Natalya Grabavoy is an improviser, standup and comedy writer

Chicago is where I learned how to shape an idea in real time, and explore it fearlessly in front of a live audience.

I trained in improv and sketch performance and writing at The Second City Conservatory and was later selected for the Second City House Company ensemble, Twisty – an eight-person cast chosen to perform weekly on one of the city’s most respected stages. Each Saturday night, we built entirely improvised show for crowds that ranged from squealing bachelorette parties to couples on visibly uncertain first dates. We built entirely improvised shows from a single audience suggestion, then translated that spontaneity into structured, character-driven sketch work, resulting in an 8-week run of our revue, Dark Side of the Buffoon.

Alongside Second City, I trained and performed at iO Theatre, The Annoyance Theatre and CIC, and appeared in comedy festivals across the US.

In 2015, I co-created a sketch duo called Dolls with Analisha Santini. Think Broad City, but with more fake blood and a live audience. We became known for immersive, high-energy shows that blended absurdism with feminist commentary, earning recognition from the Chicago Reader, which named us one of the “6 Comedy Shows to See This Week.”

Our original production, Table Manners, sold out its run and was invited back by Second City for a second run (this time with a protective tarp and slightly more paperwork).

My satirical writing has appeared in Reductress and babe (The Tab), and my acting can be seen in the award-winning short Uncertainship, part of the anthology series The Edge of Her Mind, available on Amazon, Apple, Tubi and more.

These days, I’m based in Sydney, where I’ve adopted “arvo” into my vocabulary and continue to explain that true Chicago locals would never order deep-dish pizza on a regular basis.