Mike Abdelsayed

Comedian, Improviser, Writer, Director, and Teacher

Mike Abdelsayed performing on stage
  • Currently performing regularly with the critically acclaimed team Tricky Mickey at the Comedy Clubhouse.
  • Current Artistic Director of One Group Mind, the first-ever comedians union
  • Current Artistic Director of The Titanic Players, the only 2-time winners of the College Improv Tournament
  • Current Artistic Director of The Comedy Clubhouse, the highest rated comedy club in Chicago, listed as a top comedy club in over 20 publications.
  • Former iO coach, 6-year iO house team performer
  • Former understudy for Keegan-Michael Key at Second City
  • Former member of the Second City Outreach and Diversity Company
  • Original play, Wishin' Control, was a critics pick in Performink.
  • Original show Toasted was the Chicago Reader Nine Places for Laughs in 2019 (and beyond) and a Must-See Show from The Torch.
  • Coached over 2000 comedians with students continuing successful careers on The Office, Community, Arrested Development, SNL, the Jimmy Kimmel Show, The Mindy Project, Man Seeking Woman, Last Man on Earth, Key and Peele, Parks and Recreation, the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and the Ellen DeGeneres show, Big Mouth, to name just a few.
  • BeyGOOD Foundation Grant Award winner, Community Development Grant Award winner, Dramatists Guild Grant Award winner, MainStreet Rise Grant Award winner, Backing Small Business Award Winner

  • "Abdelsayed has assembled a solid cast of performers with extensive experience in the sketch & improv community. Their commitment to object and character work makes the play easier to follow. With so many scenes and characters to pay attention to, the actors utilize different voices, physicalities, and mannerisms for the audience keep track."

    Jonald Jude Reyes, PerformInk

  • "They have 3 teams perform in a given show, and our favorite was Tricky Mickey--some of the best long-form improv we've seen in Chicago!"

    VRBO Manager, Google 5-Star Review

  • "I went on a Wednesday to watch the Group Improvised Comedy. The Tricky Mickey duo was top, top notch!!! What a great gem of an improv club!"

    Linh Nguyen, Google 5-Star Review

  • "It's a warm, friendly, environment; more like a club than an improv theatre. We especially loved Tricky Micky!"

    Liz B, Google 5-Star Review

  • "Tricky Mickey are fantastically talented. They alone are worth coming to Comedy Clubhouse."

    Cashmool Bhansali, Google 5-Star Review

  • "So much fun! Caught Tricky Mickey, they were great. Intimate place, a group of us went, we brought some beers with us, overall great time. highly recommend it."

    Michael Gayed, Google 5-Star Review
Improv Comedy
Film & Clips
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SCRIPTED COMEDY

I write a unique form of a play which I like to call a Theatrical. A theatrical has approximately 8 performers playing over 100 characters in a single, full length play. Rather than traditional costumes, sets, props or traditional scene queues, my theatricals use long-form improv technique to get from scene to scene. These techniques allow a theatrical to take an audience through a range of emotions in quick succession and relies on their imagination to accomplish more than what could be done with traditional staged limitations.

"As theatergoers, we often expect so much of our experience with intricate technical design and lavish sets. The Comedy Clubhouse has presented a theatrical experience using nothing more than solid acting by skilled actors."

- Jonald Jude Reyes, PerformInk - Critic's Pick
Read the Review
Hand holding a microphone

PRESS

CONTACT

1462 N. Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60622
Rows of red theater seats