Improv scores in the 'burbs, proving 'there's nothing better than laughter'

The Second City and I.O. Chicago have helped make Chicago world-famous for improvised comedy. But in recent years, suburbanites have able to quench their thirst for improv closer to home.

Improv - spontaneously created theater based upon audience suggestions - comes in a variety of flavors, including freshly brewed on the spot or processed in a sketch-comedy blend. Some suburban improv companies press boundaries with "pardon-my-French" profanity and irreverence, while others specialize in filtering the fun for family audiences.

Regardless of how you like it, you can find improv all over the area.

Since 2000, Lake County has had the Improv Playhouse in Libertyville, while The Comedy Shrine in Naperville has been DuPage County's funny-bone pilgrimage site since 2006. Suburban Cook County lays claim to improv through the Laugh Out Loud Theater at Streets of Woodfield in Schaumburg.

The suburbs also import improv from the Windy City. Since March, the swanky Montrose Room of the Rosemont InterContinental Chicago O'Hare hotel (famed for its "ICtini" cocktails in ice glasses) has hosted the Annoyance Theatre and Comedy Sportz on weekends.

And though not full-out improv, The Second City stages seasonal sketch-comedy shows for limited suburban runs like the current "Girls' Night Out: Uncensored" at the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Arlington Heights until Saturday, Sept. 19.

"Short-form" improv sketches are what most people are familiar with. The hit British (and later American) TV series "Whose Line is It Anyway?" brought short-form improv to the masses in the late 1990s, while Milwaukee-based Comedy Sportz pioneered a variant competitive version in 1984 involving two comedy teams trying to win points. The format has since been franchised internationally.

But when most people think of Chicago improv, The Second City inevitably comes up (even though sketch-based comedy is truly its strength). Along with helping to launch scores of household-name comedians, The Second City (now celebrating its 50th anniversary) has been a successful entertainment business model for others to emulate.

Despite The Second City's own aborted attempt to maintain a professional Rolling Meadows location in the 1980s and '90s, the founders of suburban improv companies still felt there was a need for comedy outside of Chicago.

"I wasn't trying to reinvent the wheel," said David Sinker, owner of The Comedy Shrine and a veteran Second City touring performer. "I was taking a model that I had seen that was successful at places like The Second City or The Groundlings in Los Angeles."

Like Sinker, other owners of suburban improv companies have Second City ties. Improv Playhouse founder and self-proclaimed "guy in charge" David Stuart and Laugh Out Loud owner Lillie Frances both trained at and taught classes for The Second City.

The Comedy Shrine, The Improv Playhouse and Laugh Out Loud all have specialty divisions to perform at corporate gigs and private events. Each also offers improv comedy classes.

Stuart was proud to note that one Improv Playhouse summer camp class was officially accredited by the American Camp Association, while Sinker boasts how The Comedy Shrine offers a course in comedy writing taught by former "Saturday Night Live" writer Nate Herman (The Annoyance and Comedy Sportz also offer classes in Chicago).

"When you see improv, you think 'I could do that,'" said Frances, who purchased what was the Chicago Comedy Club in 2007 and relaunched it as Laugh Out Loud in 2008 after several renovations.

According to Frances, many driven students take improv classes in Chicago with the goal of making a career in comedy. Whereas in the suburbs, students largely take classes to incorporate improv skills into their professional or personal lives.

"(People think) I could use this for work in sales, I could use this to become more comfortable at work speaking in front of people, or it's 'Oh boy, this thing sure looks like fun.'"

Far from seeing suburban improv companies as competition, The Second City appreciates its former associates for providing more opportunities for Chicago-area performers.

"Talent needs stage time," said Kelly Leonard, vice president of The Second City. "So the fact that there are other theaters, and in particular improv-based comedy theaters, doing the work just means that more talent is getting the opportunity to perform, take chances and get better at their craft."

Though many suburban improv comedy heads offered praise to colleagues, they also talked up their own companies by dropping subtle digs at the competition.

Improv Playhouse's Stuart and Comedy Sportz's Chicago artistic director Matt Elwell both stressed how all their shows are family friendly.

"We want people to perform at the height of their intelligence," Stuart said. "That's why you won't hear our performers use profanities."

Meanwhile, Annoyance Theatre executive producer Jennifer Estlin is keen about their upcoming show, "Annoyance: NSFW." She says it will reflect more of the Annoyance's outrageous late-night ethos (for example, the theater's most famous show is "Co-Ed Prison Sluts").

While Stuart touts his mostly suburban company of performers at Improv Playhouse, other companies boast how almost all their performers are trained Chicago imports (Estlin even loans her car occasionally for her performers to carpool to Rosemont).

But in terms of decor, one improv theater wins hands down: The Comedy Shrine literally lives up to its name since the theater is festooned with so much comedy memorabilia. It's almost worth the price of admission itself.

"People tell me it's like eBay threw up in here," said Sinker, who has collected celebrity autographs and comedy objects for more than a decade. "People are always amazed at my collection of memorabilia and the quality of our shows."

But despite the differences, all of the suburban improv troupes are united in one goal: to give audiences a night of fun.

"The great thing about what all of us are doing in times like this recession is that there's nothing better than laughter," Sinker said. "That's what we all aspire to do ­­- to let people relax and have a good time and forget about the problems that they face 24/7. We help make it just 22-and-a-half/7."