Improvised Golden Age Radio

Prison Spring Break (Ft. Thomas Kelly of Sand)

A story of redemption reminiscent of the Shawkshank prison yards... well not really but there is a prison! Our waves are graced with the tones of Thomas Kelly from legendary improv group Sand! Listening to him make faces will delight your ear bones, or whatever is in those things!  Below is the AI generated summary for your amusement.  Please like and subscribe anywhere podcasts are available. Also check out a video of a recent show here: @ThomasKellyActingMan @SandImprov @improvisedradioshow www.improvisedradio.com A prison warden decides the answer to rehabilitation is spring break, and we immediately regret letting him cook. Recorded live at Bughouse Theater in Chicago in the style of a classic Golden Age radio broadcast, we spin an improvised audio theater comedy where a “camper prison bus van” heads toward the Grand Canyon, two soul cellmates plot their dumbest escape yet, and the prison laundry room becomes the birthplace of something genuinely sinister. Along the way, we meet Cindy Winterson, the warden’s daughter, who insists she’s done all her homework and now wants to ride along with the inmates. Her awkward, overheated bus conversation with a jaywalking “bad boy” turns romance into danger, and the trip detonates into a crash that leaves the whole group relying on an unlikely rescuer: a Grand Canyon tour guide and a heroic donkey named Misty. If you love live improv comedy, foley sound effects, and narrative twists that only happen when performers are making it up together, this one keeps escalating. Back at the prison, the real plot surfaces: Lollipop’s cauldron lair, mind control, and a surprisingly sad origin story that reframes the chaos as a crooked search for connection. We end up with satire about “easy fixes” for broken systems, plus a weirdly sweet reminder that love can show up in the middle of a disaster. Subscribe for more improvised radio theater, share this with a friend who loves audio drama comedy, and leave us a review with the moment that made you laugh hardest. You can actually message us by clicking here! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2459135/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2459135/support] https://www.improvisedradio.com/ https://www.instagram.com/improvisedradioshow/

The Storm and the After Party (@ Crawlspace Theater in Kalamazoo)

Guys and Dolls... and Tornadoes! And some weight changing gigantic water melons. It's a rare 3-person cast honored to grace the stage of Crawlspace Theater in Kalamazoo Michigan for a special double bill with written old-time show All Ears Theater.  Thanks much to those who put the show together and invited us. If you are ever in Kalamazoo please visit Dann and the team at Crawlspace for some great comedy and vibes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnLPdtdCFlQ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnLPdtdCFlQ] (This show!) https://crawlspacecomedy.com/ [https://crawlspacecomedy.com/] https://www.allearstheatre.org/shows Cast: * Eric Muller - Joe DiLombardi, Guy Masterson, High school students, Anthony the School Scamp Who Ain’t Got No Parents What Care About Him * Philip Amler - Francesca Plantagenet,  Jasmine Lacroix, High School Students * Eric Pedersen - Jessica , Gus, Chucko the Janitor, Little Timanthony, High School Students * Foley Artist Katlin Schneider and Gary Brown * Chuck Cotterman - Announcer You can actually message us by clicking here! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2459135/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2459135/support] https://www.improvisedradio.com/ https://www.instagram.com/improvisedradioshow/

Jockeying For Position (Ft. Beth Melewski)

Michigan soft wool presents a pointless tale of weirdos and mendicants! Live at Second City on 8/21/25 featuring Improvised Shakespeare Beth Melewski! How lucky are we!? (very lucky).   Host: Peter Corey Foley: Katlin Schneider Production: Ed / Victoria  Cast: * Ashley Whitehurst - Kid!, The Other Jockey * Ben Vigeant - Opening Narrator, Randy the Bookie, a Jockey * Beth Melewski - Borris the bookie, Hank The Tallest Jockey * Carly Olson - Denise, The Constable * Eric Pedersen - Buddy, Pete the Tiny Here is stupid AI summary of the show!: A silent door swings open, a woman in red steps into a Chicago office, and Buddy the financial consultant realizes he’s not just balancing books, he’s staring down a full-blown noir mess. We’re performing a fully improvised old time radio comedy show live, so every choice becomes canon instantly: the slippery olive oil “fix,” the nervous narration, and the dawning fear that the client’s problem isn’t a spreadsheet, it’s a crime story with teeth. The trail leads straight to a racetrack where the races are fixed, the bookies are desperate, and a “Trojan horse” is not a metaphor. We meet crooks with big plans and bad instincts, a teenager who’s furious at her mother, and jockeys arguing about whether winning is even allowed when mob money runs the board. Special guest Beth Meluski joins the chaos with sharp character work that helps the whole audio theater world snap into focus, from menace to sincerity to pure nonsense in a single beat. Then it all slides toward the docks at Navy Pier, where a floating wooden horse, a very real badger, and a too-convenient clue threaten to turn Buddy’s investigation into a punchline. The finale brings the conspiracy back to its source, crashes into family secrets, and ends on the one place every good mystery eventually goes: a race you can’t control once someone decides to mean it. If you love improvised comedy, audio drama, classic radio vibes, and Chicago stage energy, queue this up now. Subscribe, share it with a friend who misses old time radio, and leave a review, then tell us: which reveal hit you first, the badger or the “business plan”? You can actually message us by clicking here! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2459135/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2459135/support] https://www.improvisedradio.com/ https://www.instagram.com/improvisedradioshow/

