Comedy Shows in Mesa, AZ:
See One Saturday, Try One Class

The suggestion comes from somewhere in the back row, and it is not a word you’d shout at a regular saturday night show. Two improvisers take it anyway. They look at each other for half a second — that’s all — and then they’re a married couple assembling patio furniture, and the argument they’re having is not about patio furniture. Nobody wrote that. Nobody knew it was coming, including them.

That half-second of eye contact is where the magic happens for trained improvisers, and  the thing that separates live improv from every other comedy show you can find on a Saturday night. its spontanious and in the moment. 

If you’re looking for comedy shows in Mesa, AZ this weekend, the Neighborhood Comedy Theatre has one for you on Saturday — and if watching it makes your hands itch, we have classes where you can learn to do it. This post is about both: one show to watch this weekend, one class to try when you’re ready.

On Stage Saturday: The *Slightly Uncensored Show

Saturday, July 25 at 7:30 pm, our cast takes the stage for The *Slightly Uncensored Show — the East Valley comedy night that’s a little bit saucy.

The asterisk is doing real work there. “Slightly” means exactly that: things get slightly bonkers, because there is still a line, and finding the edge of it in front of a live audience is half the fun. This is not a set list. It’s fully improvised, built from audience suggestions, and no two nights have ever been the same. One Saturday the suggestion is “jury duty” and you get great comedy bits about a juror who won’t stop making eye contact. The next Saturday, same theatre, different cast, an entirely different show. Doors at 7:00, show 7:30 to 9:00 — early enough to make a whole evening of Main Street around it. Fair warning: this is not the all-ages show. Bring the friend who appreciates that.

In the Classroom: Level 1 starts Tuesday August 25th

Here’s the part most people don’t realize when they’re searching improv classes in Mesa: Alot of the  performers you watched on Saturday started in a Level one room. S5 Level one — Intro to Improv meets Tuesday nights at 7:00 pm on that same downtown Mesa stage, and it’s built for total beginners, including working professionals who have never performed anything in their lives and don’t intend to.

Week one is not about being funny. It’s about agreement: your partner says the boat is sinking, and the boat is sinking. From there you learn to find the game of the scene — the one unusual thing that’s funny and worth repeating on purpose. By the end, students who arrived terrified of the word “scene” are running twenty minute sets. The next session is available to sign up for, but dont wait to long, space is limited.

Why the Show and the Class Are the Same Building

NCT isn’t a comedy theatre that happens to teach classes on the side, and it isn’t a school that occasionally puts on a show. The two feed each other, and you can feel it from a seat in the audience. The cast you’ll watch Saturday rehearses in the same room students learn in (mostly). The instructors are performers. The suggestions you shout become the material. Come watch a Saturday show and see what a Competive Comedy show actually looks like at speed, or come sit in on a Friday night or Saturday night jam and find out the frightening part lasts about one minute. Plenty of people across the Phoenix area do it in that order — show first, class three weeks later — and a few do the reverse. Both work. The building is the same either way, on Main Street in downtown Mesa.

The full lineup of comedy shows in Mesa, AZ lives on our calendar at nctphoenix.com/calendar/, every level and start date is at nctphoenix.com/classes/, and if Friday suits you better than Saturday, we broke down the storytelling show in a recent post.

This Week at NCT

Where is NCT located?

NCT shares a space with The Sacred Pint Taproom in Downtown Mesa.
When head in and look for the secret door marked with our logo.
You’re exactly where you need to be!”

Can we get tickets at the door?
Yup, but its always way faster to buy them online.

Is there a drink minimum?
Nope, there is no drink minimum but supporting the sacred pint would be cool.

Where do we park?
There are over 5,000 FREE parking spaces available in Downtown Mesa every day!

Is there places to eat downtown?
Heck Ya! Here are some awesome restaurants in our Neighborhood.

Wanna learn more about NCT?
Check out all the cool live shows and Improv classes we do.