Improv Comedy Bangalore
Improv Comedy Bangalore (ICB) is a professional improv theatre company founded in Bengaluru in 2014 by Nasir Engineer, who trained with Improv Comedy Mumbai under Adam Dow. The group is the only Indian ensemble to have performed at The Second City in Chicago and has held over 100 shows, trained hundreds of students, and facilitated applied workshops for more than 25 major brands including Google, Uber, Philips, IBM, and Decathlon.
History
Nasir Engineer began his improv training with Improv Comedy Mumbai in 2010 before relocating to Bengaluru and assembling a founding team that included Rohit Nair, Abhishek Desai, Madhu Shukla, and Shrirupa Sengupta. The group performed its first Bengaluru show in June 2015 and grew steadily within the South India comedy circuit. ICB's highest-profile milestone came when it performed at The Second City in Chicago, the only Indian group to do so. In 2018 and 2019, Nasir Engineer founded and directed India's first international improv festival, the Bengaluru Improv Festival, bringing visiting ensembles to the city.
Artistic Identity
ICB trained in the Chicago long-form and short-form traditions, influenced directly by Nasir Engineer's time with Improv Comedy Mumbai and Adam Dow's curriculum. Performances mixed audience-driven short-form games with longer narrative structures, and the company placed equal emphasis on corporate applied improv training alongside stage performance.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Improv Comedy Bangalore. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/companies/improv-comedy-bangalore
The Improv Archive. "Improv Comedy Bangalore." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/companies/improv-comedy-bangalore.
The Improv Archive. "Improv Comedy Bangalore." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/companies/improv-comedy-bangalore. Accessed March 17, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.