Week of Events
Tag, You’re It! Open Mic
Tag You’re It Open Mic Sunday evenings at Rise Comedy, Denver’s best live comedy club, is a great way to help new comedians work on their jokes. You have a suggestion? We have the paper for you to write your tag lines that they might just use to punch up their jokes. Tag You’re It […]
Anecdotal Open Mic
Do you have a story that you think could be a funny standup routine? Are you frustrated by only having three minutes to work on what you're trying to say at other open mics? Then this is the mic for you. Tell your story - find the funny and then make it funnier. List drops at 7:30 […]
RISE Comedy Summer Improv Intensive 2026
RISE Comedy is excited to announce that we’re holding a summer improv intensive. We’ve brought some of the best teachers and performers in improvisation together for a 4 day intensive. You’ll get 6 hours from 4 great instructors for a total of 24 hours of improv training. Intensive students will also form an ensemble team […]
2026 RISE Comedy Festival (Mainstage) – Comedy Queens / Sorry For Your Loss / Simple Complex
COMEDY QUEENSComedy Queens feat. Banana Splits and Dr. Zackarina — your hosts play some of your favorite short form improv games in this regularly occurring RISE Comedy show format.CAST: Dr. Zackarina Jenny-hoe, Banana Splits---SORRY FOR YOUR LOSSSorry For Your Loss is an improv team based out of Cleveland, OH. The show features a "hub" scene […]
2026 RISE Comedy Festival (Mainstage) – Whimsicult / Friends of Friends
WHIMSICULTChoose your own adventure with Whimsicult. This quirky ensemble mixes classic improv forms with team and crowd favorites to deliver hilarious improvised comedy. Whimsicult performs the third Saturday of every month at the Peak Improv Theater in Colorado Springs.CAST: Krystal Arrell, Jennifer Caress, Gio Castillo, Matt Jacobs, McKay Jacobsen, Korbin Stein---FRIENDS OF FRIENDSFriends of Friends […]
2026 RISE Comedy Festival (Hideaway) – Mouse Couch / Not My Robot / BENT
MOUSE COUCHMouse Couch is a Denver-based improv trio that formed in 2017. With over 40 years collected improv experience, they present a style of improv that they call “fluid masons.” They seamlessly build scenes around each other with a unique style that they’ve developed over years of weekly performance.CAST: Asa Erlendson, Jamie Gaffney, Kent Welborn---NOT […]
2026 RISE Comedy Festival (Mainstage) – TVunscripted / Hit and Run: Musical Improv®
TVUNSCRIPTEDJoin us for an improvised Film Noir show! Explore the gritty streets of LA as Ryder and Gabe take you back to the dangerous underbelly of 1940s crime, detective work, debauchery, and tragedy — with period vernacular, themes, tropes, and costuming.CAST: Ryder Tam, Gabe Valdez, Nick Armstrong---HIT AND RUN: MUSICAL IMPROVOne title from the audience. […]
2026 RISE Comedy Festival (Hideaway) – Me Myself and a Chair / Real Angels / Beige on Beige
ME MYSELF AND A CHAIR---REAL ANGELSThe cast has been performing and teaching throughout Chicago for over a decade. They have worked for The Second City. They were in sketch and improv shows directed by TJ and Dave. You can see them perform regularly at the iO Theater in Chicago.CAST: Mike Brunlieb, Jenelle Cheyne, Lindsey Smith, […]
2026 RISE Comedy Festival (Hideaway) – District 9 / Once Upon a Rhyme / Benign Nuisance
DISTRICT 9District 9 Comedy is the longest running BIPOC improv team in Denver (six years and counting)! In our show, we share authentic stories from our varied experiences, then create worlds that bring them to life. Expect to be surprised, challenged, and delighted by the joy and chaos that erupts when these performers take the […]
2026 RISE Comedy Festival (Mainstage) – But of Mind / Mom and Dad Are Fighting Again / Improv Salt Lake / ABBA The Band For Real
BUT OF MINDBut of Mind is an improvised show in the style of paranormal and psychological horror shows from The Golden Age of Television such as The Outer Limits, The Veil, and The Twilight Zone. Ordinary people are placed into extraordinary, often unsettling situations — unfolding live, unscripted.CAST: Diana Brown, Dan Wilson, Eric Caldwell, Kelly […]
