The Understudy is an improv group from Tyler. The team will perform on July 6 at Laugh Out Longview, the city's inaugural improv festival. (Courtesy Photo)

Top-tier improv comedy troops from Texas and beyond are headed to Longview next week for the city’s first improv festival, Laugh Out Longview.

The two-day event July 5 and 6 at the Longview Community Center is presented by Theatre Longview and Duck. Duck. Moose!, the city’s local improv team headed by Richard Yeakley, who founded the team and coaches it.

Improv, short for improvisational comedy, sees comics develop a sketch in real time, often with audience input and live music adapted to the moment.

Teams representing every major city in Texas will perform alongside two nationally renowned headliners in the evenings and convene for closed training workshops during the day.

The two headliners include the vaunted Upright Citizens Brigade Touring Company and “Whose Line Is It Anyway” mainstay Laura Hall.

Yeakley said he’d mulled over the idea of a Longview festival for years, but it gained steam as Duck. Duck. Moose! struggled to find a festival in Texas to perform at after the pandemic.

“We had considered going to and participating in other improv festivals, but as we looked around and couldn’t find any in the state, we decided, why not us? Why not here? Why not now?” he said.

By attracting the two giants of the improv scene and convincing them to host workshops for participating teams, the festival was able to draw dozens of applications from groups throughout the United State, Yeakley said.

“It’s going to be a caliber of talent that surpasses anything Duck. Duck. Moose! has ever put on,” he said.

The final applicant selection was made with the intent of bringing a variety of acts to Longview, Yeakley said. There will be short improv games with heavy audience participation and “longform” scenes that draw out over 20 to 25 minutes.

He said he hopes Laugh Out Longview becomes an annual event.

July 5 and 6: Laura Hall

Hall is a musician from Chicago best known for longtime work on ABC’s hit improv show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”

Many of the show’s sketches are accompanied by music as the comic scenario evolves — or devolves — in unexpected directions, requiring the musician to match the moment. “Whose Line It Anyway?” has featured numerous guests with household names, from Robin Williams to Stephen Colbert and Whoopi Goldberg. Hall has supplied the soundtrack to more episodes than any other musician involved with the show.

Hall will join other instructors from Laugh Out Longview’s workshops on July 5 for what Yeakley described as an “all-star performance.” The night of July 6 will see Hall put on a musical review showcase with student improv musicians to demonstrate what they learned during their workshop experience.

July 6: The Upright Citizens Brigade

The Upright Citizens Brigade is an improv comedy group based in New York and Los Angeles that has operated since 1990 and become a proving ground for the country’s top emerging talent.

The list of the brigade’s alumni includes Household names that have cut their comic teeth with the troupe, include Aziz Ansari, Donald Glover, Nick Kroll and Amy Poehler, among many others.

Four up-and-coming talents from the brigade’s touring company will attend the Laugh Out Longview festival, Yeakley said. They will help lead workshops and perform the festival’s finale July 6, a 90-minute improv show.

Best of the rest

Teams appearing the night of July 5 include Longview’s own, Duck. Duck. Moose!, Black Tie Casual from Dallas, the Frisco Improv Players from Dallas and Jane Austin Improv from Austin.

The following night will see a different cast of teams: The Understudy from Tyler, Los Pocos Hermanos from San Antonio and Hodge Podge AF from Houston.

Both shows begin at 6 p.m. at the Longview Community Center, 500 E. Whaley St.

Single-day tickets are priced at $25. A weekend wristband for both nights is available for $50.

For more information on teams, tickets and scheduling, visit the Laugh Out Longview event page at theatrelongview.com.