Louisville’s Damaged Goods group selected for prestigious Chicago Improv Festival for the Second Year in a row

Improv troupe has one Louisville show before hitting the Windy City

Chicago is generally considered the birthplace of modern improvisational comedy and theater. The Windy City is home to world renowned organizations such as The Annoyance Theatre, iO and The Second City, which counts among its alumni some of the world’s most influential comedians.

Louisville’s own Damaged Goods Improv is heading to Chicago again after wowing them at last year’s festival to make its mark again. The four-year-old group will perform at the 2014 Chicago Improv Festival, which runs during the first week of April, at Chicago’s Comedy Bar (Owned by comic legend James Belushi) on April 3rd and two shows at The Laugh Out Loud Theater on April 5th.

Fewer than 100 groups were chosen from a record number of entries, and Damaged Goods — Parker Bowles, Stefan Gearhart and Rocky Williams — is the lone Louisville and Kentucky selection for 2014.

Working in the style of ABC-TV's “Whose Line is it Anyway?,” Damaged Goods uses audience suggestions to create hilarious and high energy improvised sketches.

“I’ve never seen anything so hype and so absolutely fun and hilarious. By the time the show is done my ribs hurt from laughing so much and I’m out of breath and haven’t done any exercise!” Paul Sutherlin (Louisville Native)

This year’s Chicago Improv Festival is split into 10 categories. Damaged Goods will perform in the short-form category, with a combination of popular improv games and a host of original games created by the troupe.

The trio will warm up for the Chicago festival with one more Louisville show on Saturday March 29th at The Bard’s Town, 1801 Bardstown Road. The shows begin at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are $10 cash at the door. The improv show is titled, Damaged Goods Presents: Three Men And A Pizza and will be a high energy improv show filled with many surprises.

“Like most people who work in improv, we understand the significance of the Chicago scene, and making the cut for the Chicago Improv Festival is a huge deal,” Bowles said. “We would not be where we are without the support we’ve received in our hometown over the past three years, and we’re hoping for a big turnout at our next two shows to help us build on that momentum. We’re going to Chicago to represent the Ville!”

For more on Damaged Goods, go to https://www.damgoodnation.com

For more on the Chicago Improv Festival, go to www.chicagoimprovfestival.org