Based on one audience suggestion (a title of a show that has never been written), The Improvised Shakespeare Company® creates a fully improvised Shakespearean masterpiece right before your eyes. Nothing has been planned out, rehearsed, or written. All of the dialogue is said for the first time, the characters are created as you watch, and if ever you’re wondering where the story is going…so are they! You’ve never seen the Bard like this before!
iO Fest Acts 2024
With over 70 acts performing- iO Fest is THE largest comedy festival! Check out all the teams that are coming to Chicago to perform and learn more about their shows.
Planning your weekend at the fest? Find our schedule at the top of the page to see when each team is performing.
All the below acts are free to attend with a GA 4 or 1 day pass.
Andrew Cornelius
Andrew will be performing in our stand-up showcase.
anundpfirsich
Björn Bongaards and Donat Feijóo are two improvisers from Zurich. They teach and perform fulltime at anundpfirsich (pfirsi.ch). They have been playing improv together for over 10 year and performed and taught at several international festivals.
Art Cai
Cai will be performing in our stand-up showcase.
Awkward Family Dinner Presents: A Fully Improvised One-Act Play
A fully improvised one-act play around a dinner table with real food.
Basketball Crush
We are a diverse, all-female, musical improv troupe from Chicago. We draw inspiration from audience suggestions to create a never-before-seen piece complete with characters, plot twists & show-stopping musical numbers. From the opening notes to the final encore, every show is a slam dunk.
Behemoth
Hailing from NYC’s Magnet Theater, Behemoth is a team of seasoned improvisers who follow the fun. Join us for improv that is equal parts grounded and zany.
BIG FREAK
BIG FREAK is a two-person long form improv team that specializes in rooted, realistic relationship scenes with heightened and fun realities. We are also psychotic.
Big Whoop!
We are a very slick, fast-paced, fun-loving team! Smart & silly… Big Whoop!
Branded Silk
Branded Silk is improv with a hint of seasoning. Using the Slacker loveable misfits Aaron, Jeff, and Onyi explore various worlds in a fast paced tornado of scenes. It’s for the culture.
Brendon Walsh
Brendon will be performing in our stand-up showcase and headlining in Afternoon Delight.
Brendon Walsh is a comedian who’s toured with Doug Stanhope, Drew Carey, Neil Hamburger & Todd Barry, and Michael Ian Black. He’s performed multiple times at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, the Melbourne International Comedy Fest, SXSW, The Moontower Comedy Festival, and many more.
Chicken Big
Chicken Big is 3 of Brooklyns premiere Geniuses. We will use improv as a tool to blow away the audience. We are also very handsome.
Dan Hickey
Dan will be performing in our stand-up showcase.
Dor Bel & Friends
Dor Bel is a longform improv experience where we’ll tell some stories, do some scenes, and get to know each other by… well… being goobers together. Ding dong, who’s there? Your new friends!
DUCHOVNY
NYC’s funniest improv show brought to you by a group of top-tier psychopaths. Each show, the audience inspires a completely improvised fever dream, the likes of which has never been seen before, will never be seen again, and perhaps… shouldn’t be seen again.
FlavaFlavorFlavour
Flava Flavor Flavour is a Chicago-based short form improv group that adds some “seasoning” to improv, their unique games like Denzel Washington advice panel and R&B puns, they give a one of a kind performance.
Full of Bones
Full of Bones is an Improv team forged from the depths of hell. They have been described as having “broken brains” and being “rotten to the core”. Full of Bones promises to deliver a phrenetic, absurd, and straight up silly hour of improv that’s guaranteed to tickle your funny bone.
Ghost Baby Presents: The Bat
Ghost Baby formed in 2019 when they met in classes at the iO Theater. They brought their hour long variety show Ghost Baby: Afterbirth to the Bughouse Theater where it ran as a resident show for over a year. You can find them now playing at various comedy theaters around Chicago.
Greg Mills
Greg will be performing in our stand-up showcase.
Havana Club
An overly proud Latine improv show from New York City.
HR Shovin Stuff
Far from Sesame Street and closer to Avenue Q, veteran performers of the vaunted Magnet Theater musical improv program bring their puppets to interview an audience member and then create an after-hours, full-length, improvised puppet musical on the spot! The HR Shovin’ Stuff gang brings the best and worst of musical improv to the stage for an adult audience.
Ian MacDonald
Ian will be performing in our stand-up showcase.
Industrial Kitchen
What’s delicious, nutritious, and has more sex appeal than Jeremy Allen White? Industrial Kitchen, the long-form improv group that’ll leave you saying “yes, chef!”
Jet City Improv’s SuperSonicShow
Do you miss T9 texting, burning CDs, and cleaning out your game cartridges by blowing on them? Do you remember when MTV actually showed music videos and the Sonics hadn’t left Seattle? Let’s pour one out for the good old days with an improvised comedy show inspired by the heyday of the Emerald City.
Josh Cahn
Josh will be performing in our stand-up showcase.
