It all started in 1998 when the founding members of The 404s began playing improv games at their university animation club. Before they knew it, they were performing whole shows at the club’s events. Mixing classic games familiar to improv fans with a few handles of their own devising, they figured they were doing something right when they were asked to perform return engagements everywhere they went.

By 2003, the performers of The 404s had packed shows in Vancouver, Toronto and Seattle, as well as their home cities of Edmonton and Calgary. It was then that they decided to create a formal improv group, and give their work an identity with which to forge ahead to new levels of comedy entertainment.

And so The 404s were born! The following year, another group of 404s improvisors began performing in Toronto and soon expanded their reach across the Eastern part of Canada. Every year both casts collectively perform dozens of shows at events around the country, as well as entertaining and educating students and professionals in the concepts of improv.

About the Name: When you get a 404 error on the internet, it means that the website, or the computer script that represents it, is nowhere to be found. Improv is performing without a script: the actor’s 404. That’s us… Yep, we’re that geeky.

Learn more about the 404s on their website!