This February, local comedy theater collective LATCo. Comedy hosted its first show in a newly opened Mid City space. After performing for more than three years at local bars like Spanish Moon, Driftwood Cask & Barrel and Phil Brady’s, the group’s founders decided it was time to settle into their own spot.
At the beginning of January, they began transforming a former Ogden Park hair salon, painting the walls black and adding theater seating and a small stage.
Located on Hearthstone Drive across the street from Radio Bar, LATCo. aims to become a go-to spot for weekly comedy performances, twice-monthly improv shows, improv classes, team-building workshops and other comedy events.
The theater was founded by T.C. Matherne, Michael Moss and Betty Mujica-Milano after the three hit it off at a local improv class. It specializes in long-form improv comedy—a 20- to 60-minute comedy show with no script—but local creatives from all comedic backgrounds can utilize the space.
“It’s a hub for creatives and for people who have never found their thing,” Mujica-Milano says.
Since they first started practicing in a private meeting room at Whole Foods in 2016, the group has doubled in size. LATCo. now has 14 regular members and has taught more than 50 students during classes and workshops. After students take improv classes, Moss says, they’re more attentive, engaged conversationalists and better at public speaking.
“A lot of people take improv to become better lawyers, comedians or better this/better that, and we find that they come out being better people,” Matherne says.
The founders never imagined they’d have their own space after just four years of practicing improv together. The group went from strangers connecting over an interest in the craft to starting their own comedy group to becoming business partners. Together, they hope to create an inclusive, judgment-free space where people can just be themselves.
“Getting to bring a community together, which is so rare now that people put down their phones and are vulnerable with each other,” Mujica-Milano says, “it makes me feel like we’re the luckiest people because we get to create that space here.”
This story originally ran in 225 magazine. Read the full story and see photos of the founders here.
