The Amish Monkeys

Farewell and Thank You

After 23 years of providing the Greater Pittsburgh Area with improv comedy at its finest, The Amish Monkeys have made the difficult decision to disband. Unlike the breakup stories of other performance groups, this has nothing to do with egos or infighting. On the contrary, we care deeply for each other. It’s just the right time, as life has changed dramatically—both personally and in the world—since the group’s inception in 1999.

It's been a privilege to be Pittsburgh’s longest-running improv comedy troupe. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to do something we love for so many years.

Through our hundreds of performances, we got support and ideas from our co-creators—you, the audience. We literally couldn’t have done this without you. Thank you.

Please keep supporting the Pittsburgh theater and comedy communities. We have abundant talent in this city. We are proud to have been part of such a vibrant performance scene.

Thanks to the members of Toastmasters for welcoming us to their convention—our first time on stage since February 2020! After the show, we led an improv workshop. We had a blast!

We’re looking forward to our first performance since 2020–a show and a workshop at a Toastmasters
convention next week!

Thanks to the participants in our online workshop this week! We had a great time improvising with them and enjoyed watching their creativity at work.

Ever wanted to try improv, that thrill of making things up on the spot?

The Amish Monkeys are planning a free virtual improv workshop for
people who would like to try improvising. Anyone interested in joining
us on Zoom for a 45-minute workshop the evening of Wednesday, February
9, 2022, please email [email protected] by the end of January 2022.

Best wishes for 2022! Stay tuned for some news in the new year!

I miss performing with my Monkeys!

Here's what our founding member has been doing.

Teaching children music means sharing a lot. Remote class taught me to share even more. Instead of my spacious classroom, I was teaching in a tiny corner of a bedroom. I had to re-imagine my curriculum to fit this space and the restrictions of the Zoom frame. The technology was challenging, with choppy sound, frozen images and dropped calls the norm. I had to remind myself to occasiona...

Tico the parrot has become popular on YouTube for his singing ability. Listen here as he sings “oh, pretty bird” to a melody he creates on the spot. This bird’s got some natural musical improv skills!

One 1 but not the same

Think wearing masks is relatively new? Frank was doing it in 2018.

There's a new Monkey under one of those costumes. Can you spot him?