CIC Theater

I planned a night out here with family and friends to see Pimprov, not knowing what to expect. Well, let’s see…
1. Tickets were very inexpensive.
2. There was ample street parking.
3. There’s a bar as you walk in for before, and even during the show. (The apple martini is red!)
4. They let you take your drinks into the show.
5. The theater is very small, with chairs close together, yet my husband and cousin, who are both over 6″, were not uncomfortable.
6. The ladies restroom is large, clean, and very nice.
7. Pimprov was hilarious! Some jokes were funnier than others, yet I give these guys credit because it’s total improvisation and they kept it going… while keeping the audience engaged and laughing… and not offending anyone! Good adult humor across racial lines, with a culturally mixed crowd!
8. Our bartender was also in the opening act, where three white guys improvised, opening for a show with three black pimps! Only in Chicago!
9. They had a photo op after, where the comedians socialized with everyone.
10. They were collecting donations for a local battered women’s shelter in Chicago… they asked for as little as a dollar, in exchange for a Pimprov button or sticker. What a great thing, for a great cause!
It’s a perfect venue for a date night, entertaining out of town guests, or just friends hanging out. We had a fun night and I will definitely keep up with other shows at this theater!

I went here to see Pimp Prov comedy show this pass Friday. Major plus is there is street parking and it’s FREE! Also the theater is located really close to Lake Shore Drive and easy to get to from the downtown area.
Once inside the theater was small and intimate. I liked the set up. I didn’t have any drinks, but I heard they were cheap. There’s a little bar outside of the auditorium, which is also really small. All in all it was a good time.

NO BYOB but Great Bar! Great shows! Very affordable prices for both drinks and shows. Check out website for shows

Pimpprov is very entertaining… The opening acts were not the best but the guys made up for it when they came on stage. The audience participation made it even more fun. Grab a cocktail and be ready to laugh. Affordable and worth it.

For Improv Students:
The CIC quickly won my heart over, and became my favorite theater in Chicago. One of my instructors at iO frequently performs there and told me about CIC’s philosophy on improvisation. There is no hierarchy system, and their focus is on creating honest ensemble based comedy. Every team has a different style and you walk away with a completely different experience each time. I think what I like the most is how beautifully crafted each team is. They just work – and for the most part you can tell that everyone really enjoys each other and has a blast on stage.
This theater recently started offering classes, and I am currently in the first round. I absolutely love it. It’s challenging, it’s full of talent, and I feel like I walk away with something every week. I want to be involved with this theater for a long time, because I feel that I’ve experienced a ton of personal growth in my small time here.
The instructors, and coaches are also wonderful people and that alone influences the community and feel of the theater. It is small, intimate, not intimidating at all, and after working with several of the people that perform here frequently – they are just cool as hell. They aren’t improv vampires that want to suck your creativity and dreams away – instead they are motivators and make you feel like we are on the same page – just trying to work together to be better humans and create something larger than ourselves. So hell yeah to that!
For people that just want to see shows:
This place rocks, you’ll see all emotions explored on stage, people taking risks in unique ways, and you’re destined to have a wonderful time.

This place consistently puts on the best long-​form improv in Chicago. Also great for plays, experimental theater, etc. The only shows I’ve never seen are the Open Mic Night and Pimprov; everything I’ve ever seen has been, at minimum, good, and most shows are great to fantastic.

So my experience here is different than most because I didn’t go for a show. I stopped in for a drink with a few friends after getting a tattoo down the street. The décor is nice, definitely a good, chill place to get a beer and hang out.
The bar manager was super nice and we all chatted once everyone else went into the theatre area for the show. My friend had a bunch of beer from visiting a brewery earlier in the day and he even let her keep it in their fridge until we left.
Notes: NOT BYOB. They have a full bar with good beers on tap.

We were celebrating a friend’s birthday Saturday night and had a group of twelve and it was the first and last time for all of us! All of us were in agreement, this should not be called comedy, it was not funny. Three of our friends stayed out at the bar after the intermission because they couldn’t take it anymore after the first two group acts.
I would never recommend this to anyone. They asked for the audience’s help to give a word to help give the topic for the improv act but they mentioned the word once during the first skit in the act and then that idea was done. And they went on to their rehearsed skits and inside jokes that they had with the other actors from the other groups who were all in the audience. The loudest laughs were the group members on the stage who weren’t in the skit and were waiting to jump in.
The only funny person the whole night was the bearded guy wearing flannel, «who couldn’t give a „flank“ about the bird» in the last skit who did the lighting for the other groups.

