The L.A. Indie Improv Festival

Thank you to everyone who came out to the 2018 L.A. Indie Improv Festival - Last One Ever! What started as a one-day collaboration between the handful of weekly indie shows that existed in 2012 grew and blossomed over the past seven years along with LA's improv community as a whole. Since then, LAIIF has had holiday parties, and improv TED talks, and multi-day festivals. We've had panels, and podcasts, and the Greatest Fundraiser Ever. We've seen teams take the stage for the ...very first time, and the very last. It's been our privilege to celebrate indie improv in all these ways and more, and we hope you enjoyed our last hurrah! As you may know, this festival has always run on donations. At the moment, we're still a few hundred dollars away from meeting our full operating budget for this year. If you'd be able to make one last donation by Venmo'ing @LAIIF to help us fully cover the cost of this year's fest, we'd be truly grateful! And as always, for always, LAIIF loves you!

New panelists added for LAIIF! -

Now announcing the 2018 LAIIF panels! -

The complete LAIIF schedule is now live! -

Don’t miss your chance to be part of the last ever LAIIF!

ONLY 2 DAYS LEFT TO SUBMIT... In 2017, we decided that one day just wasn't enough for our sixth festival. For the first time, we expanded LAIIF to take place over two days, August 12 and 13. Two days meant two opportunities for opening panels, so in addition to holding our third industry-focused panel with working actors, writers, and directors, we also held our first panel on improv itself with Beth Appel, Shaun Diston, Becky Drysdale, and Alex Fernie. Other highlights of our sixth festival included amazing sets from beloved teams Voltron, White Women, and Sassy Bluff. We also felt honored to showcase the last set by former indie show hosts Johnny Law before our friend George Barber left Los Angeles.

ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT TO SUBMIT... One of the most memorable sets from our fifth LA Indie Improv Fest on August 6, 2016 was the debut of Drew DiFonzo Marks & An Audience Member Who Has Never Done Improv. There's no better way to see the power of playing supportively than watching a pro like Drew make a completely inexperienced person look like a genius in every single scene, and this set had many of us laughing so hard that we cried. Other highlights from 2016 included equally hilarious sets from Seth & Mary, indie improv forefathers Crashbar, and of course John Velvet, a team that has been especially near and dear to LAIIF since our first fest in 2012.

ONLY 4 DAYS LEFT TO SUBMIT... Anyone who's not a narc knows what the Greatest Fundraiser Ever is code for, but you may not know that the event actually pre-dates the LA Indie Improv Festival. It first happened annually at UCB Franklin, then struck out on its own as an independent show. Once LAIIF began, it seemed only natural to make the show a fundraiser for the festival because many of the same people were involved in producing both events. And whether held in a weird art ...gallery downtown, a theater with an unpronounceable Russian portmanteau for a name, or in the good ol' Clubhouse, one thing is certain: improv under the influence is not to be missed. And we certainly can't talk about the Greatest Fundraiser Ever without giving a special shoutout to Three Princes! Their unprecedented streak of three back-to-back appearances was much appreciated by us, and possibly just a crazy blur to them.

ONLY 5 DAYS LEFT TO SUBMIT FOR 2018... For our fourth LA Indie Improv Fest on July 18, 2015, we moved from Hollywood's Theater Row neighborhood to three stages on Vermont Avenue, the Impro and the Clubhouse's current location, plus two stages off of Hyperion Avenue, the Lyric Hyperion Theatre and Spirit Studio. So the obvious question was: how do we get people from Vermont to Hyperion? Our answer was a party bus, complete with teams performing on the bus as it shuttled people between venues. Other highlights of LAIIF 2015 included a live recording of improv4humans, a particularly memorable mid-scene dogpile from Puddy, and the first All-Theater Group Game Show, in which Alex Fernie makes everyone in the theater during the show part of a set made up solely of group games, whether they want to be in them or not.

SUBMIT YOUR TEAM NOW!

On October 18, 2014, LAIIF hosted a series of improv TED talks at the Downtown Independent theater. We had an amazing lineup of speakers sharing their thoughts and wisdom on a variety of topics related to improv: Dominic Dierkes - Improv in the Writing Process Lucas Neff - Don't Be Funny Jill Donnelly - Going Down with the Ship... Neil Flynn - Being the Straight Man/Telling the Truth Will Hines - Fighting in Improv Nick Armstrong - Becoming A National Improv Community Phil Jackson - Theatrics Jessica Beale Allen - Always Be Feeling (or Opinion-ing) Rich Talarico - Mutual Discovery Ian Roberts - Flash Memory It was such a delight to learn from these amazing performers!

For our third festival on May 24, 2014, LAIIF had some firsts. It was the first time we hosted a panel, which kicked off the day's festivities by discussing having a career in comedy with Colton Dunn, Dan Gregor, Lauren Lapkus, and David Phillips. It was also the first time we got a step and repeat so performers and audience members could have fun photo ops in front of it, as the 2014 LAIIF committee is pictured doing here. And it was also the first time we had Play by Play on our stage, which itself was happening for one of its first times on the West Coast!