Boom Chicago

Andrew Moskos, Pep Rosenfeld, and Saskia Maas founded Boom Chicago in Amsterdam in 1993. Moskos and Rosenfeld were childhood friends from Evanston, Illinois who had attended Northwestern University together; Maas was a Dutch exchange student they had met in the US. They opened their first shows at Iboya on Korte Leidsedwarsstraat, a small venue near Leidseplein. Their founding premise was that Amsterdam's large international population warranted English-language comedy performed in an improv format new to the Netherlands.

The company moved to Studio 100 (180 seats) in 1994, then into the Leidseplein Theater (270 seats) in 1998. In 2013, marking their 20th anniversary, they relocated to the Rozentheater on the Rozengracht, a 500-seat complex that became their permanent home. A corporate training arm, Boom Chicago for Business, has operated since 1993 alongside the performance company; Andrew Moskos has coached Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on speeches and presentations.

Seth Meyers arrived at Boom Chicago in 1997; his touring show with Jill Benjamin attracted SNL scouts, leading to his joining SNL as a writer in 2001 and eventually becoming Weekend Update anchor and host of Late Night. Jordan Peele performed at Boom Chicago and at the Edinburgh Fringe before going on to create Get Out, Us, and Nope. Jason Sudeikis co-created Ted Lasso with two Boom Chicago colleagues, Brendan Hunt and Joe Kelly, who also met at the company. Amber Ruffin, Kay Cannon, Ike Barinholtz, and dozens of others built careers through the Amsterdam ensemble.

In 2023, Moskos, Rosenfeld, Maas, and Matt Diehl published Boom Chicago Presents the 30 Most Important Years in Dutch History (Akashic Books), a 456-page oral history of the company. Seth Meyers wrote the foreword; Jordan Peele wrote the afterword. A feature documentary was announced in 2024. In February 2026, CBS News 60 Minutes featured Boom Chicago as "the Amsterdam comedy club that launched Seth Meyers and Jordan Peele."

Boom Chicago performs and writes sketch and long-form improv comedy in English for Dutch and international audiences, consistently engaging with political and cultural subjects: shows have addressed the EU, 9/11, the Pim Fortuyn era, social media, the gig economy, and AI. The company's willingness to take positions distinguishes it from entertainment-focused improv venues.

The Boom Chicago Academy offers multi-level improv training open to the public. InterActing, founded in 2018 by Saskia Maas, uses improv methodology with autistic teenagers aged 12-25, developing social-emotional skills and including a showteam for autistic young performers.

Comedy Central News (CCN) (2007): 75-episode run on Comedy Central Netherlands with Greg Shapiro as anchor.

Boom Chicago Presents the 30 Most Important Years in Dutch History (2023 book): Oral history of the company from 1993 to 2023, with foreword by Seth Meyers and afterword by Jordan Peele.

Boom Chicago is the most alumni-generative improv theatre outside the United States. Seth Meyers, Jordan Peele, Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt, Joe Kelly, Amber Ruffin, Kay Cannon, Ike Barinholtz, and dozens more passed through the Amsterdam company before achieving prominence in North American television and film. Ted Lasso, created by three Boom Chicago alumni, became one of the most awarded television programmes of the 2020s. The company's 30-year tenure transformed Amsterdam's English-language comedy landscape and created a transatlantic pipeline between European improvisation and American entertainment.