I was blessed enough to catch pimpprov last night (Fri Night) and it was pretty awesome. I read a few bad reviews and I can see if there was an audience that wasn’t into it as a group it wouldn’t be as fun at all. This wasn’t my experience, thank God.
They have a few intro acts and I enjoyed it. I giggled and lol’ed a few times. Then the Pimps came out! They start with a pimp roll call which is fun because you get an idea of the different personalities. Their first skit was a little boring but whats funny is one of the pimps not in that skit called it out. He said «This is sooooo boooring!» It seriously took off after that. I chuckled so hard my face hurt after the show. Ya! that good.
Since I went with somewhat of a regular I hear it really id something different every time and I would go back with a different crowd just to show off this jewel of a improve show I found in Chicago. Bravo Pimps. Bravo.

I will start this review by saying this is just for the show Pimprov, I haven’t seen anything else here so maybe there are better shows they offer. We knew it was a bad sign when it was 10:30, time for the show to start, and there were literally 12 people in the theater including myself and my fiancé. I don’t know if all the positive reviews I’ve seen about this show are old or fake or what, but this was terrible. It seemed as if a few of the actors had just stepped out of improv class. The show wasn’t funny at all and I would never recommend it to anyone.

Yo, check out this place. It’s improv not stand up but it’s funny man. They got a bar so it isn’t BYOB anymore, which cuts down on my errands before I watch comedy.

Okay, so you know you had a good time when you close the place down because you are trying to convince one of the members of the opening act that you really weren’t destined to be an engineer, but it was comedy that was your true calling. My taking full advantage of Chemically Imbalanced Comedy’s BYOB policy made this argument all the more convincing, I’m sure!
I decided that this past Friday’s performance of Pimprov had to be my go-​to destination to celebrate my 24^th birthday. It’s a completely fresh performance every time. This group is some of the best talent you can find in Chicago. While the popular Second City has time to rehearse and refine their shows, the gentlemen of Pimprov are making everything up on the fly and they are damn good at it. Oh yeah, and they will stop and take pictures with you after the show; you know you had a great time on your birthday if you feel like a hoe, right?
So, pack a cheap bottle of wine and some red Solo cups. Or don’t. You will have a wonderful time either way.

I have attended two productions by the CIC group: Book of Liz and Barefoot in the Park. I loved both!
The actors are really great. They make the tiny stage come alive so that you get lost in the show. (In fact, I even approached one of the actors who rides home from his day job on the same bus as me and thanked him for a great show!) Of particular note is Sarah Rose Graber, who played the main characters in both plays and was phenomenal. She’s extremely expressive and brings a real spark to her characters. I loved Jane Fonda in the movie version of Barefoot in the Park and wondered how the live version would translate. She was excellent.
The theater is really intimate (and kind of hot, dress appropriately). It’s BYOB which is awesome. The fact that tickets are always on Goldstar is also a real plus.
I will definitely be back for future productions by this great group of artists.

I’ve been to this theater a handful of times, all the time to see Pimprov. I can’t say I remember any of the opening acts — because I don’t, but Pimprov is absolutely hilarious. As a matter of fact, I chose this to the location of my 29 + 11^th birthday party since it’s BYOB and we had a fantabulous time that I will never ever forget! We’re talking coolers full of Jello shots! But I digress.
Tickets are cheap (even cheaper on
if you get lucky), it’s BYOB, guaranteed great show, a different experience every time you go, you can’t beat it!
I will say this, however, please don’t show up if you’re a dud and mess it up for the rest of us… I mean if you’re going to a comedy show, especially an improv show that asks for a lil’ from the audience, is it too much to ask for a fun, upbeat attitude? Would it kill ya? Would it??? Just sayin’.

