The Long Form / Short Form debate is only important when talking about taxes

When I first got to Chicago, I enrolled at Second City, The Annoyance, and iO. I did them all because I wanted to immerse myself. I also continued to play ComedySportz because I saw no reason to stop doing what I'd done for five years in Kansas City. I didn't really care about the various brand/style affiliations I found a lot of my cohorts cherished. I just wanted to learn and play as much as I could. I was also pretty vocal about where I played, what I was learning, and how odd it was that there were these divisions between theaters, styles, and ideologies.

During this time, long form improvisors had no problem telling me how short form improv is an inferior way to make things up on stage as it is "bit driven" and "easy."

Short form players had no problem telling me how long form improv is an inferior way to make things up on stage as it is "self indulgent" and "boring."

When I got to Chicago, I found a pretty solid divide between these two schools of thought. By the time I left, half the people auditioning for ComedySportz had extensive long form training and many of my CSZ pals were taking classes at iO. I'm not saying I made anything happen. I just happened to be around when a shift occurred. My recommendation: Do it all.