Thanks for your interest in the 2026 Countdown Improv Festival, the world’s only improv comedy festival exclusively for trio, duo, and solo performers.

This year’s festival will run from August 5-9 in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa, Florida. Feel free to read about why we think we’re the best improv festival around. Hooray!

We will be accepting submissions from January 12 through February 16, and will strive to inform all teams of our decisions by no later than mid-March. Submission prices are as follows: $30 from January 12-13, $35 from January 14-31, and $40 from February 1-16.

All submission fees are used to offset festival production costs. The staggered pricing structure is meant to discourage performers from waiting until the very last minute to submit their shows. If the submission fee is out of your reach for whatever reason, please send us an email at countdownimprovfestival at gmail dot com with the subject line “Fee Waiver,” and we will give you a fee waiver, no questions asked and no explanation needed. Just tell us the name of your troupe and we’ll get it done.

We will not begin issuing acceptances until after the submission window closes; still, we encourage you to save yourself a few bucks and submit early. Please note: All submission fees are non-refundable.

We will not be running a festival ensemble this year.

Many of you have asked about workshops! We will solicit workshop submissions from festival performers — and only from festival performers — after all accepted teams have confirmed. (All festival performers will have an opportunity to propose a workshop.) From there, we’ll hold a vote among performers to determine this year’s workshop roster. It’s fun!

Before completing the application form, please take a few minutes to review our submission guidelines, even if you have performed with us before. (A few things have changed since last year.) Thank you for your interest in the 2026 Countdown Improv Festival, and we look forward to reviewing your submission!

NOTE: Please wait up to 15 seconds after submitting your application to be redirected to payment.