Katie Rae Horn
Katie Rae Horn (she/her) is a solo comedian, mime and solo performer. Katie has been nominated for Best Comedian (Non Standup) in the 2023 Chicago Reader, and performed at the Boom Chicago Comedy Festival this Summer in Amsterdam.
KittyHawk
NYC’s powerhouse musical improv ensemble, Kittyhawk, hits the Windy City! The former house team
turned festival sweethearts from Magnet Theater delivers electrifying performances blending dizzying
irreverence and heartfelt sentiment. We are Kittyhawk, let us hear your Kittysquawk!
Laser Comedy Show
An improvised, live illustrated puppet show using laser reactive technology. You’ve never seen anything
like it.
Late Night Shenanigans
Late Night Shenanigans is a two-person sketch/improv troupe featuring Ryan Nolan and Jordy Blenner.
They have been voted in Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago as the “best sketch/improv troupe.” They have
performed all over Chicago and New York and love to incorporate the audience into their shows.
Lauren Frost
Lauren will be performing in our stand-up showcase.
Lost in Time
An award-winning interactive music improv experience unlike any other! Chicago comedy duo Lily Ludwig and Austin Packard create show-stopping songs on the fly, all based on audience conversations, stories, and suggestions.
MAX
MAX began as an iO West (RIP) house Harold team in 2015. After moving beyond the Harold, MAX started experimenting with other forms. The result is an unexpected blend of forms and genres by a group of people who really enjoy playing with each other.
Mayhem
MAYHEM is a duo of Butch Roy and Hannah Wydeven. They push into the unknown and absurd until the unknown and absurd push back. They will do improv to you.
Measure Island
Measure Island performs a fully improvised musical inspired by audience suggestions suggestions. Our ensemble creates scenes, characters, and songs on the spot — completely unscripted, sometimes mind- blowing, and always hilarious.
Melk
MELK is a Baltimore-based longform improv comedy team. Everything we do is inspired by one suggestion and made up on the spot. Cast: Annie Bobbitt, Bobby Gross, Heather Mari, Rebecca McGivney, Jimmy Pope, and Janty Shoga.
Mercy Santos
Mercy Santos (God’s Favorite Improv Team) performs the Improvised Movie (God’s Favorite Improv Form) for you (God’s Favorite Audience). Inspired by your favorite – or least favorite – song lyric, we will make you see God (laugh a lot)
Mo & Ralph
New Zealand’s only improv group, Mo and Ralph, have had the terrible idea of using a fuck-off-sized wheel of fortune to determine the fate of their show – and are now committed to making it work.
Mockumentary Now
Mockumentary Now! is an improv team of seasoned performers trying to piece together a documentary on the fly, live on stage. Each documentary is inspired by an audience suggestion of an upcoming fictional event.
New York’s Finest
For one night only, please join Chicago’s finest comedians from New York who now (mostly) live in
Chicago performing New York style comedy the Chicago way. Does that make sense?
Not Your Mother’s Daughters
Bored of the patriarchy? Look no further than this funky gaggle of gals who sometimes use their inside voices and share what’s on their minds.
People Presenting Things
People Presenting Things is a one-of-a-kind improvised comedy show in which performers present slideshows that they’ve never seen before! Prepared in secret by our experts, slideshows could be about anything – from “Historical Figures With The Sexiest Calves” to “I Want To Fight Your Grandpa”.
Robert Johnston
Robert Johnston is performing in our stand-up showcase.
Schomooty
Welcome to the uproarious world of Schmooty, Philadelphia’s top improv team that has been spreading laughter and joy since 2022. Schmooty has become a staple in the Philadelphia comedy scene, captivating audiences with their fast-paced, witty, and downright bizarre performances.
Sissy Vanya
Sissy Vanya is an International Pop Star who is making her big debut in Chicago before performing at Eurovision in her dreams. She is a pop star who unapologetically loves the color purple and sings about problems we all have.
SOFT
soft, made up of three freaks (Akmal Tajihan, Amanda Breen & James Dwyer), takes audiences on a patient & grounded journey through some of life’s most uncomfortable topics and complex characters.
Public Breakup
Public Breakup is like if The Breakfast Club characters became best friends and performed sketch shows together. An unlikely combination of misfits, Public Breakup is known for sweetly misguided characters who just can’t let it go, music and tightly choreographed dance numbers, and exploring the dumbest possible realities.
Pyramid Funnel
See Pyramid Funnel perform the Deconstruction, offering a sample of everything you love about Chicago style long form improv, from grounded speed-of-life scenes, to a chaotic high energy run out, we guarantee a kickass show for improv novices and nerds alike.
¿Qué?
¿Qué? is an independent improv/sketch team based in Brooklyn. We are a comedy troupe that improvises entirely in Spanish, except for one white guy who doesn’t speak any Spanish. It’s comedy anyone can understand!
Rails Comedy
Rails Comedy presents a sketch comedy show that skewers pop culture, pokes fun at politics, and makes you laugh with silly sketches. We feature characters, traditional sketches, and musical comedy jam-packed into one tight-knit show.
