Kansas City Improv: A History: Improv Thunderdome

Back in January a couple of Kansas City improv veterans Ed Doris and Jared Brustad (From The Trip Fives) started an improv competition called: Improv Thunderdome. Each show has sold out and the championship match is this Saturday. (It sold out 2 days after the final match) Neither one of them could have predicted the success of the show and neither could we. But, it has been a success, and it will continue to be a success. (They are planning a season 2 starting in June!)

We here at Kansas City Improv wanted to know the history of Improv Thunderdome and here it is:

It all started in late 2007. Jared and Ed came up with the idea of an improvised competition and started doing some research online. They stumbled across something they really liked in Philadelphia called Troika. Where each weekend 3 teams go up against each other, each performing for 30 minutes, and at the end, the audience votes for their favorite to move on to the next round.

At first they wanted to place every Kansas City improviser in a hat and do a random drawing for teams, but there wasn't enough interest in that. So, they just had everyone create their own team. 9 teams later, they had their tournament. It was that simple. Many questions remain, will they expand? Will it ever be random? Who cares, at least the audiences are responding and the groups are putting on great shows. Most importantly, it is expanding the improv community here in Kansas City and introducing a lot of players to one another. Hooray improv! Below are pictures of each rounds winning team.