The Comedy Workshop

The Comedy Workshop was a comedy venue in the mid eighties that played a role in the early history of improv in Austin.

According to Robert Faires:

" The Hilarions was, as far as I know, the first serious improv troupe in Austin. It was launched out of the Comedy Workshop, originally on 15th and then on Lavaca, when the owner of the Comedy Workshop in Houston (which gave Bill Hicks and Sam Kinison and the other so-called Outlaw comics their start) would drive up to Austin on Fridays and teach improv to pretty much anyone who would show up -- which were mostly present and past members of Esther's Follies. As I remember it, we formed an actual group in early '85 and did late-night shows Tuesday through Thursday for about a year and a half."

The Comedy Workshop's original house improv troupe called the Hilarions: Gladiators of Comedy was possibly the first serious improv troupe in Austin. The Hilarions were named after a little-known Greek Orthodox monastery on Mary street called St. Hilarion.