Our friends over at Chicagoist alerted us to a call for information from the kids at the Neo-Futurarium. Go voice your opinion on theater and help with the creation of a new show.

Quickly rising local comic Brendan McGowan is making his Improv debut as emcee for Robert Schimmel tonight and tomorrow. The Bastion is hoping to make it out to the mall tomorrow night to root for our friend and get our picture taken with Mr. Schimmel!

Mr. Pat Brice can be seen at Zanies from now until Sunday, emceeing for Mark Lundholm, who is threatening that the Monday show will be alcohol-free. We don't think that'll be the night we go to check out the show, gulp. We also want to congratulate Pat on a great set last night at the Lodge; it was his first time showcasing for USCAF. Well done!

We're waiting to hear from David Angelo how his "New York debut" went. He went up at Oh, Hello at Rififi last night, and he was literally bouncing off the walls all week in anticipation for the show. In conjunction with this visit, David hosted a Lunch Launch Party Thursday morning for his USPS newsletter "Jokeaholics Hilarious" (the Bastion is Fan Club Member #56). We are wondering if, indeed, a certain star of The Howie Mandel Show was in attendance as David promised to the Haha Board Tuesday.

Our friend Fuzzy Gerdes over at Metroblogging Chicago wrote about his visit to ChUC this past Tuesday, and took some pictures.

Our buddy Ken Barnard dropped us a tidbit recently: "I just found out today that I am a semi-finalist for New York Comedy Festival's 3rd Annual Andy Kaufman Award Contest. Including myself, there will be 20 comedians performing Monday November 6th at 7:30 p.m. at Stand Up NY at 236 West 78th Street. Each contestant performs 5 minutes and is judged on humor and the embodiment of the originality and courage of the late Andy Kaufman. From the 20 semi-finalists, 8 will be chosen to perform in the finals on Thursday, November 9th at 7:30pm at Carolines On Broadway." We know if Ken's there it's going to be a rockin' good time!

Allison Bills (Getting Serious, Very Bad Porn) is urging people to get involved in the upcoming election. From her bulletin on such matters: "Anyone who knows me, knows I find myself frantically too busy all the time to even bathe, but guess what? I give a shit (in fact, I give a lot of shits) about my civil liberties and if you want to keep yours, you should get involved."

Those cats at Riddles out in Orland Park are having a costume contest tomorrow, and the Howard Stern boys will be there. Hooray Halloween!

Speaking of Halloween: Nate Craig recently translated the announcement, "Will be shithoused katie kouric @ Traynums bar on 31st" to the more English-reader friendly: "i will be very drunk, and dressed as katie kouric on hallows eve at the establishment bar 107 in downtown los angeles. the bar is owned by one former chicago comedian brian traynum." Stop by and see the spectacle for yourself!

And FINALLY, a new Blerds video dropped Thursday! Featuring Jared Logan, co-creator of the monthly midnight show, A Demon Who Never Appeared! We also got word that lots of stuff is happening over there right now; we're getting a little anxious to find out exactly what the hell is going on.