The Bastion has been having a lot of fascinating conversations with comedy types - fans, performers, students, and industry folks - about what it would take to make Chicago less of a place to simply learn and hone the comedy craft, before heading east or west to "make it," and more of a place where things really happen.

Will it always be the case that you'll have to leave Chicago altogether to create your art and/or make a living from comedy? Okay, sure, Chicago's not likely to build a TV/movie production hub here anytime soon (although, of course, the movie industry was actually born here), but are there things we could do to make our collective and individual presence felt more without us having to leave the cozy shores of Lake Michigan? Or what can comedians in Chicago do to make their work better known before they make what might be an inevitable latitudinal shift to pursue more opportunities?

These conversations are ongoing, and we certainly haven't figured out anything profound since we were born just a month ago, but one thing is very obvious - comedians need to have an online presence.

As The Bastion's loyal readers know, we try to include the linky goodness whenever we can. It makes for a fuller, more interconnected piece of comedy reportage, and it gives interested readers a way to immediately find out more about the comedians we're talking about. It's what HTML is for: one-click cross-referencing info. That's why it's so puzzling when we go to put a link in for the latest comic we're blabbing about, only to find...very little online info. There are evolving Chicago comics who have talent, and truly unique voices, who can hold a room in rapt attention, but have almost nothing online that represents who they are and what they can do.

Cats and kittens, if you're serious about your comedy, you need to take steps to make sure that when someone googles your name, something zippy and user-friendly and multimedia-enhanced pops up in the first five links. Make it easy for people to learn more about you. Make it easy for people to contact you. Make it easy for people to see examples of what you do best.

Admittedly, The Bastion is a little tilted toward all things techie. Yeah, we can code HTML by hand. We rock it old style. But you don't have to be able to do that to put your face online. And you don't have to go all Eugene Mirman on the dubya dubya dubya, but these days it's cheap and easy (not to mention fun) to put together vids and fun clips and post them online for all to see. Maybe you can't kick it off right away with a full-fledged slickly designed multimedia wonderland, but at least get started with a danged MySpace page, get the goods up, and be known.

-Elizabeth McQuern