Improv Asylum has been a Boston institution for over 20 years. Find out why people love our shows, students go crazy for our classes, and companies and organizations can't get enough of our corporate team building events and training.
Improv Asylum has been voted Boston’s Best Comedy for over 20 years, performing more than 10,000 shows for well over 2 million people. With venues on Hanover Street in Boston’s North End as well as a Manhattan location in the heart of Chelsea, Improv Asylum continues to grow - in spite of the challenges of the last few years! As much as people love Improv Asylum’s shows, we’re also beloved for our corporate team building, hilarious customized corporate shows, and training center. Our comedy classes and corporate team buiding programs have been constantly expanding to newer and larger audiences and host classes in new locations to fit a growing demand. Welcome to Improv Asylum
WHO STARTED ALL THIS?
This is Norm b ' b He's the guy that talks He’s a performer and director who’s been producing sketch comedy theatre for over 20 years. He’s the Founder and CEO of Improv Asylum with venues in both Boston and New York. He helped create Laugh Boston, a comedy club and events venue in Boston's Seaport District.
Norm is also a partner in a slew of entertainment venues throughout the region, including Woo Ha Ha and ROAR at MGM Springfield.
Improv Classes & Training Center
Whether you’re trying improv for the first time, or are a professional actor looking to add to your repertoire of skills–Improv Asylum can help you achieve your goals. Our philosophy on improvisation is simple: we teach you the essentials of good scene work. By learning the essential tools that lead to good scene work, students can apply them to whatever style of improv, acting or writing that they so choose. We emphasize confident choices and unfailing support of your scene partner. And we do this in an environment that is above all fun and accessible to all experience levels.
Improv Asylum: An Arts and Culture Incubator
Improv Asylum is committed to providing every opportunity possible to artists, arts organizations, and non-profit ensembles at a minimum cost. At our NYC location, we dedicate our programming seven days a week ( and nights ) to individuals with creative visions that need space to test their concepts and develop from the lessons learned. We aim to continue the model we’ve succeeded with in NYC and Boston to provide a venue for rehearsals, classes, workshop readings, and full productions. Our goal is to continue to be a landmark institution in the vibrant arts community of New York City and beyond.
Improv Asylum: Programming Big Ideas. Big ger fun.
IMPROV COMEDY AND TRAINING CENTERS AsylumMain Stage Improv Comedy Shows “The foundation of who we are” Asylum Education “Thousand of graduates from and into all walks of life” Asylum Events “Private and exclusive theater events” Asylum Corporate Experience Programs “Leadership and Employee training workshops, and customized comedy corporate performances”
THEATRICALS
Immersive Theatrical Productions “Theater that puts you in the center of the action!” Interactive Theatrical Productions for Children “Weekend and school vaction matinees for the whole family.” New York City Arts and Cultural Organizations “Presenting theatrical productions from regional groups”
ENTERTAINMENT
Music Events and Festivals “Presenting live music and heritage celebratory festivals” Stand-Up Comedy Events “Showcasing National Headliners and regional up-and-coming talent”
Asylum Shows
Each night our cast of super-talented improv performers command the spotlight with sketches and improv sets created with the help of a rowdy audience. Guaranteed to produce a new show every time, audience participation creates the vibe that drives the action on stage, with unexpected and hilarious results. You’ll be blown away by what thousands of hours of professional training combined with a lifetime of crap day jobs have done to these guys. They’ll say and do just about anything to hear just four words at the end of the show.
Sh*t! That was funny!
Customized Private Shows Laugh with and strengthen that bond with your team as you enjoy New York’s best Improvisers acting out your inside jokes, familiar characters and corporate “secrets” on stage! You supply the material, we supply the funny! Our show features 4-6 actors, a musician, and a technician. In addition to the specific customization, the actors will also bring volunteers up on stage, ask the audience for suggestions for their scenes, and interview someone you select and then reenact their life in a fun and comfortable way on stage. We can provide our hilarious brand of customized comedy at either Improv Asylum, Asylum NYC, Asylum Studios, or Laugh Boston. Or... we can bring the fun directly to you! it’s your show!
