Jet City Improv

Fourth time here! I love the energy. The improv is amazing. The team is quick on their feet and brings nonstop laughter. - Yelp

Young, edgy vibe, entertaining improv.... - Trip Advisor

Jet City Improv News Release Media Contact:
For Immediate Release Jon Axell
Kill Date: NEVER! jon@jetcityimprov.com

Jet City Improv

Favorite Place if You are Underage – Winner (Northwest Source, 2006)
Best Improv/Sketch Comedy – Winner (Northwest Source, 2005, 2006, 2007)
Best Live Comedy – Winner (King5 Best in Western Washington, 2009)

Seattle, WA— Jet City Improv, now in its 19th year, is a fast-paced, funny, audience-interactive, all-ages appropriate short-form improv show that performs in Seattle at the Historic University Theater every Friday and Saturday at 10:30pm, and most Saturdays at 8:00pm.

Each show is made up of roughly a dozen improvised scenes, games and musical numbers—all based on suggestions provided by our audience. Our quick-witted professionals work together to create a live comedy experience that is unique every time.

Jet City Improv was founded in 1992 by Mike Christensen (MFA in Acting from University of Idaho) and Andrew McMasters (MFA in Acting and graduate of the Professional Actors Training Program from the University of Washington). Over the first ten years of its existence, Jet City Improv grew in both cast and audience size, while it moved from theater to theater (including the now-defunct Belltown Arts Center in the mid-90’s, and the Ethnic Cultural Theater in the late-90’s). In 2002, Jet City Improv moved into its permanent home, the Historic University Theater, where it remained Wing-It’s flagship show, as Wing-It began to create and produce new improvised pieces, such as The Lost Folio and The Saturday Morning Cartoon Show.

As of 2012, company of actors has grown to 35 diverse performers.

Each performance includes five on-stage actors, one dedicated Sound Effects performer, an improvisational musician, and a technician in the light booth, all creating a fully-immersing theatrical experience. We play classic short-form improv games (such as “Death by Story” or “Instant Musical”); games we have developed ourselves (such as “Face Your Demon” and “Hall of Justice”); and games invented on the spot, with the help of the audience, to be played one time only.

We pride ourselves on combining tools of short-form improv (fast-paced and funny) with advanced storytelling methods and the long-form improv techniques of emotional core and characters with depth. We also claim to be more interactive than any other short-form improv company in the world.

As always, Jet City Improv is a family friendly comedy show.

We have a concession stand with soda, beer, water, hard lemonade, candy and popcorn, as well as a full bar open during each Jet City Improv show.

Jet City Improv is the cornerstone show of Wing-It Productions, a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to enlightening, educating and entertaining audiences of all ages by producing theatrical events which explore theater by utilizing its improvisational roots.
- Jet City Improv

Jet City Improv's Colossal, Glow-in-the Dark Brains

JET CITY IMPROV This troupe has its shit down.

by Meg van Huygen
"Improv has long been treated as the redheaded stepchild of theater," wrote Jet City Improv cofounder Andrew McMasters in an angry letter to The Stranger in 2002. Know why, Andrew? Because improv fucking sucks. It's tedious, it's overwrought, it's "zany." Because it sucks, most improv troupes can't get the grants or ticket revenue to pay their players, which means they'll take whoever will work for free, so their players usually suck.

I learned this lesson twice. One birthday, I invited a few friends to an improv show, and was embarrassed for life. It was, as I later found out, a quintessential example of local improv: desperate, unprofessional, and heartbreakingly unfunny. A couple years later, I paid $125 for nonrefundable improv lessons and had to quit after two classes, because the teachers were so engrossed in Being Funny that they behaved like big slavering retards. The lesson I learned: Improv will be funny a couple times, then it will take your money and humiliate you. Don't trust improv.

That is, except for your group, Andrew. You should be pissed off, because Jet City Improv has its shit down, and only a handful of people seem to know it.

Founded in 1992 by McMasters and Mike Christensen, Jet City Improv is the only local improv group that's worth a damn. After a decade spent in UW's Ethnic Cultural Theatre, JCI's parent company, Wing-It Productions, took over the ex-Paradox Theatre (5510 University Way NE) last September. In addition to the straight-up Jet City show, Wing-It offers Twisted Flicks (improvised B-movie voice-overs), the Lost Folio (a Shakespeare parody), Major League Improv (a baseball-themed rendition of JCI with innings or something), an improv cage match, and, beginning in January, the Saturday Morning Cartoon Show.

Jet City's premise isn't extraordinary. Five actors are cast, an emcee prompts the spectators for topics, then the actors use little improv games to perform vignettes. The games aren't especially complicated, either. In one, the actors tell a story chunk by chunk as the emcee points to them in turn, switching mid-sentence as the actors scramble to continue the story. In another, the cast tells the same story a bunch of times while shifting between various film genres. It's industry-standard stuff.

So how come they're funny, while so many, many improv groups aren't? Cofounder Mike Christensen speculates, "I think it's [our] high level of teamwork, born of consistent, active rehearsals and a smooth-flowing, fast-paced show. This sounds simple--and boring--but it's what allows great characters, stories, and scenes to develop."

But that's not all of it. Whoever does the hiring at Jet City is prudent to cast actors who're not only clever but also boast strong narrative skills and know their pop-culture references. Says cast member Missy Meyer: "Out of my auditioning group of probably about 50 people, four of us were cast." She adds, "We're not afraid to take on someone with no improv experience, if they show talent."

Another factor: While improv emcees generally use whichever audience suggestion was yelled first or loudest, Jet City's emcees have a gift for ignoring the dumb-assed ones (Emcee: "What your father does for a living?" Frat boy: "Your mom!") and honing in on the creative ones.

But honestly, it's their colossal glow-in-the-dark brains that make them great comedians. I could cite examples of something funny somebody said one time, but the fact is, Jet City Improv succeeds because its actors are quick, innovative, and drama-savvy without jumping up and down and annoying the shit out of you. In his 2002 letter, McMasters defended "a whole world of fantastic improvisational theater" in Seattle. It's generous of you, Andrew, but JTC is Seattle's only fantastic improv theater. - The Stranger