ComedySportz Manchester

Founding (2001)

Brainne Edge founded ComedySportz Manchester in 2001 at age 22 after approaching ComedySportz creator Dick Chudnow for franchise permission following a trip to see the show in America. The first performance, with original players Edge, Rachel Wareing, Rachael Hilton, Phil Melling, Ste Martin, Tom Kirk, Paul Thompson, Emily Cookson, and Katie Griffiths, was intended as a one-off charity benefit for Children in Need. After that first match's success the company decided to make competitive improv a regular offering.

Venue History

The company performed at Chorley Little Theatre and Chorley Football Club from 2001 to 2004, appeared at the Manchester Comedy Festival's Frog and Buck venue in 2005, and rebranded as ComedySportz Manchester in 2005. Shows moved to Salford Arts Theatre and the University of Salford in 2006, then to the Manchester Comedy Store from 2007 to 2008. Waterside Arts in Sale has served as the primary monthly venue since 2012.

Key Milestones

The first player sent to the ComedySportz World Championship in 2003. The 100th show marked in 2009. The 10th anniversary in 2011 was celebrated with a visit from Dick Chudnow. In 2025 the company hosted the inaugural Greater Manchester Improv Festival.

ComedySportz Manchester brings the family-friendly competitive improv format to the North West as the UK's only ComedySportz franchise, running continuously since its 2001 founding by Brainne Edge.

ComedySportz Manchester presents its flagship ComedySportz show as a competitive production featuring two teams performing audience-suggested games, sketches, and songs under the supervision of a referee, with the audience voting on winners and the referee issuing fouls including the brown-bag penalty for inappropriate material. The Totally Improvised Musical generates a complete original musical from audience title suggestions each performance, with live musical accompaniment and spontaneous songs. The Totally Improvised Pantomime offers both family-friendly and adults-only versions of a seasonal show built from audience suggestions and British pantomime conventions. New Adelphi Comedy Night, produced in partnership with the University of Salford, combines professional improvisers with student comedians in an adults-only improv and stand-up showcase. The Greater Manchester Improv Festival serves as the company's annual festival production, and the group has performed regularly at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe since 2001.

ComedySportz Manchester was founded in 2001 by Brianne Edge as a one-off charity benefit that generated enough enthusiasm to develop into a sustained operation. Edge built what became the North West's longest-running improv entertainment and the only ComedySportz franchise in the United Kingdom, operating under the corporate name The Totally Improvised Company. The troupe's early years established a touring presence across the UK and developed the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as a regular showcase, with appearances beginning in 2001 and continuing across subsequent decades. In 2012 the company settled into Waterside Arts in Sale as its primary monthly venue, providing a stable institutional home after years of performing across Greater Manchester. The organization has since expanded its show portfolio well beyond the flagship competitive format, developing original productions including improvised musical and pantomime formats that draw on British performance traditions.

ComedySportz Manchester has developed what it describes as Manchester's longest-running regular comedy courses, offering foundation through intermediate improv training alongside beginning stand-up and specialist workshops in clowning and sketch writing. Its partnership with the University of Salford for the New Adelphi Comedy Night has embedded the company in the city's higher education community and created a development pipeline for student comedians. Corporate and school programs extend the organization's reach into professional development and arts education across Greater Manchester. The company's award-winning reputation, built over more than two decades as the region's primary improv institution, and its sustained Edinburgh Fringe presence have connected it to the broader UK and international comedy community in ways uncommon for a single-franchise operation.