The Improv

The Improv is a comedy club franchise. Originally, it was a single venue founded in 1963 by Budd Friedman and located in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City on West 44th near the SE corner of 9th Ave. A second location was opened in 1974 at 8162 Melrose Avenue in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California (the old location of the Ash Grove). In 1979 Mark Lonow became a general partner and with Budd Friedman ran the Melrose club and oversaw the expansion of the single room as it became a successful chain. In 1982 the LA Improv became the original site for the A&E Network television series An Evening at the Improv, running from 1982 until 1996, and was produced by Larry O'Daly, created by O'Daly and Barbara Hosie-O'Daly, with Budd Friedman as a warm-up host. Other locations have opened since then, such as in Tampa, Florida,Fort Lauderdale, Florida,Atlantic City, and Louisville, Kentucky.Levity Entertainment Group is the largest shareholder of The Improv comedy clubs.

The Improv (India)

The Improv is an improvisational comedy show which was started in May 2012 in Bangalore, India. The show has no script and is totally performed on improvisation, as its name suggests. The audiences give topics to the host and taking the cue, the actors create on-the-spot hilarious situations on stage. It is hosted and directed by Saad Khan, an Indian filmmaker. The show is conceptualized by Saad Khan and Siddhanth Sundar. The show’s performers are Danish Sait, Siddhanth Sundar, Sal Yusuf, Richa Kapoor, Sumukhi Suresh, Kenneth Sebastian and Praveen Raj. The team has performed over 75 shows in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Background

The show was created in May 2012 by Saad Khan and Siddhanth Sundar. College mates, Khan and Sundar spent hours in their campus canteen performing improvisational scenes together. Such impromptu performances in college earned them an early audience, who cheered and motivated them. After college, they pursued their respective media careers and Khan left for the US for further studies. On Khan’s return to India, the two friends again collaborated and started a media company named CenterStage in 2011. On May 6, 2012, CenterStage launched The Improv in Bangalore which had actors on stage performing many scenes without any rehearsal or script and from situations given by the audience. Since then they have performed over 75 shows in Indian cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai and their first overseas performance was in the UAE in April 2014. They have had shows for varied audiences like in the general public, corporate houses, college fests, and communities.