The ACME Comedy Theatre, founded in 1989, is a premier 99 seat Hollywood venue featuring a classic performance space with modern multimedia production facilities.  It is home to six sketch and improv performance companies whose members and alumni have been entertaining audiences every weekend for nearly two decades and who have appeared in hundreds of films, sitcoms and commercials.

ACME shows have featured the talents of Wayne Brady, Alex Borstein, Adam Carolla, Bryan Cranston, Robert Forster, Fred Goss, Joel McHale, Kel Mitchell, Sean Hayes, Debra Wilson Skelton, Ryan Stiles, Charlene Tilton, Christopher Titus, Fred Willard, Wil Wheaton, and many more.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF ACME COMEDY THEATRE

M.D. Sweeney founded what would become the ACME Comedy Theatre in 1989, following a workshop that year at Two Roads Theatre in Studio City. Initially known as The Two Roads Players, the troupe went through some name changes before becoming known as ACME. In 1992, they moved into their own new theatre in North Hollywood’s newly established NoHo Arts District, performing some sixteen shows. The move to a larger, more centrally located venue came in 1995 when a former synagogue on La Brea Avenue in Hollywood was completely rebuilt into one of the premier state-of-the-art small theatres in Los Angeles.

In 2004, ACME Comedy Theatre came under the direction of Travis Oates, a long-time ACME Main Company Member and the director of the ACME School for the previous two years.  In 2007 he was joined by improv and sketch company member Dan Kane to oversee the operations and technology enhancements that continue to set ACME apart from any other theatre of its size.

There are six main-stage companies: On the improv side, the ZEBRA COMPANY delights with their antics on Friday nights at 9:00 pm, with the YANKEE COMPANY following them at 10 and X-RAY COMPANY at 11 pm. All specialize in long-form narrative improv. On the sketch side, ACME Company performs a brand-new sketch show every week featuring a different celebrity guest star on Saturday nights at 8 pm. BRAVO Company brings a new sketch show every Friday at 8 pm, and junior company CHARLIE offers new material every month at 10 pm on Saturdays. The rest of the week is dedicated to offerings from ACME performers working on their own and outside groups renting the theatre for showcases, one-person shows, presentations, screenings and the like.

The ACME COMEDY SCHOOL offers classes on several levels beginning with an introduction to the basics of improvisation, progressing through advanced sketch comedy writing and offering the potential of moving into ACME’s professional performing improv and sketch companies.  The school also offers a very popular course in Stand-up Comedy.

As you watch ACME shows, you may see many actors you may not know by name but whose faces you recognize. ACME Players have appeared in hundreds of films, sitcoms, and commercials. Behind the scenes, ACME Players have gone on to win nine Emmys, two Peabody awards and an ANNIE writing and producing shows like KING OF THE HILL, FAMILY GUY, THE GEORGE LOPEZ SHOW, THE WAYNE BRADY SHOW, JOEY, FRIENDS, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, JUST SHOOT ME, GROUNDED FOR LIFE, THE SIMPSONS, NORM, 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN, SAMURI JACK, ANIMANIACS, and STEVEN SPIELBERG’S TOONSYLVANIA among others.

In 1997, RITA WILSON & TOM HANKS discovered NIA VARDALOS performing her one-woman show MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING for a delighted ACME audience, and the rest is cinematic history.