Randall Mills

Cast of Monster Party, winners of the Sketch Cage Match at the 1st Annual LA Scripted Comedy Festival on the iO West Theater Mainstage

See also:
*10 Best Stand-Up Comedy Shows in Los Angeles
*12 Comedy Acts to Watch in 2013

Over the weekend, Improv Olympic became a Scripted Olympic. From Thursday through Sunday, Hollywood's iO West Theater hosted its first annual L.A. Scripted Comedy Festival, featuring a collection of talent from across the country showcasing sketch, variety, storytelling, stand up and short films.

The event marked a departure from the improvised comedy that defines iO. According to James Grace, the coordinator of SFC, this venture was an organic evolution for the theater.

"iO West has had an explosion of sketch, solo, storytelling and stand up shows over the last year," explained Grace during a pre-festival interview. "So featuring all the talent at this theater in L.A., and across the country, seemed like a natural progression. The industry is always looking for product and scripted comedy is the best way to consistently showcase talent."

More »

Harrison Brown

Miles Stroth and Heather Campbell perform as Heather and Miles at the UCB Theater

An unprecedented battle of improv awesomeness took place at the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theater two nights ago.

Since its LA chapter opened in 2005, UCB has been hosting a Cagematch every Wednesday night at 11 p.m. Two teams compete by performing one 20-minute improv set each. They can do whatever they want during those 20 minutes, except "kick a chicken wing into the audience" or "wear a luchador mask," according to the rules. Most teams choose whatever form of long-form improv they feel they do best: Harold, Montage, Armando, Deconstruction etc. The audience votes to choose a winner, who will come back the next week to meet a new challenger.

If a team wins 15 consecutive Cagematches, The Gauntlet begins and the reigning team only plays former winners. There have been plenty of long runs, but three-man-team Convoy (Alex Fernie, Alex Berg and Todd Fasen), who now have a weekly show at UCB on Thursdays at 11 p.m., hold the record by far with 44 consecutive weekly wins. No team had even gotten close -- until now.

Heather and Miles, the two-person team made up of Heather Anne Campbell (whose credits include SNL, Amsterdam's Boom Chicago, Drew Carey and the Improv All-Stars) and Miles Stroth (Second City, member of the seminal improv team The Family, and a teacher & performer at Improv Olympic), won their 44th consecutive Cagematch last week, and returned Wednesday night to play none other than... Convoy.

More »

Sarah Hummert

John Conroy, executive producer of the 6th Annual Del Close Awards

To the members of iO West, the Del Close Awards Ceremony is like an improv prom. This past Monday, Aug. 27, the comedians of Improv Olympic convened at their Hollywood theater to celebrate the 6th Annual Del Close Awards, which, according to the event planners, honors "achievements -- both valid and dubious -- in the field of comedic improvisation." The normally casual actors trade their ironic t-shirts and practical ponytails for blazers and designer heels. But formalwear is just the beginning of the similarities.

"[We call it a prom] based on the goofiness, alcohol and hooking up," jokes John Conroy, executive producer of the award show, during a pre-show interview. As chairman of the event, Conroy acknowledges both its earnestness and the absurdity.

"The Dels were always intended to lampoon award shows," he adds. "This isn't the Oscars. It's not even the Westminster Dog Show. It's comedy, and the best comedy comes from poking yourself in the eye. Our categories are a balance of sincerity and self-mockery. Despite the jokes there are warm and fuzzy moments. It feels good when your peers give you a paperweight, even when it's a backhanded compliment."

More »

Courtesy E.J. Scott

Scott completing his second marathon of the year in Austin, Texas.

There is rain in the forecast this weekend, and that makes E.J. Scott nervous. He is supposed to run the 26.2-mile Los Angeles Marathon, a task that usually takes him five and a half hours. Exposure to the elements for that long is enough to make anyone a little anxious, but Scott is more worried the rain could waterlog his curtain.

"It's really long; I wrap it around my head a couple times so it's nice and thick, but when it gets wet, it gets really heavy and it might fall down," says Scott, whose face (when not covered in curtain) is recognizable from his work in the L.A. improv scene.

