Looking through some old photos over the weekend, I came across this picture that I took literally seconds before walking into iO (then Improv Olympic) for the first time.

Back in '99 (I think), my college group, Comedy Corner, got some money from the school to come to the Chicago Improv Festival. We took workshops. We saw shows. And we took a History of Chicago Improv bus tour that took us to all the major improv theaters.

It was largely because of that trip that I eventually decided to move to Chicago after I graduated. And I decided iO was where I wanted to perform.

I can't remember the last time I talked to any of the blurry people in this picture, but that perfectly in-focus black and silver awning from Salt and Pepper, the diner next door to iO... I see that all the time.