Melissa B.
Yelp
I remember back when iO was Improv Olympic (somehow, the IOC won its lawsuit over this, as if people would confuse this with the Olympics??). My friends and I would head down to Wrigleyville as high schoolers and watch the various shows, sometimes the 12am show where anyone could join them onstage in improv.
The space is bigger and newer now, operating on Kingsbury near a variety of big box stores and not as many restaurants as you'd want. iO has four theatres, the smaller ones on the second floor. All have pretty good sightlines for short people, which isn't always something comedy clubs deliver.
There really is something for everyone here. The shows include an improvised musical (and some spinoffs of this every so often), classic long-form improv, and specific genre-based parodies like Jane Austen, Shakespeare, or even Disney Channel Original Movies. They offer sketch comedy fully in Spanish as well! My husband and I come to iO often and enjoy the variety of shows. ComedySportz has a home here, and though tickets at $35 each are on the higher side of a place that usually charges less than Second City but provides as much laughter, if not more, it was still a great show. ComedySportz is kid-friendly, so kids and preteens were at the show and loved it just like the rest of us did.
Speaking of variety, they have a good offering of drinks, not cheap but not as overpriced as elsewhere, as well as some bar food. I'm not sure if you can order their pizzas to the theatres themselves, but in the lobby, you can order them from the bar. There are menus in the lobby that show options from the theatre, as well as salads and sandwiches. Special mention, too, should go to how everyone working here is friendly and clearly enjoys doing so. This is a fabulous experience everyone should get to have!
