BATS Improv

Nothing but laughter and a profound sense of amazement at the sheer talent of the actors. They obviously enjoy the challenge of playing off each other and we, the audience, benefit. I’ve been at least 4 times and tonight’s «musicals» theme was one of the best yet — and they somehow come up with wildly original and clever shows each and every time. My only complaint, if it is one, is that perhaps they should charge a bit more, I feel guilty getting that much entertainment for such a low price!

Came here on a Friday night and the place was packed. The location is difficult to find for the unenlightened: it is inside of Fort Mason. There is an outer parking lot that is free, and a metered lot on the inside of the guard towers. When I originally saw those towers, I was intimidated and thought it was private property, and thankfully was able to find an available space in the exterior lot. Be ready for your gps to have trouble finding this address, as Apple maps looped me at least three times around the Safeway before I decided to change to Google maps (I was trying to give Apple maps a chance here, for convenience-​sake and because it is the default service when clicking on an address from the iphone calendar. Needless to say, It let me down). Even Google maps though the destination was at the intersection instead of inside of the fortress. Finally, I was able to spot the entrance from that destination, which had a weird right-​turn-​only into the location.
Once inside the venue was not too hard to find. It is on the second floor of a generic industrial park. The service was pleasant throughout my experience, from the door greater to the performers, to the crowd and everyone I met in the halls.
This improv club puts a lot of effort into making a welcoming experience and engaging the crowd. They seek crowd input constantly and are always taking feedback and trying to keep everyone stimulated and thinking of clever responses to unusual questions. I have not been to many comedy clubs before, but the crowd was very high energy here and really seemed to crave participation. The format of having a competition between two teams was great. I can’t remember if this is usual of improvs shows, but made the whole experience more immersive and interesting. As spectator, you really feel that you are more related to the performers once they are on a team, rather than every person doing their own thing.
I was not sure what to expect from San Francisco, which can be a bit cold and elitist most of the time. I was happy with my experience here and that everyone seemed friendly and ready to have a good time, without the usual judgement of most public places (although some of that was happening in the hallways. Seems like there are improv snobs, apparently). I’d definitely be back and this would be a great place to meet new friends (especially young professionals).

Awesome way to end a week — with laughter thanks to actors and actresses at BATS!
Came here for a Unilocal event on a Friday evening. I’ve been to a couple of improv shows (not at BATS) and this has been the best one so far! Two teams of 3 rotated to improvise different scenes and were awarded points by 3 judges. The show lasted an hour-​ish, with a 10 minute intermission.
Most of the scenes were easy to understand and also relate to. Lots of audience interaction, from asking for ideas for scenes, or getting people to act on stage. I also really liked that everyone was just having a good time, not really treating it as a competition.
Will come back if I get a chance!

I went on a friday night with my husband to watch the improv show. It was my first time attending an improv show and WOWWWW I Loved it. I am so impressed with the high quality entertainment by both the teams that night– Wagon wheel and the good neighbors. Especially william — HE IS AMAZING !
I recommend this to everyone. Thanks for the amazing entertainment for 2 hours. I AM A FAN of the show and of BATS improv.
Keep doing what you’re doing.

Came here with a friend for a Unilocal event. I had never been to an improv show before and had no idea what really to expect. Part of me assumed that it wouldn’t be that fun or that it might even be a bit awkward but it was actually really funny. I was laughing the entire time!
We were there on Friday night, which is their «theater sports» night. Two teams of 3 face off improv-​ing different challenges, and judges award them points for each scene. The winning team continues on to the show the following Friday. There was also a musician on the side with a keyboard and guitar to provide the occasional musical accompaniment to a scene. I thought the musician was really good and played small excerpts of music that matched the mood or genre of the scenes perfectly. They also involved the audience a lot, taking suggestions for the setting of a scene, asking for volunteers, etc.
Their location is hard to find though. It’s tucked into one of the buildings at Fort Mason, which is a bit out of the way.

Got to the event thanks to RushTix and had a wonderful night full of laughter!
The location is a good — plenty of parking.
It’s in the building B — so the second one in the Fort Mason area.
Theater is a perfect size; they did not need to use microphones, and it accommodated probably about 150 people.
I loved it and I will be back.

Guaranteed laughter. Talented actors that can pretty much turn anything into a great skit that is sure to please the audience and themselves. That’s a win-​win. Plus the pricing is pretty awesome. Check out Gold​star​.com.

Very creative and funny shows! This is a great date spot :)

After thoroughly enjoying their performance as a member of the audience, I decided to sign up for their class a couple of years later with a friend. A trip up to SF every weekend isn’t a bad deal at all. The teachers were very encouraging and patient with the group. It was, honestly, harder than it looked. Being used to give conference presentations, I thought this would be a synch, but boy do those nerves come creeping up on you, making you say the dumbest things. And that’s when things start to get really funny, letting your subconscious take over and just going with the flow. We made some very good acquaintances who we’re still in touch with on Facebook. I’d highly recommend taking the course if you’ve ever been curious, and especially if you struggle with spontaneity and making small talk. Or, if you just want to have some good old fashion fun. Three thumbs up!

Where my improv training began. I am grateful for all of my teachers there and highly recommend taking all performance classes. The best way to learn improv is to get out there and perform! BATS instructors give you a safe space and lots of structure to build and play on.

It is an amazing place to go to. If you have never seen improv, you should definitely go. It has a wonderful cast and you will definitely have fun watching them perform an amazing play that they come up with on the spot!