Its Everyday Bro (Ft. cast of iO's Blueprint)

The cast of iO's Blueprint (see below) takes on the form of IGAR having never seen or heard the show before. We set up the show in about six minutes (a new record) between teams while explaining the form to the cast who then had to immediately perform it. Jordan and Ashley from the IGAR cast joined The Blueprint cast.   Host - James Dugan Avery Ford - Willie The restauranter, Detective Daniels  Molly Jones - Singer, Mayors daughter  Allen Lucas - Earl the frycook (who I don’t think speaks?), Rex  Janelle Soulliere - Mrs. Brown Ryan Bowman - Garbo the mayors son,  Jordan Reichardt - Detective Johnson Ashley Whitehurst -  Genevieve  Thanks to everyone for jumping into the deep end with us!  Below is the AI summary of the show FOR LAUGHS: A mayor’s kid goes missing, the whole town fixates on a big fight, and somehow the logical next step is “Jake and Logan Paul should be my new dads.” That’s the kind of delightful derailment you get when we do a fully improvised comedy show in the full style of classic Golden Age radio, recorded live at the iO Theater in Chicago with a Foley table, narrator energy, and zero script. We bounce through a stormy Topeka afternoon where a diner bell threatens to start a riot, then cut to a group of high schoolers rehearsing Newsies with all the gumption, longing, and petty sibling violence that implies. Meanwhile, two detectives sit in a smoke-choked bar and get so wrapped up in their intense “brother” bond that they forget they’re supposed to be solving the mayor’s missing child case. It’s fast, silly, and weirdly cohesive in the way only good narrative improv can be. After a run of fake sponsor ads, the runaway plot finally snaps into place when Garbo shows up, considers what he’s really running from, and decides reinvention is only a boxing ring away. The finale turns the Jake and Logan showdown into a surprisingly emotional sibling argument, complete with catchphrases and metaphor, before we step out of the story to talk craft: performing on microphones, the pressure of staying planted, and why the “wrong” Foley sound can be the best joke of the night. If you love improvised radio theater, live comedy podcasts, old-time radio parody, Foley sound effects, and Chicago improv, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves narrative improv, and leave us a review telling us which sound gag made you laugh the hardest. You can actually message us by clicking here! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2459135/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2459135/support] https://www.improvisedradio.com/ https://www.instagram.com/improvisedradioshow/

A Love of Drinks and Denim

Mike Sandwich comes to town and a young boy saves the day.  A tale of uprising, murder, and a healthy dose of alcohol for all. The fabric mines will never be the same after young Danny inspires the townspeople to be all they can be. Famous detective Mike Sandwich comes to the town of Foley. He’s in New York City to solve an unidentified crime… but will Mike take enough notes before he gets blackout drunk? And can his notes be understood even if he does?!  Listen to find out who survives their Love of Drinks… and Denim! Host - Chuck Cotterman Foley - Katlin Schneider Ed Zak - Live Production Shelby Burton - Opening Narrator, Shielah Ellington, Foreman Foreman Eric Pedersen -  D. Livery, Erine the Miner  Joe Hartenstine - Mike Sandwich  Philip Amler - Paw Paul Ben Vigeant -  Drunk Mr.Ellington, Jacob the Miner, Peter Corey - Danny, Barry Simpson the Bartender  Here's the extremely absurd AI summary for your mockery and enjoyment: A coal town curls under a glittering ski resort, and the line between survival and spectacle gets razor thin. We kick off with audience prompts, a crackling live radio vibe, and a title you helped name—then drop into a story where denim, corduroy, and power are all louder than they look. Danny, a nine-year-old slated for the mines, wants the slopes instead; Paw Paul wants one day he doesn’t spend choking coal dust. Above them, Steve and Sheila Ellington toast their view from the lodge, right before a suspicious drink and a ski lift turn wealth into a headline. Enter our legend with clay feet: Detective Mike Sandwich—famous, charming, and hilariously unhelpful—stumbles into a barroom duel with Sheila while cats, coffee, and vanity tighten the trap. Down below, the mine breathes like a beast: dead canaries, translucent skin, and veterans who fear daylight more than collapse. The tension splits into two climbs—one toward truth, the other toward power—as Danny sparks a strike that pulls the town uphill in every sense. When a body appears on the snow, inheritance law takes center stage, and the question shifts from “who did it” to “who gets to keep doing it.” The chase that follows—broken glass, hawk calls, makeshift skis—careens into a reckoning underground, where the people who do the work finally dictate the ending. We fuse noir tropes, labor politics, and golden‑age sound to land a punchline with teeth: sometimes the hero doesn’t save the day because a town decides to save itself. Along the way, our faux ads for Crystal Mountain Corduroy swish with satire about heat, sweat, and the industries that sell both. If you love improvised storytelling, old‑time radio textures, and comedies that bite, this one’s for you. Hit follow, share it with a friend who roots for underdogs, and leave us a review with your favorite moment—we’ll shout out the best ones next show. You can actually message us by clicking here! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2459135/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2459135/support] https://www.improvisedradio.com/ https://www.instagram.com/improvisedradioshow/