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In a city where “free” usually means “you’ll pay for it later in therapy,” the Magnet Theater is giving New Yorkers the real deal: Zero-dollar tickets to two of its most beloved shows, every single month.
Starting this month, the Chelsea comedy hub is now offering Free Fridays, a monthly gift to your calendar and your wallet. On the first Friday of each month, you can walk right up to the Magnet’s box office at 254 West 29th St. and snag a free seat for Premiere: The Improvised Musical at 7:30pm or The Friday Night Show at 9pm. No codes, no sign-ups—just pure, uncut improv joy. There’s only one catch: Tickets are first-come, first-served and you have to claim them in person.
If you’ve never been to Premiere, think Broadway, but with zero rehearsals and a lot more danger. Named one of Time Out’s Best Weekly Improv Shows, it takes a single audience suggestion and spins it into a fully formed musical with characters, songs, dance breaks and all, right there on the spot. The cast’s résumé reads like a comedy nerd’s vision board, with credits spanning Netflix, Comedy Central and HBO.
Then there’s The Friday Night Show, where the audience becomes part of the setup. Before the lights go down, you jot down something you wish you could say out loud (a rant, a secret, a confession, etc.) and the cast reads them onstage as fodder for scenes. It’s cathartic, chaotic and very, very funny.
Magnet Theater has been an improv powerhouse since 2005, founded by Chicago comedy veterans Armando Diaz and Ed Herbstman. Today, it’s a performance space and a training ground for some of the sharpest comedic talent in the city, with alumni popping up everywhere from Broad City to The Colbert Report.
The theater’s mission has always been about connection—between performers, between audience members and between ideas you didn’t know could be funny until someone made them so. And with Free Fridays, they’re lowering the barrier even further.
So here’s the plan: Mark your calendar for the first Friday of the month, show up a little early (remember, seats are limited) and prepare to walk out humming songs you’ll never hear again—or telling your friends about that one scene that started with “Dear diary” and ended in a sword fight.