Improvisation in Los Angeles
Companies
Historical Moments
Gary Austin Founds The Groundlings in Los Angeles
Gary Austin, a veteran of San Francisco's The Committee, formally established The Groundlings as a theatre company in January 1974 in Los Angeles, assembling approximately fifty founding members and naming the company after the standing-audience groundlings of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The company went on to develop the West Coast's most influential character-based improv and sketch methodology.
The Groundlings Opens Its Melrose Avenue Theatre After Four Years of Renovation
The Groundlings opened its permanent home at 7307 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles in April 1979, after four years of renovation complicated by building codes and parking restrictions. The 99-seat theatre established the venue that has anchored the company's operations ever since.
ComedySportz Opens Its First West Coast Franchise in Los Angeles
In 1988, ComedySportz expanded to Los Angeles under James Thomas Bailey, establishing its first West Coast franchise and first presence outside the Midwest. The Los Angeles operation brought the family-friendly competitive short-form format to one of the largest entertainment markets in North America. The LA franchise demonstrated that ComedySportz could sustain permanent operations in competitive entertainment cities and helped anchor the organisation's expansion beyond its regional Wisconsin origins.
Los Angeles Theatresports Founded, Bringing Keith Johnstone's Format to LA
Dan O'Connor, Ellen Idelson, and Forest Brakeman co-founded Los Angeles Theatresports in 1988 as a licensed Theatresports company in the tradition of Keith Johnstone. O'Connor was also a co-founder of BATS Improv in San Francisco. The company later developed its 'UnScripted' literary long-form format and rebranded publicly as Impro Theatre.
ImprovOlympic West Opens in Hollywood, Bringing the Harold to Los Angeles
ImprovOlympic West opened in Hollywood in 1997, Los Angeles, extending the iO brand to the West Coast and bringing the Harold tradition and Del Close's pedagogical legacy to a new city. iO West provides training and performance opportunities for Los Angeles-based improvisers and becomes an important venue for the city's growing improv scene. The opening represents the first major expansion of an established Chicago improv institution into the Los Angeles market.
iO West Opens in Hollywood as the Los Angeles Satellite of iO Theater
Paul Vaillancourt, a Chicago-trained improviser, founded iO West in 1997 with institutional backing from Charna Halpern, bringing the Harold-based long-form curriculum of iO Chicago to Los Angeles. The theatre launched at the Stella Adler Theater on Hollywood Blvd and later settled at the Palmer Building at 6366 Hollywood Blvd in 2000.
The Second City Opens a Hollywood Company in Los Angeles
The Second City opened a Hollywood company in Los Angeles in 1999, establishing its first West Coast presence. The Hollywood location produced original satirical revues and offered training programs in the Los Angeles market, bringing the Second City format to the city most closely associated with the television and film careers of Second City alumni. The Hollywood company operated until 2004.
The Second City Hollywood Company Closes After Five Years of Operation
The Second City Hollywood company closed in 2004 after approximately five years of operation, ending the company's first Los Angeles venture. The closure reflected the challenges of establishing a permanent improv and sketch institution in a market dominated by stand-up comedy clubs and entertainment industry short-term opportunities. Alumni of the Hollywood company continued to work in Los Angeles television and film.
The Second City Opens Hollywood Training Centre at 6560 Hollywood Blvd
The Second City opened a training centre at 6560 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, in 2005, expanding its geographic footprint to the West Coast. The Hollywood location operated as a training-focused satellite rather than a full resident producing company, offering courses across improv, sketch, musical comedy, writing, and stand-up in a 49-seat theatre.
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre Opens Its Los Angeles Venue in Hollywood
In 2005, the Upright Citizens Brigade opened its Los Angeles operation at 5919 Franklin Avenue in Hollywood, extending the UCB training and performance model to the West Coast. The Franklin Avenue venue offered shows and a training centre, establishing UCB's presence in the entertainment industry's primary market. The Los Angeles operation became one of the most prominent improv institutions in the city and a major employer of UCB-trained performers in the television and film industry.
Miles Stroth Founds the Miles Stroth Workshop in Los Angeles
Miles Stroth, a former student of Del Close who had taught at iO West, founded the Miles Stroth Workshop in Los Angeles in 2007. The organisation began as a teaching enterprise and grew into a performing venue; it rebranded as The Pack Theater in 2015 with five named co-founders.
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre Opens a Second Los Angeles Venue on Sunset Boulevard
In 2014, the Upright Citizens Brigade opened a second Los Angeles location at 5419 Sunset Boulevard, a larger facility incorporating a theatre, training centre, production offices, and a performance space called the Inner Sanctum. The Sunset Boulevard venue significantly expanded UCB's West Coast capacity and represented the organisation's peak physical footprint before the pandemic. The Sunset location was sold in December 2020 during the COVID-19 shutdown.
iO West Closes Permanently in Los Angeles After Twenty-One Years in Hollywood
On February 24, 2018, iO West closed permanently at 6366 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, ending twenty-one years of West Coast operations. iO West had been founded in 1997 by former iO Chicago student Paul Vaillancourt and grew into one of the most prominent improv training venues in Los Angeles, training thousands of performers over its two decades. The closure consolidated iO Theater's operations entirely to Chicago after years of bicoastal presence.
Second City Hollywood Closes After 17 Years
Second City Hollywood closed in October 2022 after seventeen years at 6560 Hollywood Boulevard. In June 2023, The Second City announced it would no longer pursue a brick-and-mortar Los Angeles space.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Los Angeles. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/locales/north-america/united-states/california/los-angeles
The Improv Archive. "Los Angeles." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/locales/north-america/united-states/california/los-angeles.
The Improv Archive. "Los Angeles." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/locales/north-america/united-states/california/los-angeles. Accessed March 17, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.