Before Improv Shmimprov

Improv Shmimprov's history stretches back to 1998 to the beginning of an improv group called "Live Nude People (with clothes on)" at the campus of the University of California, Irvine. A small group of drama students that performed four times each school quarter, Live Nudes would eventually grow into a campuswide phenomenon, drawing hundreds of students to their free late-night shows. Among the original members were future Shmimprov founders Chris "Shaggy" Wolfe, Jacob-Russell-Snyder, Lindsay Hendrickson, and Nathan Makaryk. Freshmen at its inception, Shaggy, Lindsay and Nate would spend all four of their collegiate years with LNP, emerging as the show's leaders and organizers. Included in the cast were fellow Shmimprov founders Patrick Heyn and Nick McGee. When graduation came about, control of the group was handed to cast members Myka Fox and Miles Taber, both of which have now graduated themselves and perform with Improv Shmimprov. Live Nude People still performs every other Friday night at theaters in the Arts Department of UCI.

The Laugh Kitchen

The first incarnation of Improv Shmimprov in performance was known as "Improv Shmimprov's Laugh Kitchen: Preheat to Funny!" and nick-named "Cooking Shmooking." The concept for the Laugh Kitchen was fairly simple : Jacob was hungry at the weekly gatherings, and wanted to combine them with food. But how could food and improv be combined? Shmimprov finally began performing for others based on a show format in which each audience member would "pay" for admission by bringing one food ingredient (anything from a chicken breast to a packet of parmesan cheese to a scoop of Lucky Charms) and throughout the show, the host would cook a meal in the kitchen that had to incorporate all of the audience's ingredients. The losing team of the night's show was forced to eat whatever the cook had concocted. The Laugh Kitchen performed in such prestigious locations in Orange County and Los Angeles as "Jacob's Dining Room" and "Shaggy's Den." In an act that proves the inherent intelligence of the universe, all recordings and video tapes of the Laugh Kitchen have been lost.