For their 20th anniversary, the Improvised Shakespeare Company performed three nights back to back to back in Los Angeles at the Largo at the Coronet. I attended all three nights.
[Editorial note: My apologies, but this article is still being written, and does not feature the bulk of the review yet. For Improv Shakespeare productions, I like to write full recaps of the plots from my notes, and then perform thorough literary analysis on the finished piece as if it were a real, legitimate Shakespearean work. You can see examples here and here. Due to this, my reviews of these shows can take a little longer to generate.]
I enjoy the Improv Shakespeare plays so much that I’ve decided I’ll never miss one when they’re in town. Few productions deliver such consistent and high quality, and since I’ve started writing about all of these events, remembering the plots and then giving them my full, serious literary analysis has become one of my favorite things to do.
Let’s dig in to the first of the three nights: Richard the 99th on 4/10/2026.
Arrival
I’m not the biggest fan of how the Largo at the Coronet assigns seating. It’s first-come, first-served, but they start serving hours before the show, and the line begins hours before that, wrapping around the corner of the block. The show was to start at 8pm, but when I got there just a bit after 6pm, over half of the seats were taken already and I was assigned a chair 8 rows back.
Once you’re given a ticket, there’s nothing to do but wait for hours until the doors open. Sometimes I walk to CVS or to a nearby roundabout with boulders that make good seats for reading. Regardless, any show at the Largo at the Coronet will entail a large chunk of time carved out of your day if you want to get even a passable seat. If you are going to a show here, I would advise that you arrive at least three hours early, as I resolved to do myself the next two days.
Once inside the lobby, note that both bars are cash only. I chose not to drink tonight and went inside the theater to wait while continuing to read my book. It’s also important to note that the chairs have a potentially confusing numbering system; the numbers are on the arms between the chairs and ambiguous as to which seat they’re referring to, resulting in lots of shifts before the show. The numbers on the bottoms of the chairs, visible when they’re up, are fully incorrect.
I should note, however, that the overall vibe of the theater is artsy and fun. It’s casual, historic, and festive, and there are always DJs playing music in the courtyard before the shows begin. The employees are always great fun to chat with.
In any case, at around 8:10pm, the show began.
The Play: Richard the 99th
William Shakespeare wrote numerous history plays about historic kings, mostly the Henrys: Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, Henry V, Henry VI Part 1, Henry VI Part 2, Henry VI Part 3, and Henry VIII. As part of this overall sequence, he also wrote King John, Richard II and Richard III. Richard III (or, Richard the Third) is likely the most well-known of these, with Richard III often being referred to as Shakespeare’s most devious, evil villain. (In reality, this was likely Tudor propaganda and the real-life Richard III was likely much more nuanced.)
It was this literary tradition that a member of the audience was referring to when they shouted out the winning suggestion for the name of the night’s play: “RICHARD NINETY-NINE!”
I was so delighted they chose this. I recently saw A Noise Within’s Richard III, and also, one of the last Improv Shakespeare performances I saw was Henry 3000. While in Henry 3000 they didn’t take the number to literally mean the three-thousandth Henry, in Richard 99 they did exactly that, just as I was hoping they would.
[Editorial note: To Be Continued]
Dating the Monarchies
As a little footnote, how far in the future are we looking if we’re thinking about a 99th Richard, a 127th Henry, and a 445th Louis? Louis would be the 445th of France, while Richard and Henry are in England, so there would be two parallel threads here. Since Louis is the furthest out, we should look at him first. The highest historical French Louis was Louis XVIII (18). To get to Louis CDXLV you need 427 more Louises. That’s a lot of Louises!
If we assume the absolute weirdest and sickest timeline for France, where starting from this year (2026) they start crowning Louises and do not stop, where each Louis rules as a child-king for about ~20 years (ages 1-20) before abdicating their crowns to their heirs–the next child-king Louises–and the whole process repeats over 400 times, like some cultural mandate with a long-forgotten significance… how long does that take?
Well, it turns out that takes 8,540 years, so if France starts soon, we could have a King Louis the 445th by 10,566 CE. Perhaps we could start a petition.
This timeline gives ample time for England to produce enough Henrys and Richards to keep up, and even allows them a little more leisure and some chances for other king names here and there too. Maybe even finally an English King John II, or a return to roots movement where we get a King Cnut VI or a King Æthelstan III. Dare I dream of a King Ethan? Just think of the plays.
Full Cast & Context
The Improvised Shakespeare Company creates a fully improvised Shakespearean “masterpiece” right before your very eyes, based on whatever catches their ears at the beginning when the audience shouts out title suggestions of plays that have never existed. Nothing is planned, rehearsed, or written. All of the dialogue is said for the first and last time, the characters are created as you watch, and as they joke: “if you’re ever wondering where the story is going… so are they!”
“Tonight you are about to witness the world premiere, opening night, of … [TITLE]. By coincidence, you are also about to witness the final showing of [TITLE]!”
The company began in Chicago in 2005, and regularly tour around the globe, piling on the accolades and awards as they do so.
The Improvised Shakespeare Co. sometimes changes out a member here and there, but tonight was the usual crew that I’m used to seeing:
- Blaine Swen (founder & director, also named the “Best Improviser in Chicago” in 2010)
- Joey Bland (also a two-time Jeopardy champion)
- Ross Bryant (also a writer for Mystery Science Theater 3000)
- Brendan Dowling (also a writer and actor, including an award-winning short)
- Randall Harr (also a performer at a comedy theater in Amsterdam)
The Largo at the Coronet positions itself as one of LA’s most legendary low-key clubs, and it’s known for comedy, music, and strange productions that don’t happen anywhere else. Largo as a venue started in 1989, and moved into the Coronet Theatre in 2008.
The Coronet Theatre opened in 1947 as a neighborhood movie theater, went through long stretches of decline and disuse, but was finally restored instead of being torn down or turned into an Apple store. It feels old and a little vintage, but mostly in good ways–at least the building itself is a nice space.
I’m already looking forward to my next Improv Shakespeare.
