Katydids parlay local improv success into cable TV show

BY MISHA DAVENPORT | FOR THE SUN-TIMES

They have been called the darlings of the Internet thanks in part to their successful web-based series “Teachers.” The all-female improv troupe The Katydids return to their former Chicago stomping grounds for two shows Saturday at iO as part of the Chicago Improv Festival.

Now in its 18th year, the festival runs through April 26 and includes performances by Sheldon (Jon Barinholtz and Rob Belushi of Comedy Central’s “Pie Guys”), Wild Horses (Lauren Lapkus from Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black” is a member) and Jeff Sweet (performing his New York Fringe Festival hit “You Only Shoot the Ones You Love”).

“We are all so thrilled to be back in Chicago,” Katydids member Katy Colloton says. “The time we spent performing at iO is the highlight of my career in Chicago and it is so cool they have a slot for us this year.”

The group has certain come a long way since Katydid’s Caitlin Barlow says she first on a lark proposed the idea of forming the group.

“I thought it was so ironic that I knew all these funny women working in the Chicago improve scene who were all named with variations of ‘Katherine’,” she recalls. “We formed as a novelty and realized we all just clicked as performers.”

Listed as one of Vulture.com’s “50 Comedians you should know in 2015,” the six-member ensemble also includes Cate Freedman, Kate Lambert, Katie O’Brien and Katie Thomas. The group was a popular feature at iO for a number of years before gaining a national following in 2012 with “Teachers.” Chicago-based director Matt Miller approached the troupe about working together on a Web series; the end result were 24 episodes. The web series caught the attention of TV Land and a show based on the original premise will debut on the cable channel in June.

“Social media has really opened up a new audience to comedy,” Barlow says. “It’s not surprising that Chicago comedy groups are finding a wider audience on those platforms.”

Still, Colloton says it was no small feat to turn a two-minute Web show into a 22-minute TV comedy.

“With the Web, we didn’t have much backstory or arc,” she says. “The show gives us a chance to focus on what it really means to be a teacher in your 20s.”

The TV Land show follows the ups and downs of six grade-school teachers as they grapple with finding the balance between their personal and professional lives. Everything is fair game: boyfriends, parents and what they really think of the kids they teach.

It was the case of art somewhat imitating life for Barlow, who taught the 4th grade for Chicago Public Schools.

“My personal experiences are definitely a foundation for my character on the show,” she says. “Teaching is one of the most stressful jobs. If you didn’t have a sense of humor, you’d go crazy.”

And while she wasn’t a teacher, Colloton says the themes of the show are universal.

“I wasn’t very good at my first job out of college,” she says with a laugh. “It takes a couple of years to get out of the college mindset and as a result there are more than a few nights I was out too late drinking and showing up the next morning to work in something that really isn’t work-appropriate.”

Both say the feedback the group has received from teachers has been universally positive.

“We’ve heard time and again ‘oh, my gosh this is so true,’” Colloton says. “While we ground the situations in reality, these are all heightened versions of things we have either gone through or known people who went through it.”

The 10-episode TV Land series is nearly complete; there’s one more week of shooting to go. Even Hollywood couldn’t keep them away from the Chicago Improv Festival, though.

“We are all thrilled to be doing an improv set along with some free-form montages and personal monologues,” Barlow says.

“It is so cool to come back,” Colloton adds. “The me of five years ago would have never imagined the series would have been possible, let alone we would be a featured group at the [improv] fest.”

Misha Davenport is a local freelance writer.