Sam Shaw & Shaun Landry

We are thrilled, humbled, and over the moon to announce this year’s recipient of the San Francisco Improv Festival’s award for Outstanding Commitment to the Improv Community. As it is The Fest’s 10th anniversary, we hope you will join us in recognizing Sam Shaw & Shaun Landry, who founded SFIF as a way to give Bay Area performers an outlet to play, perform and apply their learning. We have so much gratitude for the blood, sweat, tears, and love of community & improv it takes to make this dream a reality.

So, THANK YOU Shaun & Sam for creating this dream for all of us!!

“Nice to be honored alongside Shaun Landry for starting up the The San Francisco Improv Festival in 2004, which goes strong to this day. Also, praise is due to SF Improv Co-Op producers in the early days who kept it going rain and shine: Anastasia Elizondo-Lossow, Kate Kotler, Dan Wilson, Bryce Byerley, Chris Hayes, Chris Libby, Tom Wadlow and everyone else who’s name escapes me. Oh yeah – Clay Robeson was crucial too.” — Sam Shaw

“We were all over the Bay Area. I remember when May 6th 2004, was challenging as we were in direct competition with the last episode of Friends (The theme song of that show on that day was extremely ironic.) The festival is coming back this year. And that is a wonderful thing. Here is the Club flyer of the first festival, courtesy of Robert Crumb and Harvey Pekar…with the other stuff created by me.” — Shaun Landry