11:15 a.m. -- Arrive at Chicago Mercantile Exchange; attempt to convince security Pat Brice is, in fact, a real person who works there.

11:20 a.m. -- Am informed there are no gallery tours, come to the conclusion that I'll have to wait until 1 p.m. to meet with Pat. Sit down to an overpriced lunch at Rivers Restaurant.

11:50 a.m. -- Impatiently smoke a cigarette.

12:00 p.m. -- Talk to Pat. He is able to get away from the action for a few minutes to fetch me so I can visit the floor. Learn I am not allowed on the floor because of my choice in footwear (flip-flops).

12:08 p.m. -- Pat goes on a hunt for a pair of suitable gym shoes.

12:11 p.m. -- Pat returns with Kevin the Clerk's size 14 brown loafers. Slip shoes on over flip-flops, greatly amusing the formerly hard-assed security guards. Giggle incessantly.

12:15-12:30 p.m. -- Pat offers a rundown of futures trading, a quick tour around the pits, and a trip to the upper level, where we listen in on a trade and watch as Kevin the Clerk executes mysterious hand-signals to his cohort on the other side of the floor.

Pat works exclusively with live cattle options for a thirty-man operation which was started by two brothers, and puts in his time every weekday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. He sports a burgundy jacket that signifies his trader status. He scrutinizes a Rosetta Stone-like sheet of paper with tiny numbers printed on it all day. When the market is volatile (due to war and other extenuating global circumstances), he yells a lot. He is supported in his efforts by a clerk who will sacrifice his shoes when Pat orders him to.

Pat studied finance at the University of Dayton, which is where he began his stand-up career roughly two weeks before graduating in 2000. After college, he took a job in business leasing while waiting for his Big Break. Realizing quickly that he hated the leasing industry, he then bartended and waited tables at Castaways on North Avenue Beach. Working at a job that could be "rained out" proved less than ideal, however, so he checked out a job recommendation in options trading from a broker acquaintance. He's been with his present company for three and a half years.

12:35 p.m. -- Say goodbye to Kevin and his shoes, wait for Pat to wrap up his work day.

1-1:20 p.m. -- Take a labyrinthian shortcut, under traintracks and through buildings, back to the company's office.

1:25 p.m. -- Meet boss and co-workers who run the company's computing systems; good looks and pleasant demeanors are noted.

1:35 p.m. -- Pat grabs a sandwich to go at shop that advises, "Get a great return. Invest in our sandwiches." Hail taxi to the Fearless Radio studios.

2-3:00 p.m. -- Pat checks his email, eats, checks online sports headlines to prep for the show, and takes a disco nap, er, power nap.

2:50 p.m. -- The other boys in the Visitors Locker Room crew, Adam Kroshus and CJ Sullivan, with Chicago ex-pat Jeff Klinger, who is back home for a visit, filter into the office. The testeosterone flows as the boys immediately start in on each other while prepping for the show. Turns out there is no difference between pre-show prep and on-air banter. I go over my Bucky Badger facts in anticipation of being part of the on-air sports conversation.

3-3:30 p.m. -- The first half of the show goes smoothly; there is much spirited discussion of whether Pat's unique genius is truly of the stature that requires the kind of documentation that his temporary personal biographer is now offering.

"VLR started after Nate Craig and Shawn Cole had a meeting with Pat Oliver and Rocco Cataldo, the creators of Fearless Radio. They are primarily a music channel but they liked the idea of comics doing a sports show since they didn't have either of those elements at Fearless. That and they needed another show to fill air time," Pat says of the genesis of the sports comedy program.

When asked if he had any prior experience with radio, he says, "None of the members of the VLR had any experience with radio before starting the show. After a year on the air, I can comfortably say we still have very little experience on the radio."

Pat sees the program continuing, in one form or another, for several years to come. They celebrated their one-year anniversary August 1.

3:30 p.m. -- Pat has to leave the studio to head back to the office for a training class. The class is to help acclimate new traders to the high-energy environment of the pit, complete with screaming and cursing. I am curious about it, but decide to stay in the studio. I doubt the boss and co-workers would have been too keen on having me there, anyway. Jeff leaves to catch a plane back to L.A. It will be his second attempt of the day.

5:30 p.m. -- Class ends. Pat goes back home (Bucktown) to get ready for his Zanies gig (downtown).

6:15 p.m. -- Pat leaves house to get to club.

7:10 p.m. -- Meet up with Pat; get first drink of the club's two-drink minimum requirement.

7:30 p.m. -- Show starts. Have met the two-drink minimum.

Pat is offered an emcee position with Zanies about every six weeks, working a full week at a time. This stretch has him working eleven shows in six days. He has, so far, worked a total of seven weeks for Zanies. Ideally, he would like to land a feature spot, but "that's not the easiest thing to do," he says.

9 p.m. -- The first show, with headliner Wendy Liebman, wraps. Pat has about a half hour until the late show begins. I leave to attend the Elevated's 10 Year Anniversary show in Lincoln Park.

The energy in the packed Elevated is a much different energy than the club energy of Zanies. While he enjoys comedy clubs and believes them to be relevant and viable venues for comedy, Pat says of the independent Chicago comedy scene: "I think the Chicago comedy scene is amazing. The showcase rooms really couldn't be better with The Lincoln Lodge and ChUC being two of the best venues to perform at in the city and of course the Elevated is great too. But there is just such a strong bond between so many of the comics on the scene. I don't know how any other cities' comedy scenes are but I'm really proud of the way the comics in our scene work together and push each other to form new projects and shows. I think all the comics in Chicago know that there's something really great about what's going on here."

approx. 11:30 p.m. -- Pat makes his way to the post-show party at the Elevated. He is greeted with a spontaneous smattering of applause by the drunken merrymakers.

approx. 12:30 a.m. -- A small but lively crew, consisting of Pat, CJ Sullivan, Ricky Carmona, Krystle, and yours truly, heads over to Vaughn's.

approx. 2:00 a.m. -- We close the bar, sans CJ, and climb into Ricky's convertible, winding our way down city streets to Bucktown to deliver Pat back to his home.

9:00 a.m. the next day -- Pat makes it back to the trading pit, armed with two Red Bulls. It all begins again.

Photos, from top to bottom:

1) Outside the Merc.
2) Disco nap.
3) Fearless Studios.
4) Video clip from Zanies.
5) Cayne Collier and Angel Busque at the Elevated Anniversary show.
6) Pat, Ricky Carmona, Jordan Vogt-Roberts, and Sean Flannery.