Improv Boston
Their motto says it all: Perfectly OK not knowing what the @#$% is going on. This homey little theater is a cross between community players and truly inspired community players. You just have to do a little homework. We recommend the main stage show on Fridays and Saturdays and the Boston-centric (and drunken) comedy cookout of the Great and Secret Comedy Show on Thursday nights.
1253 Cambridge St., Cambridge. | MBTA: Red Line to Central or #69 bus to Prospect. Shows Wed. through Sun. Tickets $5-$15. 617 576-1253 www.improvboston.com
Improv Asylum
IA is a key ingredient to a tasteful impress-your-date recipe: dinner in the North End, and then a comedy show in a classy theater that combines smart sketches and mainstream improvisational games where, if youre (un)lucky, theyll elaborately make fun of you. If you dont have a date, grab a few buddies and a bucket o brews. They sell those there.
216 Hanover St., Boston. | MBTA: Green and Orange Line to Haymarket. Shows Wed. through Sat. Tickets $15-$20. 617 263-6887 www.ImprovAsylum.com
The Tribe Theatre
The groups within The Tribe vary from short (and not that sweet) Whose Line is it Anyway?-type games to highly conceptual improvised plays. In other words, you never know what youre gonna get, except on Friday, we know that you get free tickets to join the comedians in some post-show karaoke at the Limelight nearby.
67 Stuart St., Boston. | MBTA: Green Line to Boylston. Shows Thurs. & Fri. Tickets $7-$15. 617-510-4447 www.thetribepresents.com
The Comedy Studio
This is the place where indie heavyweights Eugene Mirman and Louis C.K. come when they want to have an audience in Boston. This is the place where you get a scorpion bowl and Peking Duck. This is the place that has funky programming that ranges from new material on Sundays to comic magicians on Tuesdays. This is the place, period.
1238 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. Red Line to Harvard. Shows Tues. through Sun. Tickets $7-$9. 617-661-6507 www.thecomedystudio.com