th, 2025 from 5:00 pm – 10:00pm, the festival will be held at the historic improv comedy theater’s Lincoln Park location, located at 1501 N Kingsbury St, and will feature ten of Chicago’s best improv and sketch teams featuring all performers of color!

The Orbit

Saturdays at 11pm — The Orbit is Chicago’s only improv show performed in the round. This 45-minute avant-garde experience takes the audience on a full-circle journey, showcasing a bold new form designed for 360-degree play. Rooted in classic iO techniques yet pushing toward the future, The Orbit offers a fresh perspective—inviting audiences to see improv from entirely new angles. Directed by Liz Allen

Any Time But Now

Fridays in June at 7:30pm —

The iO Sketch Ensemble is proud to present its newest sketch show: Any Time But Now.
Any Time But Now follows our performers as they travel through history and back in search of less turbulent times. Along the way they’ll encounter a whole host of characters –  bears, magicians, and even a few Founding Fathers.  Any Time But Now is pure escapism, delivering both zany antics and razor-sharp satire. As hard as it is to believe, there’s never been a better time for Any Time But Now.

Bluebird Improv

Deep Schwa

Every Sunday at 8pm– Chicago’s longest-running Harold team returns to iO to bring their unique blend of chaos and creativity to iO’s signature form The Harold. Formed in 1996 Deep Schwa has over 50 members, has done over 1,000 shows, performed in theaters all over Chicago and beyond. Made up of a cast of Chicago’s most seasoned and eclectic players and teachers it’s a show perfect for the improv initiate and those just looking to chase away the Sunday scaries. Every Sunday, 29 years and counting.

Hot Seat

Saturdays at 9:30pm, starting Feb 1,  the 2019 Reader-Recommended show is back featuring some of iO’s best players! Hot Seat invites the audience to ask the questions that we’re afraid to answer. Get ready for some good old-fashioned truth telling and improv that’s sure to melt your face off!”

Phony Award Winning Musical

Voila! The Improvised Musical

The most polished made-up musical strikes every Friday night at iO! From cabaret to comedy, heartfelt scenework is intermixed with improvised musical numbers in this two-act fully improvised musical. Every show is unique, so come back each week for the opening and closing night of a brand new theatrical production.

The Creamboy Show!

Every Saturday at 9:30pm. 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!

Kohl’s Cash presents: TGIF

Start your weekend off laughing at one of the hottest improv shows in Chicago! Every Friday at 9:30pm , 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 Armando Diaz Theatrical Experience and Hootenanny

Mondays at 7pm! 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!

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!

Fudge and Friends

“FUDGE is back for a night of improv with their very good buddies Erin Keif (Hey Riddle Riddle, Win or Lose) and Jesse Kendell (Love Dump). If you love their pod FUDGECAST (formerly Improv is Dead) then you’re gonna love this non-podcast show!

Harold Happy Hour

Every Thursday with iO house teams Kismet, Big Deborah and Lil Sluggers. Sit back, grab a cold beverage of your choice, and let the professionals steer you through an evening of high energy, eccentric, emotionally charged sets guaranteed to leave you feeling blown away.

FAMILY

Family is a completely improvised show that follows one family, within one living room, over the course of one day. Our cast of veteran comedians uses inspiration from the audience to generate 60 minutes of side splitting, tear inducing comedy that poses the question “Is every family as dysfunctional as mine?”  Each week our core cast is joined by special guest improvisers who help us explore how complicated relationships can be with the people who’ve known you since birth.

Gender Spiral – Live In Chicago

Gender Spiral is the podcast that discusses all things gender with the experts on the subject: trans and queer people. Come spiral with hosts Ally Beardsley and Babette Thomas as they record two episodes LIVE at iO! Each night will feature interviews with different special guests (to be announced soon), so join us for either night- or both! May 23rd and 24th!

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!

DNA: On A Train

June 4th and 11th at 7:#0pm– DNA: On A Train! Is the first ever improvised murder mystery show to take place entirely on a train. Join Avi, Declan, Ziv, and Jake as they juggle clues, twists, and secrets for 45 minutes all to figure out whodunnit. Grab a seat, punch your ticket, and start wondering why I’ve gathered you all here.

Loose Four Open Mic

Let loose and test out roughly four minutes of material every Tuesday at iO Theater. LOOSE FOUR is hosted by Maureen Nolan, with a new featured comic each week! POC, LGBT+ people, and women prioritized! FREE to attend and FREE to participate. SIGNUP begins: 5:30PM (in-person at the box office) SHOW starts: 6:00PM

SAM: An Existential Comedy Solo Musical

National tour of the award-winning solo musical “SAM”! Hollywood satire! Existential comedy! Meta improv sequences! Broadway parodies! Join Sam Labrecque on a hilarious and heartfelt journey of identity through her pre-successful career as an actor in Hollywood. For fans of “SNL”, Bo Burnham, and “La La Land”.

Escándalo

Fridays at 7:30pm! — ESCÁNDALO is your weekly escape into the heart of Latine culture in Chicago! We’re a collective with a mission of creating a welcoming and inclusive space for everyone – especially trans, femme, non-binary, and disabled creatives—through bold, hilarious comedy. Enjoy a rotating cast of Latine improvisers, solo performers, and special guests. All Latines are welcome, regardless of background or fluency.

Improvised Housewives of iO

Saturdays at 9:30pm starting May 3rd– The Improvised Housewives of iO returns for a fourth season of this totally unscripted parody of the Real Housewives franchise. Each Saturday, catch a new episode and watch the storylines unfold throughout the season, leading up to our dramatic reunion the final week.

Comedy Dance Chicago presents 8-BITS

We’re back with all new bits! This joyful mixture of sketch, dance, and physical comedy is filled with a variety of hilarious characters that are sure to have you laughing along in recognition. Grab some friends and join us for some fun that’s sure to level up your Friday night!

Extremely Laugh and Incredibly Jokes

Come watch an evening of standup by 4 of the funniest comedians in Chicago. Hosted by Geoff Dow, featuring: Danny Gonzalez, Mark Krikorian ,Kayla Moulton, Tory Ward, Ella Nagle

Cowboy Joe

Cowboy Joe is a hilarious and heartwarming tale about the fastest gun in the west, who faces a battle he can’t win with bullets—loneliness. In the midst of a gunfight, he’s suddenly summoned to the year 2025 to help his great-great-great-great-great grandson, Timmy, defeat his middle school bullies. As the gritty outlaw collides with the pathetic 10-year-old, Cowboy Joe discovers Timmy has a lot to learn if he’s ever going to be a true gunslinger!