The Cook County Workshop

This workshop aims to give improvisers a foundation of play in the style of Cook County Social Club. We will emphasize "following the fun;" grounded absurdity; finding comedic patterns within scenes; and playing with pace, among other ideas. The goal is to have graduates of this workshop leave with a better awareness of how to generate and sustain comedic ideas within scenes and shows, and to do it in an atmosphere of total group support. 

Mark Raterman is a founding member of Cook County Social Club. He has performed with the Second City’s National Touring Company and the New Faces: Characters Showcase at the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal. Mark was a consultant for Sacha Baron Cohen’s Showtime series Who Is America and has developed comedies with Comedy Central, Adult Swim, Abominable Productions, Abso Lutely Productions, Four By Two Films, Playground Entertainment, Bento Box Entertainment, and iHeart Media. 

Cook County Social Club (Bill Cochran, Brendan Jennings, Greg Hess, Mark Raterman and Tim Robinson) has been making comedy together for almost one million years. They were named "Best Improv Group" by the Chicago reader during their seven year open run at Chicago's iO Theater.  Their collective credits include Second City, UCB, The Onion, The Improvised ShakespeareCo, I Think You Should Leave, AP BIO and their barely listened to scripted podcast with iHeart Media “Get It To Dutch.” They’ve developed original comedies for Showtime, Warner Bros., TBS, Adult Swim, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, Pop, and Universal.

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