Improv comedy requires an attentive audience, so it’s not often found at open mics in pubs. There are several performance venues in Toronto that regularly feature improv, where performers come up with material by riffing off each other’s ideas — sometimes in unusual formats that challenge their quick wits. Here’s our top five.

Theatresports
Bad Dog Theatre is Toronto’s most dedicated producer of improv. Since settling at their current location at Bloor and Ossington, they’ve worked to expand the art form with festivals and theatrical creations. But their flagship show remains Theatresports, a nominally competitive format that most resembles the improv TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway? Every Saturday night, a rotating cast of Bad Dog’s top-shelf players compete in two teams for bragging rights — and audience approval, naturally.

Catch 23 Improv
Comedy Bar continues to be the hippest of Toronto’s comedy venues, with a programming mix of sketch, standup and improv. The most popular improv show is Catch 23, which pits three teams against each other in four rounds. Every Friday night, warmed up (and tipsy) audiences usually give full marks in the final round to the hard-working contestants in “Toronto’s friendliest improv deathmatch.”

Monkey Toast
The Social Capital Theatre boasts two stages on two floors, and many shows there are improvised, which makes sense: its owners are all Bad Dog veterans. The most storied show at the SoCap is Monkey Toast, which features interview guests such as columnist Andrew Coyne or businessman Russell Oliver, with improv scenes (based on the interviews) performed by a cast of Second City veterans.

Second City
It’s Toronto’s best-kept comedy secret: Second City Toronto offers FREE admission, capacity permitting, to its mainstage cast’s late-night improv set, after revue performances. Material generated at the nightly improv sets may be incorporated into the next revue after the current show, The Hotline Bling Always Rings Twice. 

Songbuster: An Improvised Musical
Musical improv may be improv’s most difficult challenge, and several Toronto shows specialize in it. One Night Only has had limited runs in Toronto theatres and may run again this fall. At Bad Dog, Songbuster features singer-improvisers, such as Orphan Black’s Kristian Bruun, every second Thursday of the month and at this summer’s Toronto Fringe Festival.