2026 RISE Comedy Festival (Hideaway) – Nibling Rivalry / Bumbled / Barkley
NIBLING RIVALRYNibling Rivalry is a high-energy ensemble comedy show that will take you on the improv equivalent of a midway ride at a kitten rodeo. We share DNA with the Groundlings' Crazy Uncle Joe Show — a weekly ensemble show directed by Holly Laurent.CAST: Hawley Allen, Kevin Cooley, Michelle Daubner, Cameron Domasky, Sam Harrison, Tyler […]
2026 RISE Comedy Festival (Mainstage) – Buddy Puzzle / Wine & Weasels
BUDDY PUZZLEBuddy Puzzle was formed after Anatasha Blakely met Jacob Sorling at iO West in early 2016. Having both been coached by Holly Laurent, they've developed a unique performance style that blends sharp scene work with musical accompaniment. They have hosted shows at The Pack Theatre in Los Angeles and now perform in Denver.CAST: Anatasha […]
2026 RISE Comedy Festival (Hideaway) – Three-Star General / Dad Company / Minor Adjustments
THREE-STAR GENERALWe are down to our last resort; deploy Three-Star General — a group of savants (and a couple horses) responsible for the greatest missions completed in this country, including prolonging the life expectancy of lobsters and improving the quality of sushi restaurants in Dallas.CAST: Fritz Francis, Maya Muralidhar, Alap Dave, Emily Sue Tomac, Jordan […]
2026 RISE Comedy Festival (Mainstage) – Jane Austin Improv / Belle Reve
JANE AUSTIN IMPROVJane Austin Improv is a performance company that strives to honestly embody Jane Austen's core fundamentals through improv comedy. Starting with a single audience suggestion, JAI devises a full-length improvised play in the style of Jane Austen — a Rom Com with A, B, and sometimes C story lines, complete with an improvised […]
JOKEBOX – A Comedy Party and You’re Invited
Looking for something different to do on a Saturday night? Grab your friends, order a drink, and experience a comedy party packed with laughter, fun, and surprises. J♥KEBOX combines stand-up comedy, trivia, improv, games, and audience participation into one fast-paced, feel-good night out. You'll laugh, watch comedians compete, cheer for your favorites, and help decide who […]
2026 RISE Comedy Festival (Hideaway) – Tapestry / OVER Elvis / Strega Nona
TAPESTRYWatch as a one act play is written in real time in front of your eyes by this hilarious quartet featuring two married couples from Cedar City and Denver. With tension, comedy, and usually an idiot or two.CAST: Wendy Penrod, TJ Penrod, KP Nichols, Josh Nichols---OVER ELVISLike Walter White & Jesse Pinkman, a great improv […]
2026 RISE Comedy Festival (Hideaway) – Boxcar / Johnny Anybody / Frosted Tips
BOXCARCAST: Nick Armstrong, Rev McLean---JOHNNY ANYBODYJohnny Anybody's play is silly and anarchic. A fast-paced team who loves to sprint through a whirlwind of characters, each bound together by an opening thesis statement. They love building out narratives and then spinning them sideways.CAST: Chandler Harris, Davay Henry, Kayley Isaacson, Christina O'Brien Ouyang, Daniel Ronjak, Cody Ullrich---FROSTED […]
2026 RISE Comedy Festival (Mainstage) – Mockumentary Now! / Pawn Takes Queen / Booze & The Boys / Basement Doctors
MOCKUMENTARY NOW!Voted the best film of 1992, Mockumentary Now! is not a film. It's an improv team of seasoned performers trying to piece together a documentary on the fly, live on stage. Each documentary is inspired by an audience suggestion — and goes completely off the rails from there.CAST: Haley Cohen, Sam Johnson, Jason Wagner, […]
2026 RISE Comedy Festival (Hideaway) – Improv Cabaret / Butt Gay / Necromancer
IMPROV CABARETImprov Cabaret is a fully improvised Broadway-style musical, action-packed with singing, dancing, rapping, hilarious characters, and touching story lines. Every single moment of this jazzy musical is made up on the spot.CAST: Gretchen Grunzke, Dre Ford, Laura Prager, Rachel Beckemeyer, Kat Bond, Erik Mulder, Maynard Peralta---BUTT GAYButt Gay Improv has been slaying the stage […]