2009 BEST OF SILICON VALLEY Reader Survey Winner - First Place

Best Comedy Venue

The Improv is a true gem in San Jose's crown. It brings some of the biggest names in comedy to the South Bay. On off-nights, aspiring local standups take to the stage; on the weekends, headliners like Alonzo Bodden, Tom Arnold and Maria Bamford perform. That's a lot more fun than trying to see them on pay per view.


Since The Improv opened a few years ago right in downtown San Jose, it has been a solid destination for gut-busting, world-renowned comedy acts. Comedians who you never thought would play in San Jose get booked regularly and play to a full house every time. Plus, the venue is first rate (it’s located in the site that was once the San Jose Theater, a chic art deco playhouse in its heyday), the food is decent and the drinks will definitely help the comedy become even funnier.

The Improv is Downtown San Jose's incarnation of the Improv Comedy Club, and one of the nicest venues in the national comedy club chain's portfolio .

2008 BEST OF SILICON VALLEY Staff Pick and Reader Survey
Winner Best Standup Comedy Venue

2007 BEST OF SILICON VALLEY Reader Survey Winner - First Place

Best Standup Comedy Venue
With a bad comedian in the White House, we want—we need—some real laughs ... and a couple of stiff drinks in the bargain. That’s where the Improv steps in, with big-name acts (Jamie Kennedy, Eddie Griffin to name a couple of recent headliners), open-mic free-for-alls, a goodly chunk of the annual San Francisco Comedy Competition, cutting-edge standups—all this and dinner too: food for the stomach and the funny bone.
— Metro, Silicon Valley's Weekly Newspaper, September 26, 2007