Laugh Through the Holidays at IMPRIDE for the Holidays in Downtown San Diego

IMPRIDE celebrates 10 years with “IMPRIDE for the Holidays,” a four-day LGBTQIA+ comedy festival at Tenth Avenue Arts Center, packed with improv, stand-up, sketch, drag, and a holiday musical parody.

IMPRIDE is a San Diego-based nonprofit dedicated to celebrating LGBTQIA+ voices through comedy. This holiday edition is a chance to catch your favorite performer, discover someone new, and celebrate a decade of queer comedy and community.

Kick Off the Festival With Hillcrest Boys

The festival opens with “Hillcrest Boys” improv, followed by a special preview of the holiday musical parody “A Good Dickens.” It’s a fun, low-key way to start the festival and meet the community.

Hillcrest Boys is a character-driven improv performance celebrating gay culture, with bold characters, tangled relationships, and chosen family built from a single audience suggestion.

Catch Taylor Spencer’s Stand-Up Showcase

Taylor Spencer presents “Gays, Theys, and Baes,” an LGBTQIA+ stand-up comedy showcase. Expect a night of sharp, funny voices from across the community.

The lineup features Southern California’s funniest LGBTQIA+ and ally stand-up comedians. Bring all your guys, gals, and nonbinary pals for a hilarious night out.

Cake Boy Comedy Serves Up Bakers Dozen

Cake Boy Comedy serves up “Bakers Dozen (Holiday Edition),” 13 original comedy sketches in one hour. Written by Vincent Graziano and Zach Moser, it’s fast, silly, and festive.

The duo is fresh off sold-out performances at their 2026 San Diego International Fringe Festival debut. Expect an absurdist, doughy delight, with sketches that stake out nightclubs, croon over breakfast, and try to catch ’em all.

Meet Lady Bushra in Professional Victim

Webby Award-nominated drag comedian Lady Bushra, who was shortlisted for the BBC New Comedy Award, brings her new live show “Professional Victim” to the stage.

She explores identity, migration, religion, and queer life through the eyes of a British South Asian comic trying to make sense of America. Expect plenty of big laughs and sharp insight along the way.

End Each Night With A Good Dickens

Every night closes with “A Good Dickens,” an original holiday musical parody and queer reimagining of A Christmas Carol. It’s full of irreverent humor, outrageous characters, and themes of found family.

One miserable miser, three ghosts with no boundaries, and a Christmas Eve intervention go spectacularly off-script. It’s written by Jesse Suphan and Angellyne De Perio, directed by Anushree Singh, and stars Keith James as Scrooge.

A Decade of Queer Comedy

Founder Jesse Suphan started IMPRIDE in 2016 at Finest City Improv, billed by organizers as the nation’s first Pride improv comedy festival.

The festival has also given back, raising more than $10,000 for community charities in its first four years, including San Diego Pride’s youth programs. Today, it’s a space for LGBTQIA+ performers to take risks and share their stories.

See you there!

A decade of queer comedy, a holiday musical parody, and a lineup full of fresh voices make IMPRIDE for the Holidays a great way to laugh through the season.

📆 Wednesday, December 16 – Saturday, December 19, 2026 | 7 PM – 9:30 PM
📍 930 Tenth Ave, San Diego
🎟️ Snag your tickets here
ℹ️ Follow along on Instagram for updates

See you there, San Diego!