Boom Chicago - History

History

1993: Andrew Moskos, Jon Rosenfeld and Ken Schaefle open Boom Chicago at the Iboya, Korte Leidsedwarsstraat 41, 85 seats.

1994: Moves to Studio 100 (now Sugar Factory) on Lijnbaansgracht 238, 180 seats.

1997: Moves into the 270 seat Leidseplein Theater, the theater where Dutch legends Wim Kan, Wim Sonneveld and Toon Hermans began in the 1930s. Boom Chicago renovates the theater, adds a kitchen, bar, and rock show sound and lighting.

2000: Hires first video director, Jamie Wright, and introduces multimedia to the shows. Cameras are fitted in the theater (and the Leidseplein outside). Soon green screen studios and live internet, make Boom Chicago an early pioneer with technology in a comedy show.

2002: Comedy Swap with The Second City in Chicago. The mainstage casts of The Second City and Boom Chicago perform on each other's stages in each other's cities. This was the first (and only) time a visiting comedy group plays on Second City's mainstage. All shows sell out.

2004: Boom Chicago Video Productions launches after the worldwide success of the Florida Voting Machine Video, where an American citizen tries to vote for Kerry, but the rigged machine only allows him to vote for George Bush.

2006: Me, MySpace and iPod opens to best reviews to date. Merijn Henfling, Het Parool: "Genius... We are once again grateful that decided to make Amsterdam their home." Peter de Bie and Francisco van Jole, TROS radio: "People are saying this is the best Boom Chicago show ever, and we would agree." Henk van Gelder, NRC Handelsblad: "Sharp and interactive. They have created an entirely new form of theater; call it digital comedy."

First internet and mobile shows Full Frontal News (Greg Shapiro and Becky Nelson) and Slacker Fantasy Football (Michael Orton-Toliver, Brian Jack, Matt Chapman). The Unlikely Fan (Brendan Hunt, Matt Chapman), a daily World Cup video series was featured on MSN.

2007: Comedy Central News, begins as a daily show on Comedy Central Netherlands and runs for 75 episodes. Highly Dubious News is nominated for a mobile content award at MIPCOM, the television conference in Cannes. The Chinese Ambassador to the Netherlands asked Boom Chicago to remove their viral video "SpongeBob SquarePants in China", which goes on to receive more than 22 million views on YouTube, making it the number one most viewed film and animation video on the video site worldwide (as of April, 2009). By 2011, the video has been viewed more than 75 million times.

2008: 15 year anniversary, April 24. CCN returns as a weekly show in April on Comedy Central (NL). Bye-Bye Bush celebrates the end of an era.

2009: Yankee Come Back opens the City of Amsterdam's 400 Year celebration of the Dutch settlement of New York. In the autumn, to coincide with New York's celebration the group performs Holland Globetrotters at the New Island Festival, a coproduction of de Parade, Oerol and the Netherlands Theater Institute.

2010: Longtime fan of Boom Chicago, Maurice de Hond, makes his on stage comedy debut in Political Party. With Jon Pep Rosenfeld, Greg Shapiro and director Andrew Moskos they create a show that combines politics, political discussion and A-list politicians who also perform in comedy scenes.

2011: The Leidseplein Theater becomes the Chicago Social Club. Together with club innovater Casper Reinders (Jimmy Woo) and Pieter de Koning and Joris Bakker (Bitterzoet), the venue undergoes a thorough upgrade and increases its club programming and improves its bar and food offerings. 9/11 Forever is the only political comedy show in the world to address the ten year anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

2012: Pep Rosenfeld speaks at TEDx Amsterdam: "Fight, Flight or Be Funny" and hosts TEDx Binnenhof where he makes fun of Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima while they are just meters away. With prominent roles at TED events, NEXT and Picnic, Boom Chicago has become a major player at technology, ideas and business conferences.