Best Improv Comedy Classes in New Orleans
New Orleans has a small but genuine improv comedy scene built around the New Orleans Improv Festival and local training centers in the Marigny and Mid-City neighborhoods. It is a city that understands performance, and that cultural fluency shows up in how the improv community approaches the craft.
· DabbleIn editorial
New Orleans is a city that has been performing publicly for three centuries. Street musicians, Mardi Gras Indians, brass band second lines, and French Quarter buskers all participate in a living performance culture that makes New Orleanians more comfortable with spontaneous public expression than people in most American cities. This cultural background is relevant to improv comedy in New Orleans: when you take an improv class here, you are in a city that already understands what it means to respond in the moment, to make something up with other people, and to perform for whoever is watching. The cultural raw material is unusually good.
The New Orleans improv scene is smaller than in larger cities, which changes the character of the classes in ways that are mostly positive. Classes are small, instructors know their students by name, and the community is tight enough that students from different class levels interact socially rather than staying in separate tracks. The New Orleans Improv Festival, which runs annually and has grown to attract national acts and coaches, brings an infusion of outside energy and workshops each year that keeps the local scene connected to what is happening in Chicago and New York. If you take a beginner class in the months before the festival, you will likely have access to master classes and shows by performers from the major comedy markets at a fraction of what it would cost to see them elsewhere.
The Marigny and Bywater neighborhoods, which have become the center of creative activity in New Orleans for people who want something beyond the French Quarter tourist circuit, are the natural home for improv classes. Both neighborhoods have a walkable, independent character with the kind of bars, restaurants, and music venues that make post-class evenings easy and enjoyable. Mid-City has additional comedy class options in a neighborhood with a more residential feel. If you are visiting New Orleans and want to try something that is not a food tour or a ghost walk, a beginner improv workshop in the Marigny is one of the more interesting ways to spend two hours -- it is accessible to complete beginners, connects you to a local creative community, and gives you a completely different angle on a city you thought you already understood.
New sessions are added regularly.
Browse all classesFrequently asked questions
Does New Orleans have improv comedy classes?
Yes. New Orleans has a small but active improv scene with training centers in the Marigny and Mid-City neighborhoods. The city also hosts an annual improv festival that brings national acts and workshops to the city each year.
How much do improv classes in New Orleans cost?
Beginner workshops in New Orleans run $15 to $30. Multi-week courses are typically $90 to $160, which reflects the somewhat smaller scale of the local scene compared to larger cities.
Where in New Orleans are improv classes held?
The Marigny, Mid-City, and the Bywater have the main comedy training options. The French Quarter has a few performance venues but is less central to the training scene.
Is New Orleans a good city for improv comedy?
The city has a deep performance culture that predates improv by centuries -- street performance, second line, brass bands, Mardi Gras krewe performance. This cultural fluency with public performance makes New Orleans an interesting city for improv students.
Are New Orleans improv classes beginner-friendly?
Yes. The New Orleans improv community is welcoming to beginners and the scene is small enough that instructors know their students well. Beginner classes in New Orleans tend to have a tight-knit quality that larger city scenes do not.