Corporate Training
Improv skills are all about knowing how to build on an idea put forward by a team member to move a story forward. And that’s exactly what most leaders are trying to foster in the workplace. Listening, collaboration and momentum. Learning how to think on your feet starts with knowing how to listen, and our innovative, tested and impactful approach to interactive training employs a whole slew of techniques that foster active listening. Ideas move forward instead of being shot down or restated over and over again because nobody is picking up on a concept. Keeping a thread alive on stage is no different from developing corporate strategy or pursuing innovation. So, let us help. IA Innovation’s Corporate Training Program brings the art of improv to the corporate world in a way that makes learning to listen, collaborate and create both engaging and fun. Picking up a few improv skills will help your team members work together more effectively, bolster their confidence, andhelpthemprocesscomplex informationquickly. It’s a new approach to an age-old problem – and it works (did we mention FUN too!) We can’t teach your people to be funny, but we can help them develop the skills that have made us able to think on our feet, collaborate on a project, refine ideas and produce effective results. Remember when corporate training involved a day of boredom followed by a rubber-chicken dinner and an evening of Brenda from finance hogging the Karaoke mic? NOT ANYMORE.
Getting to “Yes, And” : How improv comedy skills became a must-have for entrepreneurs.
What can improv teach worker bees? The secret is in the “yes, and” ethos. When they're collaborating onstage, improv performers never reject one another's ideas—they say “yes, and” to accept and build upon each new contribution. It's a total philosophy of creativity. “Yes, and” creates, while “no” stops the flow.
I A I N N O V A T I O N
t r av e l t h
Not to brag but we have been hired by some incredible organizations…from Fortune 500 companies to Start Ups to leading Educational Institutions… and have brought our impactful and engaging (yeah, we mean fun…think smiles!) programs to just about every corner of the globe.
h e wo r l d to b r i ng i n no -
While each organization and location have their own culture, needs and style, we have found that they all have one thing in common. Whether the location is Boston, Berlin or Beijing, every organization wants us to help them lift their teams up, to help them encourage everyone’s ideas and to help them to be stronger TOGETHER… That is what we do! And...we love to travel!
The Google team in London wanted help with giving their teams the tools that they need to continue to succeed. Creative skills to actively listen to their clients, co-workers and management, to communicate ideas succinctly and to embrace and encourage everyone’s ideas so that every voice is heard and valued.
IA Innovation delivered the goods and the fun and London was never the same again. Now, everyone is listening!
We have also worked with Googlers in Boston, New York and Dublin. We love Google! We love everyone! Hire us...you’ll see!
London ENGLAND
We were hired by Nokia to create and develop a multi-location program for their leadership teams throughout the world. Over the course of a few years, we visited and delivered INNOVATION in Helsinki, Edinburgh, Lenggries, Munich, and Amsterdam to name a few and Dubai was pretty cool. Humble brag… it was incredible! Nokia hired us to bring together leaders that represented just about every region that Nokia covered. Which is just about everywhere! These leaders never met each other before but all shared the same responsibility for their teams. We helped create that common bond, helped facilitate a message, environment and culture where everyone learned new and effective ways of communicating together as well as explored how others do their job, the same job, in a totally different culture.
Dubai UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
LinkedIn asked us to come to Dublin (ok...if we have to!) to help give their EMEA leadership new and innovative tools to use to lift up their teams so that everyone is listening, communicating and trusting and building off of each other’s ideas. If we say “Yes ... And” then we can all connect with anyone and build a stronger and more creative team! Dublin is like home to us and LinkedIn is a powerhouse! Talk about connecting!
