Joe Bozic

Joe Bozic relocated from Chicago to Minneapolis in 2001 and quickly established himself in the Twin Cities improv scene, performing with independent improv groups including Fingergun and forming Ferrari McSpeedy with Mike Fotis, an absurdist improv and sketch comedy duo that developed a reputation for fast-paced comedy with committed physical performance at the Minnesota Fringe Festival and in the local long-form improv community. Ferrari McSpeedy developed into one of the Twin Cities' most distinctive performance acts, their work characterized by rapid-fire commitment to premises and a willingness to sustain absurdist premises across full show lengths that set the duo apart from more conventionally naturalistic improv ensembles. Both Bozic and Fotis maintained connections to Brave New Workshop, the nation's oldest continuously operating sketch comedy theater, founded by Dudley Riggs in Minneapolis in 1958.

In 2003, Bozic began working at Brave New Workshop. By 2006, he became a resident company member of the BNW main stage, performing in more than twenty shows during his tenure and developing experience within the distinct tradition of social satire and political sketch comedy that Brave New Workshop had maintained since the late 1950s. The BNW's topical satire format, which refreshed material every few weeks to respond to current events and cultural shifts, required performers to develop a facility with rapid material generation and audience responsiveness that differed from the open-ended character and scene work of long-form improv.

In 2005, Bozic co-founded HUGE Improv Theater in Minneapolis with Jill Bernard, Mike Fotis, Nels Lennes, and Butch Roy. HUGE was conceived as the Twin Cities' first and only theater dedicated exclusively to teaching and performing long-form improvisation, providing the Minneapolis improv community with an institutional home for the Harold and related forms that the region had lacked. The theater moved into its permanent home at 3037 Lyndale Avenue South in Minneapolis's Uptown neighborhood in 2011, operating a 100-seat dedicated performance space. Bozic served as one of the theater's founding leaders through its establishment and growth.

From 2009 to 2014, Bozic served as Director of the Brave New Workshop Student Union, the training school for improv and sketch comedy that operated in parallel with the BNW main stage. The Student Union served more than two hundred students weekly at its peak, making it one of the larger improv and sketch comedy training programs in the Midwest. He shared director duties with Mike Fotis during this period. Following his Student Union directorship, he continued teaching sketch writing at the BNW Student Union.

Bozic is registered as a teacher on The Improv Network, the professional directory for improv educators, and has taught both performance-level long-form improvisation and sketch comedy writing across the Twin Cities comedy community.