Amsterdam-based Boom Chicago has been hugely influential in comedy with alums that include Jordan Peele Seth Meyers, Jason Sudeikis and Amber Ruffin

Vulture

"The theater was a training ground for many hugely successful comedy minds, including Meyers, Jordan Peele, Kay Cannon, Jason Sudeikis, Ike Barinholtz, and Amber Ruffin," says David Peisner. "But perhaps more impressive is the roll call of comedy lifers who’ve spent time there. Of the 100 or so performers in Boom’s 26-years-and-counting history, six went on to work for Saturday Night Live. Eight worked at MADtv. Boom alums have had a significant hand in many of the shows that defined the past two decades of comedy: 30 Rock, Community, Portlandia, The Office, Veep, Arrested Development, Eastbound & Down, Girls, Broad City, How I Met Your Mother, Inside Amy Schumer, Key & Peele, Parks and Recreation, Drunk History, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Late Night With Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Late Night With Seth Meyers. For sheer volume, places like Second City and the Groundlings — and, later, UCB, which didn’t launch its long-standing Chelsea location until 2003 — may have churned out more future stars, but they’ve sometimes had the feel of calcified, hierarchical institutions full of diligent hopefuls working their way up an organizational food chain. When Boom Chicago came along, it offered a chance to skip the line for talent that might have otherwise been lost in the shuffle. Back in the U.S., you were a waiter who did improv on the side. In Amsterdam, you got to turn your hobby into your job."