If you're looking for great entertainment in Nashville, Tennessee, there is much more to this city than Country & Western music and the renowned Grand Ole Opry. A wide variety of entertainers have been coming to Nashville to showcase their talents at such venues as the fantastic Gaylord Entertainment Center and the theater that is becoming one of America's comedy hot spots, the Gateway Entertainment Complex. This increasingly popular Nashville landmark gets its name from the nearby Gateway Bridge. It is the first building people see when coming off the bridge.
Stand up comedy was once considered a low form of entertainment, but over the years such artists as Robin Williams, Bill Cosby, George Carlin and Steven Wright elevated it to a high art form. It is appreciated as a very difficult genre to master, and top comedians share international celebrity with rock & roll stars and movie stars. Even more challenging than stand up comedy is improvisational comedy, or simply "improv". Improv is a unique form of comedy that requires the participants to be fast on their feet and quick witted. They go on stage with no script and no foreknowledge of what they will have to do to make the audience laugh. The sketches must be fresh and spontaneous, and there is no room for recycled jokes. An individual or a team will be given a character, a situation or an occasion, and has to immediately act it out in a funny way. The Gateway Entertainment Center in Nashville has become one of the premier stages for improv. Come to Nashville for the music, and stay for the laughs.