Scott has Choroideremia, a rare eye disease that has left him with just a fraction of the vision an average person has. "Most people can see about 90 degrees out of each eye and I'm at less than 20," he says.

More »

Jim Sabo

Seth Brown and Danny Jacobs are The Understudies

It's the night of the show and megastars Basil Shaw III and Chad Krause are missing in action. The understudies must go on. Which of Basil and Chad's many plays will they do tonight? Just shout out the location of your favorite one, any location really, and they'll do that play.

This is the premise for The Understudies, a three-act play improvised on the spot by comedians Danny Jacobs and Seth Brown. The night I saw their show at the Comedy Central stage at the Hudson Theater, Feb. 29, the suggestion was "Vineyard." After describing the setting of an old vineyard barrel and tasting room, Jacobs and Brown made up, on the spot, an hourlong, poignant Chekhovian drama about two brothers with very different dreams. It was moving, structurally sound and absolutely hilarious.

More »

Robyn Von Swank www.vonswank.com

Veteran improviser Billy Merritt

There are plenty of theaters, cafés, basements, and even back alleys where you can catch a long form improv show in L.A. these days, with more teams promoting the form than there are jokes about Kim Kardashian.

The options for where to risk your $5-$15 to watch an hour of people making stuff up can be really daunting. But whether you're an improv newbie or a seasoned critic, you will have no regrets spending that $5 on The Smokes at the Upright Citizen's Brigade at the unlikely time of Mondays at 7 p.m. The Smokes are one of the veteran improv teams in town: reliably funny, brilliantly creative, and dare I say...moving. But how??

I sat down with Billy Merritt, one of the founders of the Smokes and original improvers at the Upright Citizen's Brigade in New York to talk about his improv theory -- which he calls "Pirate!Robot!Ninja!" -- and how it explains The Smokes indubitable funniness.

More »

Steve La

Pickle Duck, with Laura Davis (left) and Suzi Barrett

On a cold and windy Wednesday night, an army of female performers assembled at the Flight Theatre in Hollywood. The women were dispersed onstage, in the hallways and lobby doing various types of theater warmups. In one corner of the theatre, a group clapped their hands in unison looking intently at one another. In the midst of the gleeful chaos, comedy fans filled the seats of the modest theatre to capacity eagerly awaiting the multitudes of improvisers set to perform that night.

They were all there for the Women! Comedy! Festival!. Room 101, a popular weekly indie improv show, created the festival to recognize L.A.'s vast pool of talented female improvisers and sketch comedians. A mega roster of thirteen improv teams and the sketch group The Get Go were chosen to fill a three-hour-long evening of comedy.

The existence of a comedy show featuring all women seems to suggest that Room 101 is trying to fight the inane, tiresome argument that women aren't funny. Shakedown, the improv group that produces Room 101, asserted that they did not intend for the show to have a feminist agenda.

"We just want people to have fun and be exposed to different types of improv," says Toni Charlene, a member of Shakedown.

More »

Katie Harker/iO West

Kate Walsh reveals at IO West's Improv Comedy Festival that she had back surgery so she can run on the beach naked in slo-mo.

Over the last nine years, iO West's Los Angeles Improv Comedy Festival has become a love-in; a time when neophyte and master improvisers commemorate the late punk godfather of their craft, Del Close, with 100 performances, 80 workshops, an awards ceremony -- as well as Armandos.

What sounds like a round of Mexican drinks is actually a long-form improv, created at iO Chicago, that starts with a guest's confessional and finishes with a string of improvised scenes, inspired by the monologist. Subject matter for an Armando-logue is often triggered by an audience suggestion, which last week ranged from "chocolate chip cookies" to "pissing off a roof."

Like Close, who was an infamous heroin addict, Armandos are zany and trippy. At the same time, they exemplify his "Truth in Comedy" principle in action. For Close, great comedy came from a performer's personal experience. He had little patience for those fabricating their funny business without any sincerity. Luckily, Close didn't have to turn over in his grave as the celebrity comedians who showed up to guest host Armandos were all too willing to bare their souls. A look at the 10 comedy truths revealed last week onstage and off at the iO West festival:

More »