Kevin McKernan, far left, announces The Improv Shop’s future location.
The Improv Shop, a local improvisational-comedy institution that provides classes and shows to students and audiences alike, is putting down roots in the Central West End.
Eager to mingle with its soon-to-be neighbors, the group has moved its regular weekly shows into a temporary space: the basement of Brennan’s Wine Tobacco and Food, the bar and cigar shop that's regularly hosted standup comedy, including faux debate show “Arguments & Grievances,” the long-running “Belly Laughin' with Matt Conty’s Underground Comedy Show,” and St. Louis natives Tommy Johnagin and Nikki Glaser.
Soon, though, The Improv Shop will bring its twice-weekly showcase to a nearby theater that's currently under construction. After calling Brennan’s home for the next month or so, the group will move down the road to 510 N. Euclid, the space formerly housed by Coco Louco Brasil. The Improv Shop is still waiting on inspections to determine capacity limits, but it expects the building will include a bar, stage, and green room, with enough space to hold roughly 80 audience members. Tuition from The Improv Shop's students is funding the acquisition and remodeling.
“It sounds cheesy," says company founder Kevin McKernan, "but it’s not a lie that it’s the students who built this place.”
Improv comedy has been a St. Louis staple since the Compass Players occupied a theater in Gaslight Square. Those Players, who originated in Chicago, eventually ventured back to the Windy City and helped establish companies like The Second City and iO (formerly ImprovOlympic), companies that put improv comedy on the map. More recently, improv comedy in St. Louis has been active through companies like Bill Chott’s Improv Trick—now based solely out of L.A., where the actor resides—and The Improv Shop, “unofficially founded” in October 2009 by McKernan, a high-school English teacher who returned to his hometown after being active in Chicago's improv scene.
“I offered my first improv class with an ad on Craigslist,” McKernan recalls. “I ended up getting in touch with Rich Andrews, who was working with a group from Wash. U. We ended up starting there on campus with about 20 students." From there, The Improv Shop quickly grew. About a year later, the group began doing shows at Tin Can.
Now, The Improv Shop has blossomed to boast a roster of six instructors teaching approximately 120 students in five different levels of long-form improvisation. The company also boasts several house teams that perform regularly at 8 p.m. on Monday and Thursday nights.
“Monday night is our experimental improv night, called The Lab,” explains McKernan, who describes the night as a way for performers to experiment with audience participation, ideas, topics, and formations. Each show typically ends with five veteran performers and five students on stage.
“Thursday night is Harold Night,” adds McKernan. He's referring to the famous form of long-form improv in which three improvised scenes converge on one another. “Two house teams of graduated performers will get be on that night, followed by Ted Dangerous, a team made up of our instructors."
Visit Brennan's tomorrow at 8 p.m. for Harold Night.