Do you love to laugh? How about byob?
Really the two are a winning combination. I made a awesome groupon purchase months ago (officially my favorite deal to date). 4 of us went. Many people were there early sippin’ on their adult beverages. Next time, I’ll remember that.
We saw «My Life as Liz»…Honestly, it started out a little slow. I was wishing I had brought more drinks to ease the pain of having to sit there for the next hour.
But hang in there! The story builds and becomes exceedingly funnier! The different characters bring different dynamics to the story line. By the end o the performance, I was pleased.
I am planning on taking some friends back here for their birthdays. With the Long Room only a couple blocks away, really this place is perfect.

Saw «The Book of Liz» on Saturday and enjoyed it. It was well acted and had many funny parts. The theater only holds about 70 people and every seat was full. The theater is byob at least for now. They’ve added a bar since we were there in summer but it wasn’t in operation yet. Probably a good idea to check their website to see if they’re still byob before you go. Don’t bother calling, though. I called them on Friday and never heard back even though the voicemail tells you that you’ll get a call back within 24 hours.

Great little theater that’s BYOB!!! I purchased a Groupon for this place some time ago and have been to 2 shows (comedy showcase and pimp prov) both were a ton of fun and my party has been called out to participate in the show both times!
Favorite things about this place are as follows:
Cost: super affordable & you can even find discounted tickets online
Location: all I have to say is free street parking!
Drinks: BYOB people just be sure to bring your own cup, bottle opener, etc.
PimpProv: if you make any size donation you get 1 free piece of swag and all 100% proceeds go to woman’s shelters. also their sketches change week to week!
My only negative thing to say about the place is unless you plan ahead of time and make reservations there is no real way to know if they are going to be full when you get here. I called the number noted on the site and no one answered. However we were still lucky enough to get in with out reservations but I highly recommend them since it is a tiny theater.
I would love to give this place 5 stars and may do so in the future if they WOW me one more time.

obviously they get an automatic 3 stars for the byob part BUT… for an improve theater. there wasn’t a whole lot of improv?! I went to Pimprov last Friday and saw both Pimprov and another group I can’t remember the name of.
The opening act had NO audience participation, acted out their prepared skits and I felt like I was in a bad, way bad high school performance. I was pretty confused about when I was supposed to laugh cuz none of it was funny.
Pimprov was a little better but besides the 10 minute intro of their pimp personalities… their pimpdom had nothing to do with the skits! They asked at the very beginning for a location from the audience and that was it!
I’m pretty sure I understand why they have to be BYOB cuz if everyone weren’t so busy drinking, they would’ve been walking out.
Also I only went cuz I had groupons but does anyone ACTUALLY pay $ 15/​person for this!!!

Pimprov is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Let’s put it this way:
what do you get when you have 4 pimps doing improv? One of the funniest adult comedy shows that exists.
Watching one ask what it said on his belt and them having him thrust in this girl’s face asking what it said was great. BYOB theatre makes it seriously kick ass.
This is a must go.

BYOB + good comedy = an awesome time.
Make sure you pick the right shows. I tried to like Pimprov, for me, a person who watches BET comedy showcase /​Jam. this show was a waste of money. It’s perfect for those that have no idea what BET is or have never seen comedy on that channel. Pimprov had its funny parts, but not memorable for any reason. Actors do a great job of playing the part of a pimp, it just wasn’t my kind of comedy. They pick on different people in the crowd, so be ready to take some comedic crap talking. The room is small and can probably accommodate 40 — 50 people at the most. Doesn’t matter where you sit or if you try avoiding eye contact, they’ll come and get you from your seat. Before this show started they gave a small taste of another improv group and that small tidbit was enough to bring me back for a different show.
P. s. for late goers. the room is small and everyone sees you walk in, you have to cross the stage area to sit down. FYI.

5 star review for Frankenstein in Love!!!
What a talented bunch of men and women, such passion. Every single actor was so committed to the role, they even reacted when they didn’t have lines. I was in aw, one of the best performances I have seen, it’s the kind that leaves you with goosebumps during and after. What a great way to kick off October.
The theater itself is tiny, like two car garage tiny. For this performance they had chairs set up all over and some in the middle of the room. The actors performed all around you, sometimes even bumping into you. At first it feels awkward but then you realize you get drawn in. I watched the crowds reactions, it was almost the same as the actors.
I can’t say enough or put into words how impressed I was with this play. Go see it!!!