I have always loved BATS improv, They’re usually hilarious.
Friday night was the first «off» night I’ve seen at the theater. It was supposed to be a Halloween horror-​themed show but it was like no one knew the genre! I mean there was a zombie, and there was a gas station, but no scene where the zombie got burned up at the gas station– how? Also one of the actors kept not giving up on his plot lines but then not taking them anywhere. Oh, and making sexist and transphobic jokes. I almost had to leave because his gender jokes were so painfully bad. First time I’ve seen anything like that at BATS. The other actors were obviously trying to get him to cut it out so that was good at least.
Anyway, the main thing I wanted to say is: Lisa Rowland. She is legendary. I swear, she saved this show as much as it could be saved. All of her characters were deep and hilarious. She sang two of the show’s best songs in two different characters, back to back! She is just amazing. Even with this disappointing night, I won’t stop coming to BATS when Lisa Rowland is in the company.

BATS is absolutely amazing. The entire cast is always phenomenal and each show is unique and fun. Some of the best improv (probably the best live theater in general) I’ve ever seen.

Went to my first BATS performance last night and saw the one of the premier shows for the fall season called «Scary Stories». I left feeling quite impressed.
I have known about BATS for some time now as I’ve been taking Improv off and on for years. I wanted to check out one of the original groups (that’s now 30 yrs strong) since I was thinking of revisiting taking classes.
The level of professionalism and «surrender» between all the actors was very inspiring. The show was quite captivating and, of course, very funny!
I left feeling the acknowledgment that it’s time to revisit this beautiful creative outlet and to be surrounded with professionals like the ones I witnessed last night on stage!

My husband and I went to see BATS Improv during our three day trip to San Francisco after reading several glowing reviews. I’m giving them 2 stars because we only saw them once and they could have just been having an off night, but I think it’s important that Unilocalers know what they’re getting in to.
In recent months we’ve seen Second City in Chicago ($ 25ish a ticket) and The Groundlings in Los Angeles ($ 17 a ticket), so we’ve seen some pretty amazing sketch theatre/​improv. BATS ($ 20 a ticket) felt more like watching my high school drama class exercises. It sometimes took painfully long for the actors to set up the scene and most often their jokes fell flat. All too often the punchline was that the characters turned out to be gay. How many times can you do that in one 2-​hour show?
If you do decide to check out BATS because you’d like to go to Off the Grid at Fort Mason and it’s all in one place, make sure you do Off the Grid before the show. We thought we’d have time afterward and missed Off the Grid all together. Totally bummed, because that looked really amazing!

Such a fun thing to do on a Friday night. Great place to just go and grab a few drinks and relax and of course enjoy some great stand up comedy.

Such a fun event to go to! The event was really interesting and on a Friday night you might be able to catch Off the Grid beside it. The show was really great and we would totally go back!

Great night of fun and laughter. Was there for the third round of the improv troupe competition. Great input from audience and its right next to off the grid, so you can get a quick bite after.

I can’t say enough great things about this place! I’ve been to four shows and each has been unique, equally entertaining and funny. The «usual actors» are very talented and definitely love what they do. You can find tix for under $ 10 on goldstar too! Definitely worth a trip even if you don’t think you like comedy shows (which I thought I didn’t before this!)

A friend told me he wanted to go to improv one Friday night and I was resistant because improv is either awkwardly horrible or hysterically amazing. I’ve been back four times now. I’m a college student in north bay and I now love making the trip the Fort Mason Center on Friday nights (even more so when off the grid is there). Extremely reasonable price for the amount of entertainment you get.

I went to an Improvised Farce show where the audience chose it should be set in a casino. An amazing array of storylines and complications ensued including the central character juggling about 4 women at once, mostly unwillingly, mobsters, diva vs chorus girl, a gender mistake, vying for inherited money, and astoundingly finished off with a triple wedding officiated by an Elvis impersonator! Every storyline was wrapped up in a satisfying way.
What a great evening!!!

Love BATS!
I ended up getting a groupon deal for this show last Saturday. Overall, I was impressed, and the pricing didn’t break the bank. The show itself was good, and you tell that everything was made up on the fly. Some characters were funnier than others, but everyone was having a good time and that’s what matters.
Why no 5^th star? In the middle of February, the theater was HOT! Like, I had to fan myself for two hours straight HOT.

We saw a murder mystery improve show and it was fantastic!
You can really tell an experienced improv actor. The show had a story line, distinct characters complete with unique accents, and a conclusive ending. Very engaging show and it was amazing what the actors did with no set. Laughed the whole way through.
We really enjoyed our time here and will for sure be back many more times in the future. It was worth the $ 20 per ticket too.
Would I bring out of town friends to BATS to show then SF? Yup.
Oh, the only con was that they were out of wine. But ya know, the show was so good — alcohol was unnecessary.

As an improviser, it’s great to see shows as well executed as this. A friend suggested that I see a BATS show while in San Francisco, and I’m glad he did.
My girlfriend and I stopped by for the Family Drama (an improvised three-​act Thanksgiving play) and laughed all the way through. The performers were a riot, and they portrayed realistic people in a story that was engaging at all times.
All of this to say that I’d make the 2 hour trek back to San Francisco just to see another BATS show. These guys rocked it.

I love this theatre! Want some laughs? Need classes? They’ve got ‘em.
I went to their first-​ever San Francisco Secrets show a couple weeks ago, and it’s definitely a great concept for an improv show.
Looking for a good time maybe after Off the Grid? Catch a show here.

Got free tickets and I like improv so was happy to check it out last night. The cast had a few standouts and it was a good time and although I respect how difficult it is to improv an entire 3 act play and how much talent that requires, as for pure entertainment… it was good but not great. We had a few good laughs to be sure.
To be fair, I think some of the audience suggestions for the play were pretty lame and of course, the actors have to work with what they’re given. I’ve gone to plenty of improv in LA and NYC and I do enjoy improv and they were good.