Sparkle Hour
Welcome to the Sparkle Hour! This joyous queer musical comedy revue, hosted by Philip ‘Sparkle,’ features original songs, stand-up, “dance,” and surprises galore in a cynicism-free space. Leave the irony at the door, honey. It’s Gay Church!
Spellbound
Spellbound is a group of talented improvisers who use the power of tarot to uncover your past, present, and future.
Stay Funny. Stay Scared.
Come watch ‘Stay Funny. Stay Scared’, Erica’s half-hour exploration of all things horror. Laugh at some spooky themed characters and be a part in discovering how to overcome the terror within.
The Foundation
The Foundation: New York’s premiere sketch comedy team, hailing from the UCB Theatre, provides an all new show featuring sketches that run that gamut from pop culture, character comedy, and absurdism to nuanced takes on hot button issues.
The Kaplan Brothers
The Kaplan Brothers are the NYC Improv Cagematch champions for 2023-2024, winning a record 11 consecutive matches before winning the end-of-year tournament. Their sets are monoscenes filled with surprises, heart, and lots of laughs.
The One Four Fives
We specialize in creating a unique Broadway-style musical on the spot. Each performance is a one-of-a-kind experience, as the team creates a fully-realized musical from scratch based on an audience suggestion.
People’s Sketch Revue
An ever-evolving sketch show with a voice and lens on the events of the day. Multiple performances and new sketches born from improv by a diverse group of PIT resident performers and writers!
The Salty Nuts
After years of being locked in the vault, The Salty Nuts have decided to release some of their classic TV shows for audiences to enjoy… For a relative low price you can own these titan of television!
Three Kings
Ray Cordova, Adrian Frimpong, and Jeffrey Kitt are veterans of the New York City Improv Scene. Performing out of UCB, they are here to bring skill, culture, and a flava like only three kings can. They have been seen, on Netflix, Starz, Comedy Central, and TBS.
Tony Sykowski
Tony will be performing as part of our stand-up showcase!
Very Good Boys
Just trying to find out if being idiot New Yorkers translates to Chicago.
We are Very Good* Boys**.
*Dumb
**Idiots
Young Douglas
Young Douglas performs original sketch comedy in NYC. Thrust into being as a UCB Theatre house team, they were immediately thrown into the pandemic, and just like a gang of Mad Max characters, they have lived through the end of the world only to become stronger and funnier.
Chicago’s Comedic Epicenter
This summer, iO is thrilled to introduce iO Fest! Four days of improv, sketch, and stand-up along with specialty workshops and talkbacks in celebration of Chicago’s vibrant comedy scene. Special guests from iO’s talented roster of alumni will take the stage alongside a diverse array of today’s top comedic talents from all over the country.
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
iO Fest will be Chicago’s largest improv festival with over 70+ confirmed acts featuring Tim Meadows, Matt Walsh, Ryan Asher, Tien Tran, Jeff Murdoch, Rashawn Scott, and Improvised Shakespeare Co.
This four day festival also includes specialty workshops offered by headliners and top comedic talent, panel discussions, and a whole lot of improv!
Headlining acts of iO’s previous festival, Bentwood Comedy Festival in 2018/19 included Sarah Sherman from Saturday Night Live, Jordan Klepper from The Daily Show, Tim Baltz from Righteous Gemstones, Chris Redd from Saturday Night Live, a live taping of Hello From The Magic Tavern, and performances by TJ Jagodowski and Dave Pasquesi from Strangers with Candy and Veep.
Don’t miss out- come witness a marathon of amazing comedic talent!
Press for Bentwood:
CHICAGO TRIBUNE – It’s called the Bentwood Comedy Festival for the chairs, and it’s by iO Theatre and some of the folks who invented improv.
CHICAGO READER – The iO Theater’s Bentwood Comedy Festival arrives with an abundance of talent
WBEZ CHICAGO – Momo and the Mayor (Live from Chicago’s iO Theater)
GET YOUR TICKETS FOR THE FEST
iO Fest 2024 – Chicago’s largest improv festival! July 25 – 28, 2024
Four days of improv, sketch and stand-up with 70+ acts from all over the world.
Purchase of your 4 Day Pass includes: Entry to the theater and all General Admission shows throughout the full duration of iO Fest, July 25 – July 28, 2024
*GA wristband does not grant admission to headliner shows*
Visit headliner pages to purchase tickets for the following performances separately: Meadows, Walsh & Friends / Ryan Asher and her Famous Hollywood Friends / The Improvised Shakespeare Company
Specialty workshops and headlining performances are not included with Festival Pass admission.
Take a workshop
Stay tuned for announcements regarding specialty workshops led by our headliners & other special guest instructors!
FOR MORE FESTIVAL UPDATES FOLLOW US
Open 6PM Wed-Sun
How to Find us
How to get here
iO is a five minute walk from the North/Clybourn Red Line Stop and just two minutes off the 72 North Ave Bus Route. We offer no parking, but limited street parking and several pay-to-park lots are located within one block.
