Mohtalim

I went with my class at the beginning of this semester. It was pretty entertaining. It looks like they have locations near most of you, so I was wondering if any of you guys have seen it too...

http://www.comedysportz.com/cities.htm

We went. We disliked it. I suppose it is highly dependent on the performers.

There was a place in Atlanta called Dad's Garage Theatre. After the play on the weekend nights, some improv folks would do a comedy show called Gorilla Theatre. We liked that a lot. Good fun if you're in Atlanta and want something to do around 10pm on a weekend. Similar idea to Comedy Sportz, but the entertainment value is all in the details.

To elaborate: Comedy Sportz seemed overly hung up on the rules and format in a non-funny manner. They were also snippy to us.

Gorilla Theatre was more madcap. They played to larger audience and weren't a chain. Dad's Garage Theatre is a better venue than Comedy Sportz in Portland, too.

I do think everyone living in a major city should check out their local improv scene. It's probably a lot more entertaining than most standup.

Oh, also:

Unlike most other forms of performance comedy, ComedySportz is great for all ages. The audience of a typical ComedySportz match contains everyone from kids to college students to parents to grandparents.

This attitude handicaps Comedy Sportz further.

True, the wide audience acceptance cramps the improv... Although, it was kinda amusing watching someone try to do something in the manner of Samuel L Jackson and not swear. Think Snakes on a Plane for instance :-p