Boom Chicago started as a joke. In 1992, Andrew Moskos and Jon “Pep” Rosenfeld, two aimless Northwestern University grads who’d been in their college improv troupe, Mee-Ow—well, Rosenfeld was a member, Moskos was a superfan—were on vacation in Amsterdam when they had what Moskos now refers to as the “best stoner idea” ever. During the trip, they’d noticed how many people in Amsterdam spoke English. Why not open an improv theater in the city? Six months later, the two had quit their jobs at educational nonprofits in Illinois and were running Boom Chicago out of a dilapidated piano bar in the Leidseplein, a sketchy tourist district. Last month, Boom finally moved into a classy theater in Jordaan, a quiet residential neighborhood, solidifying its spot alongside Upright Citizens Brigade in New York, Second City in Chicago, and the Groundlings in Los Angeles as one of the world’s preeminent improv institutions. And it only took 20 years.
The improv comedy business model is built on cheap beer, cheaper tickets, and lowbrow humor, and as an investment opportunity, it’s a punch line. The Upright Citizens Brigade in New York has thrived in part by not paying performers. Ticket prices are kept low, and funny strivers sacrifice cash for onstage exposure. While more than 300,000 fans visit Second City in Chicago each year, even it’s had trouble expanding beyond its borders, closing its Las Vegas show in 2008 because of spotty ticket sales. Smaller outfits fare worse: In the last year, once-healthy improv clubs have shuttered in Louisville (Fourth Street Live!), Los Angeles (Hollywood Improv), and Tempe, Ariz. (the Tempe Improv, which had been open 20 years). Yet after two decades,Boom continues to grow. Moskos and Rosenfeld “went out there on a trip, saw a void, and professionally f---ing filled it. And now they serve dinner with it,” says past Boom performer (’00-’01) and current Saturday Night Live cast member Jason Sudeikis.
