Improv Asylum — Attraction in Boston

I've been to these shows several times over the past 15 years and have always loved them and highly recommend to others. I don't live in Boston anymore so don't get to go a lot, but yesterday my fiancee and I happened to be in the area so after dinner I checked to see if tickets were still available online, which they were, so we walked over to the venue to purchase tickets for the 7:30 show. When we got there we saw barely anyone inside and figured they must have a ton of tickets. We asked the person at the front who said yes for sure we have tickets, and then another woman came over and said no actually we are completely sold out. I found that odd, but they put us at the top of the standby list and I was given the impression that there would definitely be tickets available if we just waited 15 mins into the start of the show. 5 other people came in after us and were even told over 50 people hadn't shown up yet so we all waited on standby. In that time we saw barely a few people go into the show so we figured there must be tons of seats. They made us wait 20mins instead of 15 and then another woman came out and said sorry we are actually sold out and have no seats. We could see into the theater that there were open seats, and we all complained that this made no sense, and also why would they make us wait if the theater was full? Several of us missed our ride home because we waited and then had to wait for a later train/ferry. I still don't understand what happened or why we weren't allowed in but it was super frustrating and sketchy. Disappointed to see one of my favorite places going downhill because of bad...

Lots of fun! They do shows 7 days a week. I’ve been here multiple times, to both the Friday and Saturday night shows. On Fridays and Saturdays, they offer a 7:30pm show, 10pm show, and a midnight show. If you attend the 7:30 or 10pm shows, you get free admission into the midnight show, so I’d recommend going to both shows and grabbing dinner or drinks in between! There’s also a small bar in the lobby here, so you can grab beer and wine before the show, during intermission, or after the show.

As for the stage itself, the room is pretty small, which is awesome because it’s a more intimate setting so you really feel like you’re a part of the show and can see everything happen. This also means all the seats are great. Even “partial obstruction” seats have a great view, with only a tiny pole in your way (and you pay less for them—totally worth it!). Even back row seats are only the 4th or 5th row, so you’re still very close to the stage! Back row seats and partially obstructed are actually my preferred seats because you don’t get picked on during the show, you pay less, and you’re still SUPER close to the stage!!

If possible, I’d recommend buying tickets online in advance to ensure you get seats. But if you happen to be walking by improv asylum and want to stop in unplanned, there’s oftentimes seats available (as long as you’re good with back row or partial obstruction, which, as I mentioned, are still perfectly fine seats and actually my personal fav!).

Highly recommend improv asylum for a...

We took my dad here for his birthday on 3/10/2018 and walked out extremely disappointed. The show we went to was the main stage one--a mix of improv and sketch comedy. The sketches tried too hard to be culturally relevant . . . so much so that there were times when they clearly weren't even trying to be funny. If I wanted serious social commentary, I wouldn't be in a comedy club. The actors were stiff and boring overall. And when the improv actually rolled around (the few times it did), the actors looked like they were in physical pain. Half the fun of improv is watching the actors laugh at each other and struggle to stay in character. Instead, their improv skits were barely related to audience suggestions. It felt like they were just performing a sketch that was very distantly related to the suggestion. There were also a few audience groups that shouted and whooped the whole time so that it was difficult to hear what was going on several times. I tried reaching out to the company but received no response. There are other improv shows in Boston that are infinitely better with much better customer service and at a cheaper price point (like the musical one in Cambridge). I don't understand how people enjoy this--maybe they've never seen good improv. 10/10 would...