Welcome to RISE Comedy (formerly Voodoo Comedy), Denver’s only full-time improv comedy bar and theater! We offer fun and unpredictable entertainment experiences in the heart of LoDo. RISE Comedy is the place to enjoy a wide variety of intriguing, original improv comedy, sketch comedy, Denver improv classes, karaoke and more; a well-stocked bar; and a unique, affordable night out that you and your friends won’t soon forget.
We have been performing in Denver since 2008, with The Dinner Detective Murder Mystery Dinner Show and Hit and Run: Musical Improv. Over the years, our passion for interactive, unscripted theater grew exponentially, and we realized it was time to expand our dreams and move into our own theater space. After a lot of hard work and planning, founder Steve Wilder opened RISE Comedy as the Voodoo Comedy Playhouse, on Wednesday, October 26th, 2011.
On January 1st, 2019, RISE was pleased to welcome Nick Armstrong and Josh Nicols as new partners and co-owners. Working with original RISE Comedy founder and co-owner Steve Wilder, Nick & Josh have brought their decades of comedy and improv experience to the table, and all 3 partners are excited to usher in the next wave of evolution in Denver improvisation!
There is an amazing level of comedic talent in our city, and we are most proud to present these shows for your approval. We consider all of our shows to be the cream of the comedy crop, with performers who are or soon will be known on the national stage. We’ve also hosted many nationally known improv and comedy acts, such as Kevin McDonald of Kids In The Hall, Frank Conniff & Trace Beaulieu of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Ithamar Enriquez, Susan Messing, Rachael Mason, Jill Bernard, Brian Babylon of NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, and many many more.
We offer a fully-stocked bar for your enjoyment, as well as a technologically advanced theater setup to provide the ultimate in amusement. We are open five nights a week for shows. The bar opens at 7:30 PM Tue – Thu, and 6:15 PM Fri & Sat. Shows are 18+ before 10:00 PM, and 21+ after 10:00 PM.
Hit and Run: Musical Improv and our other improv comedy shows are available for private events, and the theater itself is available for private functions and rentals.
With RISE Comedy, we have made our dreams real, and we’d love to have you in for a show and a drink. See you soon!
Meet The RISE Comedy Partners
Steve now operates as CTO and corporate/private workshops & events manager for RISE Comedy. He has personally deployed corporate workshops and events for companies such as Apple, Adobe, Comcast Xfinity, Chipotle, DaVita, Dell, Ernst & Young, Vail Resorts, and many others. He is also designer and webmaster for RiseComedy.com (currently in its 6th design iteration) and its sub-sites.
In addition to RISE Comedy, Steve is co-executive producer for The Dinner Detective Murder Mystery Dinner Show, where he manages 5 cities across the country, as well as coordinating the websites for all 75+ locations. Steve is also founder and director of Hit and Run: Musical Improv™, Colorado’s longest-running longform improv show, which has created hundreds of fully improvised Broadway-style musicals over the past 15 years.
In the virtual arena, Steve produces online shows for HNR and RISE Comedy, as well as operating as Lead Digital Architect for The Virtual Detective. Through The Virtual Detective, Steve has so far produced 7 full-scale digital productions, and has performed hundreds of shows for dozens of colleges and organizations across the country and internationally, including shows in Canada, Bahrain, Hawaii, Morocco, Italy, the UK, Switzerland, Germany, Scotland, and many other countries.
Steve’s comedy festival and improv festival performing & teaching credits include: Los Angeles Improv Festival, New York Musical Improv Festival, New York Improv Festival, Out Of Bounds Comedy Festival, Montreal Improv Festival, Duke City Improv Festival, Denver Improv Festival, Colorado Improv Festival.