PHIT Announce Improv, Sketch, Stand-up Line-up For March

Philly Improv Theater (PHIT) will have a busy March. For one week a month, the theater provides the best improv, sketch, and stand-up comedy in the city. This month's shows will run from March 23-29 at various times (see official schedule below).

Philly Improv Theater performs at 407 Bainbridge Street. Tickets prices range from $5-$10. More information can be found at www.phillyimprovtheater.com or at 267-233-1556.

March brings Philly Improv Theater's usuAl Block of shows. The month also includes an appearance by the longform improv group The Wilhelm, from The Peoples' Improv Theater in NYC, and a live CD/ DVD recording by Chip Chantry and Doogie Horner - in an evening of comedy titled Big Tabasco.

The week begins with the March edition of The Comic vs. Audience Comedy Show. This monthly stand-up showcase is on Monday, March 23 at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $5, with no drink minimums. Each month, Dave Walk, founder of ComicVsAudience.com, hosts this BYOB showcase of Philly stand-up in a theater setting.

Following Comic Vs. Audience, 2008 Philly's Phunniest winner Kent Haines hosts "Why Am I Not Famous?!?," a live take on late-night talk shows. March's performance will be Wednesday, March 25, 8 p.m. Tickets cost $5. Each month, Haines demonstrates his renaissance man skills for the legions of talent scouts he expects to be in the audience, interviews a local personality and hosts an area bands in a show that is on earlier, and almost certainly more entertaining than Jimmy Fallon.

Wednesday's 10 p.m. slot brings the second edition of the new show, Guilty Pleasures. Hosted by Brendan Kennedy, Guilty Pleasures uses actual terrible scripts, overly personal emails, and all manner of not yet ready for primetime writing to create an evening of painfully awkward, yet hilarious, comedy. Tickets costs $5.

Improv Comedy PhD, showcases the best college improv performers in the city. On Thursday, March 26, Without A Net, from the University of Pennsylvania will perform with PHIT Resident Group, Fletcher. The show starts at 8 p.m. and tickets are $5.

The 10 p.m. slot on Thursday, March 26 features a CAGEMATCH between local group Angry People Building Things and the local sister improv act Traffic Jelly. Tickets cost $5 with the audience determining which group is the winner (who returns the following month) via secret ballot.

Friday, March 27 and Saturday March 28 with bring two blocks of improv and a two-night live stand-up comedy CD/DVD taping. On Friday, at 8 p.m., PHIT Resident Group Everything Must Go and PHIT Affiliate Illegal Refill. Tickets cost $10.

Big Tabasco, an evening of standup comedy with Chip Chantry and Doogie Horner, follows at 10 p.m. Tickets cost $10. With performances both Friday and Saturday night, Big Tabasco will be recorded for a future CD/DVD release. Chantry and Horner are local favorites and rising stars among crowds and fellow comedians around the growing Philadelphia comedy scene (and beyond).

Saturday's 8 p.m. improv block includes a performance from PHIT resident team Activity Book and The Wilhelm from The Peoples Improv Theater in NYC. Tickets cost $10. The Wilhelm is house team of The Peoples' Improv Theater.

The week closes Sunday at 8 p.m. with a performance from, Tongue and Groove, who improvise based on secrets shared from the audience. Tickets cost $10.

About Philly Improv Theater

Philly Improv Theater (PHIT) is the only longform improvisation theater in the Metro Philadelphia area. Founded as a nonprofit in 2005, PHIT embraces the art of improvisation as an end rather than a means - creating and producing improv, sketch, and alternate comedy shows in the tradition of theaters like Chicago's Second City and New York's Upright Citizens Brigade. To further this philosophy, PHIT offers it's own take on the theories and concepts behind good improvisation in a full curriculum of classes for performers of all skill levels taught by local talent and through master classes with distinguished performers and teachers from all over the world (including Impro author Keith Johnstone, Joe Bill and Mark Sutton of The Second City, and former SNL writer Ali Farahnakian). In addition to performing as part of PHIT's weeklong residency at The Shubin Theatre each month, local improv troupes produced and presented by PHIT have toured extensively on the East Coast and performed in festivals throughout North America.

March Performance Schedule
Monday, March 23
8:00pm The Comic vs. Audience Comedy Show - $5
Wednesday, March 25
8:00pm "Why Am I Not Famous?!?" with your host Kent Haines - $5
10:00pm Guilty Pleasures - $5
Thursday, March 26
8:00pm Improv Comedy PhD - $5
10:00pm CAGEMATCH: Angry People Building Things vs. Traffic Jelly - $5
Friday, March 27
8:00pm Longform Improv: Everything Must Go + Illegal Refill - $10
10:00pm Big Tabasco - $10
Saturday, March 28
8:00pm Longform Improv: Activity Book + The Wilhelm - $10
10:00pm Big Tabasco - $10
Sunday, March 29
7:00pm Tongue & Groove - $10

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