The Improv Shop

Founding (2009)

Kevin McKernan, a St. Louis native who trained at iO Chicago, placed his first Craigslist advertisement for an improv class in October 2009. Early sessions operated out of basements and bars. In 2010 Andy Sloey, also a St. Louis native with Chicago training, joined McKernan as co-founder and business partner, and the organization began presenting regular performances, including free long-form nights on alternating Thursdays.

First Venue and Growth

The company's early programming included shows above Tin Can Tavern at 1909 Locust Street. The Improv Shop grew steadily through the 2010s, building a five-level training curriculum and an expanding roster of performing teams. In 2017 the company purchased its current home at 3960 Chouteau Avenue in The Grove, providing dedicated performance and class space.

Fifteenth Anniversary (2024)

The Improv Shop celebrated fifteen years of operation in 2024 with a Made (Up) in St. Louis showcase at Delmar Hall, bringing together alumni and current company members. By its anniversary year the organization supported more than fifty active performing teams and approximately three hundred students in its class program.

The Improv Shop centers its programming on long-form improv in the Chicago lineage, with a five-level training curriculum that takes students from fundamentals through advanced ensemble work. Kevin McKernan's iO Chicago training informed the company's pedagogical approach and its commitment to sustained ensemble development in St. Louis.

The Improv Shop's recurring shows include School Night, a regular performance evening for house teams and developing performers, and The Menagerie, a showcase featuring the theater's variety of performing ensembles. House Team Night and Jam brings together resident teams in a combined performance and open jam format. The Merry-Go-Round offers another recurring performance strand. Student showcases including the Teams Level 1 Student Showcase and Teams Level 2 Student Showcase run on a weekly cycle tied to the eight-week class program, presenting new student performers on the Side Stage at no charge to audiences.

Kevin McKernan founded The Improv Shop in St. Louis in 2009, formalizing the operation as a business in 2010 when Andy Sloey joined as co-founder. The theater modeled its five-level training program on the Chicago long-form schools, bringing the iO Theater and Second City pedagogical approach to St. Louis for the first time at institutional scale. After several years in earlier locations, The Improv Shop moved to its current home at 3960 Chouteau Avenue in the Grove neighborhood in 2017, establishing a dedicated venue with both a main stage and the Side Stage annex alongside on-site dining. By its 15th anniversary in 2024, the theater had grown to more than 50 active performing teams and approximately 300 enrolled students, making it one of the largest regional improv training operations in the American Midwest outside Chicago.

The Improv Shop's scale and consistency transformed St. Louis into a city with a self-sustaining improv community trained in long-form technique. Its tiered team structure, moving students from Level 1 showcases through increasingly advanced performance opportunities, has created a pipeline that feeds a large local performing ecosystem. The theater's business services division, offering corporate workshops and private events, has brought improv technique to St. Louis organizations beyond the performing arts community.