Just the Funny Hosts Miami Improv Festival With Comedic Talent and Workshops

Comedy makes life enjoyable by embracing the chaos. Improv embraces chaos and uses it in real-time to create entertainment and art from random audience suggestions. This weekend, that special skill will be fully displayed at the Miami Improv Festival.

Miami-based improv company Just the Funny has hosted the festival for 21 years, bringing big names in improv from around the world to the Magic City. It allows local audiences to experience groundbreaking and seasoned improvisers and sketch artists.

"We're bringing in the best talent from across the world. It's the one time of year to watch this all without having to get on a plane," says David Christopher, executive producer of Miami Improv Festival and one of three co-owners and the only remaining active founder of Just the Funny.

For 25 years, Just the Funny has built and fostered a South Florida improv community through performances, outreach, and classes. Alumni have moved on to perform in famous troupes like Second City and Groundlings, on TV, in feature films, and on Broadway. Some even return to the 305 to show their talents at the festival. "We're really proud of what we've built. We're really proud of the community we have," he says.

Miami Improv Festival will include 36 shows in various mediums, including sketch comedy, musical improv, duo improv, and solo improv. "You see something, you learn something at the festival. It then becomes a part of the shows and classes we perform and teach here in Miami. Everybody wins," Christopher says. "You can shape what happens on stage; you get to be part of the show. Improv is fueled by audience suggestion."

They're bringing figurative and literal magic to the festival with a solo improv magic show by Miami-based Luis-David Madera. As David Magnifico, Madera offers, Christopher says, "A Latin take on David Copperfield." The Improvised Musical Play is a much-anticipated musical improv experience by Illinois natives Tara DeFrancisco and Rance Rizzutto.

Headliner Susan Messing is bringing her duo show, Messing with a Friend, to the stage. Her duo partner is stage and scene actor and the original Geico caveman John Lehr. "They are improv legends, and to get them here was not easy," Christopher says. "You might get a little bit of drama, a little bit of comedy, a little bit of shock value."

Also noteworthy is Stacey Hallal's Ruby Rocket, which brings an all-star cast to an improv staged in a 1940s film noir, complete with live projected visuals and period costumes. "It's drop-dead funny," Christopher observes. He may also take part in one of these two performances.

If you want to try your hand at improv, there are seven masterclass workshops open to the public that are taught by headliners on Sunday. You can try out solo or duo improv and then take the stage that night. Christopher promises a good time. "You can literally show up and learn improv Sunday morning and perform it Sunday night. If you're brave and daring, we've got something for you."

Miami Improv Festival 2024. 7 to 11 p.m., Thursday, January 11 through Sunday, January 14, at Just the Funny, 3119 Coral Way, Second Floor, Miami; themiamiimprovfestival.com. Tickets cost $15 to $235.