Marz Timms

Timms grew up on Chicago's West Side and attended Oak Park and River Forest High School before pursuing comedy through Second City's training and performance programs. He became an original member of Second City's Brown Co., a performing ensemble, and worked as a writer and performer for Biz Co., Second City's corporate touring company. He also trained at The Annoyance Theatre, where he developed the high-energy, large-presence performance style he has described in interviews as central to his approach.

Around 2004 Timms created Pimprov, a show built around four characters who are pimps that accidentally enroll in improv classes at Second City and attempt to stage their own performance with heavy audience interaction. The cast of Pimprov drew from performers who had worked at Second City, iO, and The Annoyance, making it a cross-institutional production. As the first all-Black improv group in Chicago, Pimprov occupied a distinctive position in the city's comedy landscape and built a national following over more than fifteen years of performance. The show received coverage in Ebony magazine and the Chicago Tribune, which noted its political irreverence alongside its comedic effectiveness. Comedian Hannibal Burress opened for Pimprov early in his career.

Timms expanded into touring stand-up, performing alongside Tracy Morgan, Guy Torry, and Nikki Glaser, among others, and sharing stages with Jordan Peele, Keegan-Michael Key, Chris Redd, Bobby Moynihan, and Horatio Sanz. He served as arena host for Chicago Bulls events and appeared in more than a hundred productions across the United States. His commercial work included campaigns for McDonald's and Hanes.

For television, Timms appeared in multiple seasons of Netflix's Easy. He voiced the character Jax in the Mortal Kombat video game series. He has taught improv across the country and has been a speaker on corporate communications and performance presence through platforms including PR Daily's Ragan Speakers bureau. Pimprov has incorporated a charitable component since its early years, donating ticket proceeds to domestic abuse shelters including Sarah's Inn in Oak Park. Her long-term work within the ComedySportz organization extended beyond performance to include training, facilitation, and the application of improv skills to educational and professional development contexts. ComedySportz's format, which combines competitive short-form improv with audience participation and scoring, gave Timms a performance framework that required both technical skill in short-form games and the audience engagement techniques that distinguish the format from purely theatrical improv. Her participation in regional and national ComedySportz competitions placed her work in comparison with practitioners from across the organization's franchise network, and her teaching work within the ComedySportz curriculum connected her to the broader community of practitioners who have used the format as a training pipeline for performers, teachers, and facilitators.