The Improfessionals

On 14 May 2001, Florian Bartsch, Clara McBride, Caspar Schjelbred, and fellow students from the Impro Academy performed the first Improfessionals show, titled 'Improvisation Insanity', at Cafe Oz near Pigalle before a friendly audience of expatriates. The company's emotionally present, story-based style attracted audiences beyond the English-speaking community, with increasing numbers of French speakers discovering the shows in the early 2000s. In 2012, the company moved its flagship production to the Essaion Theatre, creating The Improfessionals Show as a distinct venue-specific programme. Over its history the company has offered corporate workshops and public speaking training alongside its performance calendar, and it continues to run in parallel with Impro Academy's class programme.

The Improfessionals built its reputation on a style that prizes emotional commitment, narrative sensitivity, and the celebration of mistakes as creative gifts rather than failures, setting it apart from format-driven improv game shows. The company's English-language identity has made it a cultural anchor for Paris's international community while also serving as a point of contact between Anglophone and Francophone improv traditions.

As the first anglophone improv performance company in Paris and the longest-running English-language improv show in the city, The Improfessionals established the institutional foundation upon which the Parisian English-language improv scene was built.