Dan Harmon & Scott Adsit Will Headline A Star-Studded Improv Festival

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 9, 2017 9:13PM

The Chicago Improv Festival just announced this year's co-headliners will be Dan harmon and Scott Adsit. This year the 20th anniversary of the festival will take place at a number of venues around town from March 27 to Apr. 2 when over 145 improv groups descend on Chicago.

Harmon is best known as the creator of NBC's Community, but he first came onto our radar as one of the creator's of Channel 101. Channel 101 was early website that curated short, crowdsourced television pilots to develop into original online programs, the most famous of which was probably the Yacht Rock series. Sound familiar?

Harmon will be at The Athenaeum Theatre on April 1, performing a live version of his Harmontown podcast. We're not guaranteeing anyone else famous will be there, but despite his sometimes prickly reputation, Harmon has the power to pull in impressive guests.

Adsit is a Northbrook native who made it big on TV's 30 Rock but got his start on the Second City Mainstage. We went to shows there in the mid-'90s and still remember his quick mind and rubbery physical reactions.

Adsit will be making two appearances during the fest; one at
Messing with a Friend (featuring Susan Messing and Kevin Dorff) on March 30 at The Annoyance Theatre, and the other at Mama’s Boy with Nancy Hayden and Jaime Moyer at Stage 773.

Speaking of Kevin Dorff, he will also be appearing wth TJ Jagodowski for a "long-form improv" show called Two More. We got to know Dorff back in his Second City day, before he took off for greener pastures writing for Late Night With Conan O'Brien (and then The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien), so if you only know him as a writer or brief cameos on 30 Rock or other sitcoms, you have to see his formidable improv skills in action.

Empire’s Antoine McKay, “pop-culture pundits’ Frances Callier and Angela Shelton, Rob Belushi, Superstore’s Jon Barinholtz, and Joey Slotnick are just a handful of other names appearing during the festival. You can see the full schedule here.

Shows will be at Stage 773, the Athenaeum Theatre, The Annoyance Theatre, and Second City’s e.t.c. Theater. Tickets range from $5 to $35.