improv 101: Basics

Our Improv 101 class will teach you the two most important words in the improvisers vocabulary: “Yes, And.” These two seemingly simple words open up the door to our six week course that will provide your foundation for comedy improvisation: team-building, trust, speed, active listening, and agreement. Over the six weeks you will specifically learn: grounded scene work, how to develop relationships, create characters, and cultivate the environment within improv scenes. Students learn to be fearless and have fun on stage using the TIM approach to improv.

improv 201: Characters

Building off the foundation taught in 101, 201 takes your scenes to the next level. Following the TIM philosophay of "find the funny fast," you'll develop skills to kick start scenes with strong initiations through forming a base reality. You will learn how to instantly create exciting characters using voice, attitude, physicality and more! Then you will learn techniques to take those characters and build meaningful relationships within the scene.

improv 301: game of the scene

This class builds on the fundamentals learned in 101 and 201 and focuses on building a complete two-person scene. Students hone their improv skills by learning to make stronger comedic choices. You will learn to identify the “game of the scene.” Once this game is identified, scenes take flight as you work on developing and heightening patterns of interaction and creating humor from the details. You will learn the fundamentals of long form improvisation through the montage format.

improv 401: the harold

Get to know Harold, the most widely performed improv format. From organic openings, second and third beats and group scenes, students learn the structure that makes Harold the standard for every longform. Be prepared to learn a strict foundation.

Pre-requisite: Improv 301 or equivalent experience

improv 501: advanced skills

Take harold to the next level in our capstone course for the main TIM curriculum.  501 will focus on the Spread and other advanced long form techniques.  Advanced improvisers will learn to go from good to great, by thinking-through and processing information faster. 

Pre-requisite: Improv 401 or equivalent experience

sketch 101: Writing Basics

Students will learn the basics of writing comedy sketches. We will discuss: generating comedic ideas, formulating with a premise, the game of the sketch and sketch revision. Students will write smart two person scenes grounded in reality, and have fun doing it under the TIM Comedy Philosophy!

sketch 202: The Writers room

Take your writing to the next level with skills like: character sketches, runners, blackouts, parody and satire. Students will also learn the basics of the writer's room including: pitching premises, beating out scenes, table reads and group revision. Collaborate with funny people and create sketch comedy the TIM way!

(Pre-requisite: SKETCH 101)

standup 101: Basics

Learn the art of standup comedy utilizing the our philosophy to finding the funny fast. Discover how to nurture true stories into a routine that both engages and entertains your audience. Our experienced instructors will teach you to construct a stage persona, performance mechanics, develop a joke, and create sets that will hit with an audience.

Standup 201: Joke Writing

Learn to develop a brand new five minute set . Discover how to build connections between different sets to develop more advanced stand up material. Learn the six major joke writing concepts, deconstruct comedic attributes that make them work, and write jokes within those formats to gain joke writing mastery.

(Pre-requisite: STAND UP 101)