News & Updates

Mad Cowford Celebrates 13 Years Of Improv!

It was a night of murder and mayhem as Mad Cowford Improv Comedy celebrated 13 years of improv comedy in Jacksonville! The cast welcomed the audience at Jack Rabbits in San Marco to “Camp Cowford” for an improvised end-of-summer comedy show for friends and family. A mysterious masked killer kept bumping off cast members, but as always The Show Must Go On!

There were lucky breaks, nightmares, campfire songs and so much more. Thank you for your support all these years and we look forward to entertaining you for 13 more!

Comedy For Critters Returns For Its 13th Year!

Mad Cowford Improv along with Friends of Jacksonville Animals is proud to bring back Comedy for Critters, our annual event to help Jacksonville dogs and cats find their forever homes. The event will include a silent auction, raffle items, and of course an improv comedy show! The auction begins at 7:00PM and the show will begin at 8:15. Tickets are now on sale at 904Tix.com!

Rachel and Johnny Do A Podcast With Author and Trainder Steve Piscitelli

Rachel and Johnny sat down for a discussion about the power of improvisation with Steve Piscitelli of the Growth and Resilience Network. Steve is an author, facilitator, and teacher, and leapt into being a student of improv as well! The podcast can be found HERE.

Please also check out Steve’s website at stevepiscitelli.com

Mad Cowford Improv Debuts New logo!

Mad Cowford Improv debuted its new logo as part of their 12 year celebration in 2018! The new logo incorporates the classic upside-down Mad Cow. Some call her Josephine and some call her Maddie. The show’s about to go on and the lights are up for the performance. Does she feel the pressure and will she “die” onstage? She honors our place in Jacksonville since 2006 and will do her best to entertain you.

Mad Cowford Improv Hosts Terry Withers From The Baltimore Improv Group

Mad Cowford Improv Comedy welcomed Terry Withers, an instructor from the Upright Citizens Brigade and the Baltimore Improv Group to Jacksonville! 15 improvisors spent two hours learning and performing for a workshop on Instinctual Improv, which is improvising without self-evaluation or thought. Terry’s class focused on working instinctually within scenes and relying on your subconscious mind to pick up on and follow patterns, relationships and the flow of the scene.

The Workshop was hosted by Rain Dogs at 1045 Park Street in 5 Points on Wednesday, August 22.

Mad Cowford Ends Its Run At The Hourglass Pub and Coffee House

Mad Cowford Improv said farewell to a packed house at The Hourglass Pub and Coffeehouse on February 2, 2018. More than 20 cast members took the stage to perform their final comedic performance on the stage which has welcomed us for years.

Mad Cowford began its run at the downtown location in June of 2015 and performed its distinctive improv comedy shows every Friday night. The Hourglass also hosted several of our workshops and sketch revues.

The Hourglass is sadly closing its doors, and as a result downtown Jacksonville is a little less fun and funky. The Hourglass was a welcoming home to any and all artists, including comedians, bands, and burlesque shows. We thank Shannon Widow, and everyone who worked at The Hourglass for giving us a stage and treating us so well for almost three years. We will miss you!

Mad Cowford Hosts Improv Workshop With Special Guest Andy Rocco

Mad Cowford hosted special guest improvisor and instructor ANDY ROCCO for an improv workshop in October 2017. Andy has been performing and teaching improv and sketch in New York and now LA for close to 20 years. Andy started out at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in NYC where he trained with Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Besser, Matt Walsh, and Rob Riggle among others.

You can see him in the new sci-fi drama “Man Underground” available on Amazon and an old Starburst commercial that was very popular because it had a cute dog in in. He coaches both new and established performers and really believes that with hard work and good guidance anyone can be a great improviser.

Mad Cowford Helps Raise More Than $11,000 For Jacksonville Animals!

Thank you for making the 11th Annual Comedy for Critters the most successful year ever! $11,421 raised through your generous donations! Thank you to our volunteers, donators, guests, and to everyone at Hotel Indigo Jacksonville-Deerwood Park and Friends of Jacksonville Animals, Inc..

More Cowbell And Beastwood Perform At The 2017 Gainesville Improv Festival

Beastwood and More Cowbell both performed at the Gainesville Improv Festival held in February, 2017 at the Squiteri Theatre on the University of Florida campus. Brad Berghof of Beastwood also performed as part of a live podcast of the hysterical “Our Father” podcast.

More Cowbell At The 2017 Miami Improv Festival

More Cowbell was invited to perform at the Miami Improv Festival in January, 2017! With the ever dependable Craig Spirko on the keyboard, Lyra, Jamie, Rachel and Nick gave a love-inspired musical showcase.

Times-Union Profiles Our Director Johnny Kalinowski

A reporter from The Florida Times-Union followed us around for a couple weeks. He observed rehearsals, Friday night shows, improv jams at Rain Dogs, and sat and talked with several of our improvisors. Read about the improv scene in Jacksonville and the crossover of improv and being an attorney HERE.

Mad Cowford Featured In First Coast Magazine

Mad Cowford was thrilled to be featured in First Coast Magazine, which highlight some of the wonderful food, entertainment, living, history, and education to be found in the greater Jacksonville area.

Mad Cowford and ABET Host "Stacked: All Female Musical Improv" From Chicago

In July, 2015 Mad Cowford and the Atlantic Beach Experimental Theatre (ABET) welcomed “Stacked: All Female Musical Improv” from Chicago to our neck of the woods. Beastwood showed their stuff, followed by Stacked’s rousing nautical-influenced improvised musical. Mad Cowford’s musical director Casey Ratchford provided the live accompanyment.

Mad Cowford Wins Awards At The 2013 Jacksonville 48 Hour Film Project

Mad Cowford Improv, along with over 40 other talented fim crews, participated in the 2013 Jacksonville 48 Hour Film Project. Drawing the genre of “Dark Comedy” we created an original, darkly comic Prohibition-era musical about making it through life. The entire musical was written, recorded at WJXT Studios, then filmed at Intuition Ale Works in Riverside. Original music by Casey Ratchford. Thanks to our incredible crew and cast we were able to turn in our completed film with time to spare. We had to incoporate the prop of “fan” (see how many you can spot), and the line “Just one question, why should I?” which became part of the refrain.

We were were honored to win “Audience Choice Award” for our screening night. Our film, One and Change also took home Best Choreography, Best Cinematography and Best Musical Direction. Watch our film HERE.