The Improv Chippy is North East Lincolnshire's home of comedy.
We love comedy and we think there should be more of it. We believe that comedy has the power to change people for the better. And we believe that improv comedy in particular has the power to build communities like nothing else we have ever seen. We believe that improv is to mental health what exercise is to physical health and that one day, going to an improv session will be seen as essential as doing your weekly physical activity. We believe comedy can save lives. We know because it saved ours.
So here's what we've got planned, cue...
GRAMS: $160 MILLION CHINESE MANThe Plan
Our first key mission, is to provide the most comprehensive comedic education in the area. This will start with improv, before expanding to include curriculums in sketch, standup, clown, character and sitcom writing. When it comes to comedy, we feel context is key and we aim to teach in a way that values an individual's natural strengths whilst giving them the tools and exposure necessary to adapt and explore other styles.
Our second key mission, is to put on the most exciting comedy shows in North East Lincolnshire. Currently, there is barely any live comedy in our area featuring local performers - something truly astonishing for an area of England with a population of over 150,000 people. We plan to change that. Within ten years, it is our goal that between Grimsby, Cleethorpes and Immingham, you will be able to go out and watch some form of live comedy - be that improv, sketch, standup, clown, character or whatever else - seven nights a week, all year round. Not long after we have our first graduates, we plan on producing comedy shows on a regular basis and eventually, weekly. Within five years, we aim to have our own teaching and performance space.
We also plan to establish a CIC to handle our outreach programs and bring the power of comedy to the people who need it most. We plan to focus this on five key areas:
You may think that these are lofty enough plans but we're not stopping there. Working with local partners we plan to establish a charity that will bring the area its first ever comedy festivals: starting with a dedicated improv festival swiftly followed by a full comedy festival. And after that? We'll work with our brothers and sisters in the other theatrical arts to help establish North East Lincolnshire's first fringe festival - all of which will help bring in much needed cash, jobs and tourism to our area.
Surely that's the finish? Nope. Our final goals are to establish both a touring company and a media production studio, so we can showcase our area's talent across the UK and the globe.
Any of that sound exciting? Then trust us - you CAN do this and we can prove it to you. All you have to do is take that first step into the unknown and we'll help guide you the rest of the way. We can build this, but we cannot do it alone. But we can do it TOGETHER.
Life is short. Don't wait ten years to begin. Find a course today.
A Message From Our Founder
"Don't bring a cathedral into a scene. Bring a brick; let's build together."Del Close
When it came to stand up, I used to have a scarcity mindset around material. Jokes were a precious resource, mined and refined over time to be used at some later date in a set or project which would serve some overarching purpose in 'building my comedy career' - a view reinforced by old timers who insist you should never put material online until it's been used in a special. But what I generally found was, even if the joke had the audience in stitches, the older it was when I first penned it, the less rewarding it felt to get that laugh. Why? Because I had changed, and what was funny, true or important to me ten years ago might be inauthentic, stale and at odds with who I am now.
But, being that we live in a capitalist hellscape, I still wanted to maximise the utility of a good joke to my career. I remember one particularly dark night, where I moaned over some of the greatest pizza in Melbourne to a very patient comic (thank you) about how I was desperate to record a special before my oldest jokes aged out and died. I felt like if I didn't get that recording, all the struggle and strife would have been for nothing.
Improv changed that perspective. Improv teaches you that you have an infinite supply of creativity and that you can stop worrying because you will always be able to come up with new material. And the jokes you come up with on an improv stage have the shortest of all lifespans: one night. One moment. Gone, never to be told again. Presuming the show isn't recorded, those jokes are solely for the people with you in the room that night. Nobody else.
And what dawned on me was that those jokes I had written all those years back weren't wasted in the slightest. Those jokes were written for the people around me at the time. My friends, family and coworkers. Even if they were capable jokes, they were not destined for the theatre or a special. They were only meant for those people, and existed solely to make them wince in actual physical pain brighten their day. And that was enough.
And so why am I telling you this? Because when I was in Melbourne I got to see many comedians craft their shows. And yes, the big festival show and the specials are the culmination of months or years of hard work and are something to work towards and celebrate. But on some level, that wasn't really what it was all about.
On some level, it was about the process. Of just meeting up with friends, week in, week out, supporting each other, trying to make each other laugh, and then just having a big party at the end of it. Sure, festivals are a way of earning money, showcasing your talent and building a career. But the primary role of any festival, be that comedy or otherwise, is to celebrate a community. And that community is what it is all about.
That community is what I am seeking to build with The Improv Chippy. A community of people who come together each week just to try and make each other laugh. And it is my hope that is a community you'll help join me in building.
