Festivals

Western North Carolina's four-day festival produced by local improvisers at Double Dip Productions after NCCAF's end.

English-language improv hubs across Asia — Manila (SPIT, 2002) is Asia's oldest; Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo each anchor regional scenes.

Southeastern improv gathering anchored by Dad's Garage Theatre Company, the dominant Atlanta improv institution since 1995.

Auckland's biggest improv festival, hosted at Covert Theatre — second major NZ improv gathering after NZIF.

Almost entirely Keith Johnstone-derived — the word 'impro' (not 'improv') marks companies here as part of the Theatresports lineage.

Mid-Atlantic's largest improv festival, produced by Baltimore Improv Group (BIG), with 80+ teams across a week in August.

One of Europe's largest English-language improv festivals — 200 improvisers from 20+ countries across four nights in Gràcia.

Largest college improv festival in the Midwest — formerly 'Improvfest' — a sibling event to CIT.

The Free Association's inaugural (2026) London improv festival — the first international improv festival of its scale in London.

Festival founded by Blackout Improv to bring Black performers into Twin Cities improv — at HUGE until the theater's October 2024 closure.

Brooklyn-born festival centering Black women in comedy — founded by Joanna M. Briley in explicit response to under-representation at national festivals.

Boom Chicago's 30th anniversary festival (2023) — a career-retrospective event for one of the most influential improv theaters outside North America.

Weekly head-to-head improv competition where audience vote decides winner — the canonical US indie-improv competition format.

Not a traditional festival — a sleepaway-camp improv retreat that's become a nationwide institution for the 'improv as intentional community' strand.

Canada's nationwide high-school improvisation tournament — 100,000+ alumni, 14 regional programs, finals at the National Arts Centre.

Baltimore's cross-format (improv + stand-up + sketch) festival, complementing BIG's improv-specific festival.

Educational-mission festival founded 1998 to document, promote, and teach improv as an art form — the senior statesman of US improv festivals.

World's largest sketch comedy festival — 160+ groups, 1,000+ performers, 10,000+ patrons annually.

Annual nationwide collegiate improv tournament — curated by Chicago Improv Productions; winner performs at Chicago Improv Festival.

Annual competitive tournament for ComedySportz affiliate cities — pre-2004 named 'ComedySportz National Tournament.'

Dallas Comedy House's flagship festival in Deep Ellum — the defining DFW improv event until DCH closed during the pandemic.

English-language Berlin improv festival — newer alternative to Die Gorillas' IMPRO, serving the international expat community.

UCB's 55-hour nonstop improv marathon honoring Del Close — the single most important annual gathering in US improv for two decades before its 2019 move to LA.

Annual mid-August festival hosted by Go Comedy! Improv Theater, the anchor venue of Metro Detroit's improv community.

Stockholm's international impro festival focused on learning and exchange between Nordic and international improvisers.

DC's annual improv festival co-presented by Washington Improv Theater, based at Source Theatre and later Studio Theatre.

Not a dedicated improv festival, but the world's largest arts festival — the defining annual stage for improv careers to break in the UK.

The late-1980s Theatresports wave followed by 2010s-2020s American-style long-form expansion — Keith Johnstone is the Del Close of Europe.

Paris' 72-hour improv festival — 300 performers, 100 shows across three simultaneous venues.

Keith Johnstone's director-focused competition format where five performers compete to direct the best scenes — scored in bananas.

iO's weekly Thursday showcase of house teams performing Harolds — the defining Chicago-style long-form weekly.

New Orleans' week-long November comedy festival blending stand-up, improv, sketch, and experimental work — the Gulf South's largest comedy event.

Annual festival organized by TBC Improv HK — Hong Kong's primary English-language improv event, running at The Fringe Club.

Hoopla's 20th-anniversary festival — London's veteran improv fest, running alongside the Free Association scene.

Europe's most significant 10-day improv festival, hosted by Die Gorillas across multiple Berlin stages in late March.

Europe's oldest and largest improvisational theatre festival — eight days every February in Amsterdam Noord.

