The Home Comedy Theater

Conception and Founding (2023)

Cesar Jaime, a performer, teacher, and administrator at iO Theater for more than twenty years, began searching for a suitable space approximately three years before the theatre opened, motivated by the loss of iO's intimate long-form environment during the pandemic. In July 2023, Jaime signed a lease on a century-old building at 2843 N. Halsted Street in East Lakeview, assembling a founding circle that included veteran iO instructors Liz Allen, Peter Gwinn, and Susan Messing. Noah Gregoropoulos, another named co-founder, died in December 2022 before he could be told about the space.

Opening (2024–2025)

The Home Comedy Theater was publicly announced in early 2024, with an initial projected opening in spring 2024. The venue operates an 80-seat theatre with a full bar and restaurant, offering long-form improv shows, classes in improv and sketch comedy, a Spanish-language ensemble (HERALDO), and an improvised puppet show (FELT). Jaime also serves as a cast member on NBC's Chicago Med.

The Home Comedy Theater is oriented around the Harold and the long-form teaching tradition associated with Del Close and iO Theater. Jaime trained under Close and Martin De Maat and has framed the theatre as a recovery of the intimate, workshop-centred performance environment that iO lost when it moved into a larger venue and when the pandemic forced its closure. The HERALDO Spanish-language ensemble reflects a deliberate effort to extend the Chicago long-form tradition into the North Side's Latino communities. The 80-seat, bar-and-restaurant format is designed to recreate the informal social environment of the earliest iO shows.