“I’ve taken improv classes. What next?”
Thunderbolt Comedy.

Thunderbolt Comedy is a boutique comedy school that focuses on performance. In order to learn the most valuable lessons in improv, students need to perform, so most Thunderbolt Comedy classes are designed around the creation of a class show.

These shows are designed with two things in mind:
⚡️training performers in an array of advanced improv skills
⚡️drawing and entertaining audiences

By focusing on an end goal, students free themselves up in classwork exercises to discover successes instead of fearing failures. Thunderbolt Comedy classes pair a welcoming classroom environment with honest guidance to help students find their way to their next level.

Thunderbolt Comedy teachers invite students to be partners in their learning process and endeavor to focus and enhance the student’s comedic voice, rather than the teacher’s. Teachers are genuinely enthusiastic for students’ successes and offer experienced guidance and specific, actionable suggestions for their improvement. The classroom is a laboratory for students to experiment.

History

Thunderbolt Comedy began in 2012 as a way to bring comedy classes to Brooklyn, featuring passionate world-class teachers.

In the years since, Academic Director Chris Griswold has worked with hundreds of actors to develop a new, fun, and effective methodology for comedic improv.

Thunderbolt Comedy joined the Bay Area’s burgeoning improv and sketch comedy scene in 2019 with an eye toward growing the scene through cooperation and collaboration with the wonderful variety of improv programs and performers already here.

Past classes and productions have included:

• Documentary Live!

• Meetcute: The Improvised Rom-Com

• The Thunderbolt Comedy House Teams

• Harry Potter: Improvised

• Curiosity Box: A Sex-Positive Variety Show

• The Improvised Superhero Movie

• Improvised Tales from the Crypt

• The Dollhouse: An Original Improv Form

• Indie Harold Night at the legendary Creek and the Cave