Harrison Brookie

Founder/Executive Director and Performer

As the Owner and Executive Director of the Alchemy Comedy Theater Harrison oversees all the Artistic and Production staff. For over 10 years he has helped grow and shape the comedy community in Greenville, SC through his coaching and weekly performances. Harrison is also the primary corporate trainer having worked with Michelin, GE, Gville Chamber, TTI, Prisma, GCMA, InterContinental Hotels Group, and more.

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In 2004, Harrison began performing short-form, long-form, and sketch comedy with Clemson University’s Mock Turtle Soup. There he helped create and later ran Clemson’s first satirical newspaper, The Almond. In 2008, he moved to North Carolina and joined the DSI Comedy Theater becoming a resident instructor and ComedySportz, Harold, and Flagship cast member. He has been a guest instructor for the Boston Comedy Arts Festival, North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival, Asheville's Magnetic Theatre, Carolina Improv, and Clemson University's MBA program. He completed the iO training center in Chicago and is a lover of improv books.

In 2011, Harrison moved back to his hometown of Greenville, SC with his wife and children to found the Alchemy Comedy Theater and continue teaching high school social studies. Since then he’s helped grow the Greenville comedy scene with live shows, a training center, corporate events, workshops, emceeing events like TEDx Greenville, teaching improv at Furman University’s OLLI program, and creating an Intro to Improv Theater high school course. He created Greenville’s first 30 hour comedy marathon featuring acts from all over the Upstate. He also created the New South Comedy Festival which runs every fall and features improv, sketch, and stand up acts and workshops from all over the country.

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Want to know more? Harrison has also kept a detailed log of all the amazing performers he's had the pleasure to work with and learn from.

Harrison has attended comedy festivals like the Black Box (Atl), North Carolina Comedy Arts, Charleston, Richmond, Del Close (NYC), Spontaneous Combustion (Atl), and the Twin Cities Improv Festival. He has trained under a variety of instructors such as Atlanta’s Robert Lowe, JaCKPie’s Jim Karwisch, Directing Improv author and Editor-in-Chief of YESand.com Asaf Ronen; Artistic Director of the Upright Citizens Brigade Anthony King, Kevin Cragg, June Raphael; Steppenwolf’s Eric Hunicut, Impatient Theatre’s Kevin Patrick Robbins, ImprovBoston’s Will Luera, Improv Inferno’s Dan Izzo, Death by Roo Roo’s Mike Still, Saturday Night Live’s Casey Wilson, Annoyance co-founder Joe Bill, Second City’s Holly Laurent, Anthony Leblanc, Seth K. Thomas; Comedy Sportz’s Matt Elwell, Orlando’s SAK Comedy Lab, The Playground’s Justin Jackson, Drunk History’s Seth Weitberg, Improvised Shakespeare’s Joey Bland, Baby Wants Candy’s Christy Bonstell, Huge Theater co-founder Jill Bernard, DSI Comedy founder Zach Ward and Paula Pazderka, Time Out NY’s Jane Borden, People’s Improv Theater Artistic Director Ronny Pascale, Micah Sherman, and Jenn Bianchi; Chemically Imbalanced Comedy’s Farrell Walsh, Magnet Theater Artistic Director Megan Gray, Elana Fishbein, Elena Skopetos, and Branson Reese; musical sketch comedy group Pop Roulette, The Idiot Box’s AJ Schraeder, William Kean of NYC’s Face Off Unlimited, Mark Kendall, Matt Horgon, and Amber Nash of Dad’s Garage, Magnet founder Armando Diaz, Improv Nerd’s Jimmy Carrane, 30 Rock’s Scott Adsit, iO West’s Brian Jack, Jeff Griggs author of Guru: My Days with Del Close, iO Chicago’s TJ Jagodowski, Bill Arnett, Charlie McCrackin, Tara DeFrancisco, Craig Uhlir; iO West/Pack Theater’s Brian O’Connell, Florida Studio Theatre's Natasha Samreny, Out of Bounds Comedy Festival's Ruby Willmann, Asheville Improv Collective's Marlene Thompson, Andrew Cornelius, Virginia Commonwealth University's EB Byland, Atlanta's Hannah Aslesen, Second City Hollywood's Gillian Bellinger and Celeste Pechous; Rise Comedy's Nick Armstrong, Carla and Craig Cackowski, and the co-creator of long-form improv, Charna Halpern.

Harrison has also had the privilege of sharing the stage with amazing improvisers such as North Coast creator James Robilotta, his original duo partner Paula Pazderka, DSI Comedy/NC Comedy Arts Festival founder Zach Ward, iO West/Steppenwolf’s Eric Hunicut, Annoyance co-founder Joe Bill, Huge Theater co-founder Jill Bernard, Upright Citizen Brigade’s Benjamin Rameaka, The Magnet’s Megan Gray, Time Out NY’s Jane Borden, Beatbox’s Rene Duquesnoy, Theatre 99's Greg Tavares, Brandy Sullivan, and Andy Livengood; Jet Eveleth (that makes half of The Reckoning), Founders of the Coalition Theater, Meisner instructor Mandy Butler, Hideout Theatre’s Kareem Badr, Washington Improv Theater’s John Windmueller, Boom Chicago’s Ryan Archibald, Cash Cab’s Beth Melewski, iO Chicago’s Craig Uhlir, ComedySportz’s Rance Rizzutto, Artistic Director Emeritus of ImprovBoston Will Luera, Splitsider.com founder Adam Frucci, Magnet Theater’s Rick Andrews and Chet Siegel; UCB NY’s Kevin Mullaney, Corey Brown, Shem Pennant, Impatient Theatre’s Kevin Patrick Robbins, iO Chicago’s Jaime Landolfi, the People’s Improv Theater’s Geoff Grimwood, UCB’s Boris Khaykin, North Coast’s Doug Widick, William Kean of NYC’s Face Off Unlimited, Hot Breath Podcast's Joel Byars, Mark Kendall, Matt Horgon, and Amber Nash of Dad’s Garage, UCBTLA’s Johnny Meeks, MADtv’s Frank Caeti, head writer for the Oscars Bruce Vilanch, 30 Rock’s Scott Adsit, comic Maria Bamford, and iO West/Pack Theater’s Brian O’Connell.

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