Author Archives: Jamie Wright

SIGN UP NOW – INTRO TO IMPROV WITH SFIF & SF REC & PARKS MARCH 23RD – MAY 18TH…! The San Francisco Improv Festival serves up unique opportunities for learning the art in 2012, and now we are partnering with SF Rec & Parks Department to offer an intro to improv at exceptionally affordable pricing! A 9-week Intro to Improv class with master improvisor & SFIF board member Chris Libby is on offer for just $90 – that’s (wait for the math…) $10 a class!! WHEN: Fridays March 23rd – May 18th: 6:30pm – 8pm WHERE: Upper Noe Rec Center @ Day & Sanchez, SF COST: $90 [...]

Continuing our 2012 season, the San Francisco Improv Festival is bringing The Committee’s Julie Payne to SF for a unique two-day weekend intensive for female improvisors, March 24th and 25th at the Alcove Theater. In an art form that has often been deemed by many a “boys’ club,” Julie Payne brings her feminist approach and decades of comedy experience back to her roots in the San Francisco improv scene. She will encourage you to take more time, dig deeper, play from the heart, mine your own and others’ experience in improv and as women. Get more info here or go straight to get your tix. Tickets [...]

The San Francisco Improv Festival’s work in bringing Improv Everywhere’s MP3 Experiment to Union Square has been noticed by one of the premiere local lifestyle mags, San Francisco. In a 2-page spread featuring a photo byGrecco Balatbat, San Francisco magazine captured some of what made this Summer’s festival both ridiculous and amazing [read the caption here]. Thanks to Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere, the city of San Francisco, SF Rec & Parks, MJM Management and the thousands of people who showed up to Union Square to rock the fest! Check out the video highlight of the event here.

______ Wow. Fantastic festival, San Francisco – thank you!! The San Francisco Improv Festival is all about community and introducing audiences to improv, and we got that and more from the Bay Area and those who came from all around to make it happen. From the OCIC award for Jim Cranna, to the amazing volunteers who showed up and covered our producorial butts and represented the festival with aplomb – to our sponsors who stepped up this year, to the big bump in attendance for all shows and the incredibly talented acts from around the bay and around the nation – [...]

The San Francisco Improv Festival is excited to announce the addition of Emily Candini to the already deep bench of talent on Saturday night. Emily will be ‘Messed with’ by the ridiculous and ridiculously skilled Susan Messing in the 8:30 PM show on the Saturday double bill with Uncle’s Brother. Tickets are selling really fast for this show, so get ‘em now!! MORE ON EMILY: Emily Candini is a California native who has been performing for over 20 years. Obsessively in love with comedy since the age of two, she has always known her path. After years of modern and [...]

Thanks to all of you who showed up to play on Tuesday!! The MP3 Experiment was a huge success, with an estimated 2500 people improvising in Union Square to the dulcet tones of Steve, Improv Everywhere’s omnipotent voice on the MP3 track. Check out the video highlight from the event by clicking on the pic above, and take a loook at some other angles from NBC Bay Area and Laughing Squid! Special thanks to SF Rec and Parks and MJM Management for rolling with an event much larger than anticipated…! Charlie Todd’s talk and Q&A on Improv Everywhere  (Improv Everywhere [...]

Our festival retrospective on Del Close, focusing on his early years performing and directing here in San Francisco with The Committee, has just added two new members to the panel – Committee members Chris Pray and Ed Greenberg. These fantastically talented improvisors talk (with Del’s co-authors of the improvisor’s handbook “Truth in Comedy” Charna Halpern, and Kim “Howard” Johnson) about their experiences with Del as an actor, director and not-yet-improv-guru. Del Close, the man who trained improvisors from John Belushi to Tina Fey, and who served as the House Metaphysician for SNL’s opening season, spent his time in San Francisco [...]

The San Francisco Improv Festival is proud to announce that Jim Cranna is the 2011 recipient of their annual OCIC Award! The festival will be honoring Jim Sunday, August 21st at 5:30pm at the Eureka Theater, located on Jackson at Battery in SF. This is a free event, so please come celebrate with us…! Jim Cranna is one of the guiding lights for improvisation in San Francisco. Improv legend Del Close discovered him in 1967 and brought him into The Committee, where he performed until they closed up shop in the 70’s. Jim performed with other seminal Bay Area improv [...]

_____ Finally! A limited number of festival passes are on sale now, offering general admission seating to every show of your choice. That’s right – every show. How much are they? A mere $55. That’s almost $300 worth of shows you get for $55. There are a very limited number, so go get your pass immediately and then sign up for Uncle’s Brother and Messing with a Friend, Dr. God with Dave Holmes and Serious V-Neck, Del Close: The Early Years with ‘Truth in Comedy’ authors Charna Halpern & Kim ‘Howard’ Johnson, and all of your favorite local acts on the [...]