Gothenburg's annual international improvised theatre festival, run by Gbgimpro.

South Africa's longest-running Theatresports company's annual festival — 25+ years of Johnstone-lineage impro in Africa.

The first international impro festival in Paris, organized by Timothy Lone (The Improfessionals) — Keith Johnstone directed a Micetro there.

Ireland's first festival dedicated solely to improvisation — founded by Neil Curran, inaugural edition at the Teacher's Club Theatre, Dublin.

Canada's largest improv festival, hosted by Rapid Fire Theatre — one of the world's third-oldest Theatresports companies.

Hawaii's only festival dedicated to improv comedy, run single-handedly for nearly two decades by Garrick Paikai.

Keith Johnstone's licensing body — oversees Theatresports, Maestro/Micetro, Gorilla Theatre, Life Game licensing across 90+ member companies, 22 countries, six continents.

World's biggest comedy festival — primarily stand-up but with significant improv and sketch programming; a major career-launch for improv-adjacent comedians.

A Match d'improvisation-derived scene in Spanish and Portuguese — Cia. do Quintal (Brazil's first improv company) and LNI-licensed leagues in French/Spanish-speaking countries.

Keith Johnstone's two-week summer school at Loose Moose — the global pilgrimage for narrative improv educators for 30+ years.

Sub-Saharan Africa's first international improv festival — founded 2016 to bring international improvisers to the African continent.

Asia's biggest improv festival — 70+ groups from the Philippines and 20+ countries gather annually at Proscenium Theater, Rockwell.

Quebec-born improv competition format staged as a hockey match — performed in 7 languages in 30+ countries; the second-most-international improv format after Theatresports.

NZ's annual improv festival in Wellington — founded 2008 by Merrilee McCoy and Derek Flores under Wellington Improv Troupe.

DSI Comedy's two-week flagship festival that built Southeastern improv from a college workshop series into a nationally known gathering — ended abruptly with DSI's 2017 closure.

Austin's longest-running comedy festival — improv-anchored, hosted by The Hideout Theatre, returned 2025 after a six-year COVID-era hiatus.

Desert Southwest's flagship improv festival, founded 2002 by Mack Duncan, hosted at Phoenix Theatre Company's Herberger Stage West.

LGBTQ-centered improv festival formerly hosted at HUGE Theater Minneapolis, part of HUGE's identity-focused festival programming.

RISE Comedy's (formerly Voodoo Comedy Playhouse) Denver festival bringing 150+ performers for improv shows plus a stand-up competition.

Finest City Improv's annual festival — the anchor improv event of San Diego.

Florida Studio Theatre's annual summer festival — the premier improv festival in the Southeastern US, drawing thousands of audience members.

Unexpected Productions' annual festival at the historic Market Theater at Pike Place — the Pacific Northwest's international improv gathering since 1997.

Korea's international improv festival hosted by Seoul City Improv — Korea's oldest English-language improv group.

Month-long January/February comedy festival that grew from six Bay Area sketch troupes into a nationally significant sketch+improv+stand-up+alt-comedy showcase.

Singapore's annual English-language improv festival organized by The Improv Company — Southeast Asia hub.

Scandinavia's international four-day improv festival — founded 2015 at Uppsala's Reginateatern.

Vancouver's international improv festival hosted by The Improv Centre (formerly Vancouver TheatreSports League) on Granville Island.

Keith Johnstone's audience-scored improv competition format, first performed Pumphouse Theatre Calgary 1977 — now in 22 countries across six continents.

International Theatresports tournament — not annually reliable, but the premier cross-border Johnstone-format competition.

Canada's premier scripted/ensemble comedy festival — the longest-running live comedy festival in Toronto, directly inspired by Seattle/SF/Chicago Sketchfests.

HUGE Improv Theater's annual festival, a cornerstone of Midwestern improv that ended with HUGE's October 2024 closure.

The only improv festival focused on performers age 50+ — founded to combat age-based exclusion in improv diversity initiatives.

Largest female-focused comedy festival in the US — cross-format (stand-up, improv, sketch, film).