Good improv.

98.6 at the Chicago Improv Festival.

After every one of Mat’s improv shows he asks me how it was. And I reply, “it was good.” It’s happened for so long that it’s now just a joke, he answers himself in tandem as I do. “It was good.”

What can I say, I’ve never been one for critiquing things.

His improv team, 98.6, formed in 2010, and I’ve been going to his shows regularly since. They call me their superfan and abuse my willingness to photograph their shows for free. But I usually get a free rum and Coke or two out of the deal, so all is fare.

The team has always been “good,” though, at the beginning not as much as they are today. Over the years members have come and gone and they’ve refined themselves, found their strong points, become more and more cohesive.

Last week they performed as part of the Chicago Improv Festival: an annual coming-together of over 200 improv troupes.

And they were good.