Philly Improv Theater, or PHIT (pronounced "fit"), is a

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Pennsylvania comedy theater which formerly presented shows at The Adrienne Theatre in

Center City Philadelphia Center City includes the central business district and central neighborhoods of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It comprises the area that made up the City of Philadelphia prior to the Act of Consolidation, 1854, which extended the ci ...

. The theater currently operates a training center with programs in improv comedy,

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

and stand-up comedy. PHIT's most notable alumnus is stand-up comedian

Kent Haines Kent Haines is a stand-up comedian who has appeared on Season 4 of Comedy Central's Live at Gotham and the public radio program The Sound of Young America. Haines began his stand-up career while attending college at Brown University in Providenc ...

, who was the 2008 winner of the Philly's Phunniest contest at Helium Comedy Club and has appeared on public radio show

The Sound of Young America ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

and Season 4 of

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

's program

Live at Gotham ''Live at Gotham'' is an American stand-up comedy television show airing on Comedy Central. The show features up and coming stand-up comedians performing live at the Gotham Comedy Club in New York City New York, often called New York Cit ...

. In addition to Haines, other comedians from Philadelphia who appeared on stage at PHIT have gone on to perform at major comedy venues in cities like New York and Los Angeles, founded their own theatre companies, and appeared in touring productions for

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise. It is the oldest improvisational theater troupe to be continuously based in Chicago, with training programs and live theaters in Toronto and New York. Since its debut in 1959, it has b ...

History

PHIT was founded as a nonprofit in October 2005 by Greg Maughan, with assistance from local improvisers Bobbi Block, Matt Holmes and Alexis Simpson. The original purpose of the theater was to offer improv comedy instruction for beginning to advanced students. Over time PHIT expanded its mission to include sketch comedy instruction, and became a presenter and producer for all varieties of

alternative comedy Alternative comedy is a term coined in the 1980s for a style of comedy that makes a conscious break with the mainstream comedic style of an era. The phrase has had different connotations in different contexts: in the UK, it was used to describe ...

shows. Viewers of Philadelphia's local FOX affiliate,

WTXF-TV WTXF-TV (channel 29) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Owned and operated by the Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on Market Street in Center City an ...

, voted PHIT as the city's Best Comedy Club in their 2009 Hot List competition.

Productions

PHIT hosted a variety of comedy shows every night of the week: improv, sketch, stand-up, and variety comedy shows, as well as occasional movie screenings. Currently, they do not have a performance space. The theater formerly produced weekly performances by ten improv comedy house teams (The Future, Big Baby, Hoffman, 1816, Fjord, Channel 77, Swan Year, Metropolis, PG-13, and Hackett Park), three sketch comedy house teams (The Flat Earth, Dog Mountain, and Goat Rodeo) as well as independent improv and sketch groups. Also on PHIT's regular schedule were several variety comedy shows (People of Interest, Theme Show, Gimmick Show, Videostew+Monologues), a Panel Comedy show (A Few Answers Short), a "found comedy" night (Guilty Pleasures), a sketch open mic called Sketch Up or Shut Up, and an open improv jam. PHIT also hosted Dynamite Series covering a wide variety of comedic disciplines (Dirty Laundry, Study Hall). PHIT has also presented shows by performing groups from New York's

Upright Citizens Brigade Theater The Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Amy Poehler, Matthew Walsh, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Adam ...

, Magnet Theater, and The Peoples Improv Theater; and individuals including Kevin Allison of MTV's

The State A state is a political entity that regulates society and the population within a definite territory. Government is considered to form the fundamental apparatus of contemporary states. A country often has a single state, with various administrat ...

Susan Messing Susan Messing (born December 26, 1963) is an American improvisational theatre performer, teacher and author associated with the Annoyance Theater and iO Theater in Chicago. Career A New Jersey native, Susan Messing graduated from Northwestern ...

of Chicago's

Annoyance Theater The Annoyance Theatre, or Annoyance Productions, is a theatre and associated ensemble based in Chicago, Illinois, that deals mainly in absurd and outrageous humor. Many people who have performed with the ensemble have gone on to become successf ...

Kevin McDonald Kevin Hamilton McDonald (born May 16, 1961) is a Canadian actor and comedian. He is a member of the comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall, who have appeared together in a number of stage, television and film productions, most notably the 1988–1 ...

of The Kids in the Hall, and

Dave Hill Dave Hill may refer to: * Dave Hill (baseball) (1937–2018), American Major League Baseball pitcher * Dave Hill (golfer) (1937–2011), American golfer * Dave Hill (American football) (1941–2022), American football player * Dave Hill (automot ...

. Every first Sunday of the month PHIT hosts an improvised show Story UP! for kids ages 5 and up. From March 2006 until January 2008, PHIT produced a monthly improv comedy show at Fergie's Pub in Philadelphia's Center City. From January 2007 until December 2013, the theater has hosted regular performances at The Shubin Theatre, in addition to producing additional shows at others venues. In 2009, the theater produced a weekend of shows collectively titled "Philly Invades NYC" at Under Saint Marks' in New York City. In January 2014 PHIT opened its permanent home on Second Stage at the Adrienne Theater in Center City Philadelphia at 2030 Sansom Street. In 2016 PHIT expanded to occupy the Mainstage in the Adrienne Theater. In June 2023 PHIT left the Adrienne, and opened their new training center at The Arden Theatre’s Hamilton Family Arts Center in Old City Philadelphia. They currently do not have a performance space.

Philly Fringe Festival

PHIT has participated in the Philadelphia Live Arts and Philly Fringe Festival every year since 2006. In 2008, the theater programmed performances by improv and sketch comedy groups on all 16 days of the festival, anchoring these shows around an original improv-to-script musical comedy titled "The Hoppers Hit the Road". The production garnered considerable attention and positive reviews in mainstream local media, including a review by

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

. During the 2009 festival, the theater presented an ambitious schedule of performances - this time in the Fringe Festival's newly created Improv/Comedy category.

Training program

Since its inception, the theater has offered a core curriculum of classes teaching basic to advanced improvising techniques. PHIT's curriculum is based heavily on similar programs at Chicago's

Second City Training Center The Second City Training Center was founded in the mid-1980s to facilitate the growing demand for workshops and instruction from the Second City theatre. The Training Centers are located in Chicago and Toronto. Satellite Centers formerly existe ...

and iO (formerly ImprovOlympic), and New York's

Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre The Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Amy Poehler, Matthew Walsh, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Ad ...

. In February 2009, PHIT introduced a similar core curriculum in

writing. PHIT uses local performers as instructors for its improv core curriculum, and a mix of local and nationally recognized teachers (including Kevin Allison of

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

and former

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

writer Ali Farahnakian) for its sketch comedy program. In 2015 PHIT launched its Kids & Teens program offering classes to kids in grades K-12.

References

External links