Dublin IRELAND
That is what the “Primos” of Bacardi believe in and what drives them to be the best at what they do. We were asked to travel to Shanghai
Fearless, AFounder’s Mentality, and Family. (Just past San Francisco, make a left over Mt. Fuji in Japan and you are there!)
and help their international leaders drive those elements home to their teams. We also brought the FUN as we gave the leadership team new tools to think about encouraging everyone in the organization to bring their best every day. One team, one family! By the way, if you ever get the chance, Shanghai is absolutely and incredibly beautiful!
Shanghai CHINA
Laugh Events can create an unforgettable evening wherever you need us, but we also have two venues in Boston that are... LEGENDARY.
Voted Boston’s Best Improv -- for over 20 years!
Voted Boston’s Best Comedy Club! Venue capacity: 400 people (300 seated)
Venue capacity: 200 people
Access to private green room suite and shower Furniture and accessories including high tops, low tops, and pipe and drape Bar with full liquor license Built-in registration kiosk for your check-in needs Bar fare / pizza menu available Staffing Provided
Front Room & Bar Rental - perfect for passed appetizers and buffets
Packages available for small groups
Full-service catering options
Beer, wine, and cordials available
Staffing provided
Accenture Alaska Air American Student Assistance Arnold Worldwide Athena Health Avalon Bay Babson College BAE Systems Bain & Co. Bank of America Biogen Idec Booz Allen
Boston Celtics Boston College Boston Duck Tours
Boston Medical Center Boston Public Schools Boston Red Sox Boston University Boston University School of Management Brandeis University Bristol-Meyers Squibb Carl Zeiss Charles River Associates Children’s Hospital Choate Hall & Stewart Chubb Citizen’s Bank
Take a look at some of the f AND YOU
Coca Cola Constant Contact Continuum Converse Curry College Dana Farber Darling Consulting Group The David Project Dellaria Salons Deloitte Delta Airlines
Dunkin Donuts Dunkin Brands Eastern Bank Eli Lilly EMC2 EMD Millipore
EMD Serono Exact Target Experian QAS Facebook Fidelity FirstBlood Fleet Center Flo Design Wind Turbine Forrester Research GameStop
General Electric Genzyme Gillette Glaxo Smith Kline Globoforce Goodwin Procter Google
Portsmouth Abbey School Prudential Putnam Investments PwC Radio Shack Rapid7 Raytheon Red Bull Roger Williams University SAIC Saint Gobain Sales Force Sanofi Sanofi Genzyme Sapient Shawmut Design SilverLink Simmons College Sloan Smuggler’s Notch Speechwork International Staples Starwood Resorts State Street Bank State Street Global Advisors
Greenburg Traurig Guinness Imports Hanover Insurance Harvard Business School Harvard JFK School of Government Harvard School of Law Harvard University
Heineken HubSpot IDX Corporation Imagitas Intel Intercontinental Hotel Intergen Intuit Jaegermeister SA John Hancock Kaiser Permanente Kind Snacks LinkedIn Lockheed Martin
Stonehill College Storage Networks Sun Life
LoJack Mass College of Pharmacy Mass Mutual Thompson Financial Treetop Technologies Twitter Unilever United Way United States Bankruptcy Court United States District Court Verizon Vertex Web Summit Dublin and UK Welch’s Foods Wellesley College Wentworth Institute of Technology WestJet WGBH Wheelock College William Fry WilliamsMarston Winter Wyman Worcester Polytechnic Institute Wyeth Bio Pharma YMCA of Greater Boston folks we have worked with. Massachusetts Bar Association Massachusetts General Hospital McDonalds Merck Research Laboratories Millenium Millipore MIT Engineering Leadership MIT Global Education and Career Development MIT Laboratory of Multi Scale Regenerative Technologies MIT Medical MIT Residential Life Mohegan Sun Needham Public Schools Nokia Northeastern University Novartis Nuance Communications Oxfam Partners Health Care PayPal Philip’s Health Care Telefluent Teradyne Textron Thermo Fischer Scientific
Philip’s Lighting Phoenix Group Plymouth State University
improvasylum.com
laughboston.com
Asylum
asylumnyc.com
iainnovation.com
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog