Chicago stand-up Tony Sam spent some more time in New York last week, getting more stage time, then returning to Chicago for the final week of his show, Chicago Underground Comedy, at Gunther Murphy's. Final show in that venue, that is - the show continues at the Beat Kitchen. Tony told us that while in New York, he performed at Drink at Work and Caroline's again, this time with Daryl Hammond, Jim Gaffigan, and Mike Birbiglia, in a show hosted by Late Show booker Eddie Brill.
Chicago Metroblogger Fuzzy Gerdes has written a nice little piece about the evolution, influence, and omnipresent ripple effect of Chicago's gift to comedy - improv. ("World, we give you our improv. You're welcome.")
Chicago-moved-to-NYC comedians Mike Burns and Brad Steuernagel (AKA Lundquist Entertainment) would like for you to know that Murray TV is on the air: Murray TV: Guitars
TJ Jagodowski joined Joe Bill and Mark Sutton at i.O. last night for some Hoosier-tinged, Squidbilly-esque Bassprov. Bill and Sutton's relaxed ease and familiarity onstage makes for some languid, pondering improv as they develop the conceit of beer-swilling buddies throwing bait and randomly shooting the breeze about whatever topics the audience pitches.
The Sun-Times finds these two "hilarious," and the Reader went so far as to say “Sutton and Bill have a fashioned a show in the tradition of Mark Twain.”
Busch Lights are cracked open and Camels are burned to the filter as the improv flows, and the addition of Jagodowski, who has a very naturalistic and detailed way of tying together a character's train of thought, made for an engaging show.
Happy Tuesday, everyone! Has everyone recovered from this past holiday weekend? There are several new things happening in the world of comedy; let's have a look!
Tonight is the last night of Chicago Underground Comedy as housed by Gunther Murphy's. Beginning December 12, they will be at their new home, the Beat Kitchen: "Join us for a great start at our flashy new digs. Expect a star studded cast with some out of town guests. This line-up includes the absolute best Chicago has to offer in comedy," says co-founder Tony Sam.
Pressure Billiards & Cafe has officially been announced to now be called Pressure Comedy Cafe, and will host a Thursday open mic, a special "Crowd Work" show on Friday (where comics can test their heckling-handling skills...we are VERY excited about this one), and two showcases on Saturday. In addition to the new Pressure schedule, Edge Comedy is producing shows every Friday night at Kitty Moon beginning in December, beginning with two New Faces showcases on December 1.
We've also received word that details are being finalized on a big Lincoln Square area production from the combined efforts of the folks behind Blerds.com and the Lincoln Lodge. When? Where? There might be bowling involved. And a holiday. Just sayin'.
And finally, we're following up on a couple items from the rumormill, including a possible closing of a showcase room, and a new open mic possibly being produced by a legendary figure in Chicago's recent open mic history. That's all for now!
Mike Bridenstine is a stand-up comedian and new media dabbler who founded Blerds.com with a bunch of silly and talented friends. He's a fixture on the Chicago stand-up scene, despite occasionally needing to read the Bastion to see where he's performing on any given night, and, if you ask nicely, will explain to you his catchphrase "Bang, you're pregnant!" You can see his videos here, and his live performances at the Lincoln Lodge, among other places.
When did you first realize comedy was something you wanted to pursue? Did you grow up in a funny family?
My family is actually pretty funny. Everybody is really quick. And mean. There's a real art to being able to destroy somebody and have everybody in the room know it except the person they're destroying. I heard somebody refer to it once as "the Velvet Hammer". I don't know if I have that talent, but my mom, dad and sister sure do.
I didn't actually know that I wanted to pursue stand-up until I was in college and already emceeing at the local club. I thought, at first, that I just wanted to have this cool job at a bar and get free drinks. I didn't really know anything about stand-up back then. But I started to really like performing and just got into it. I can't remember having a "this-is-what-I-was-meant-to-do" moment, but by the time I graduated, I already knew I'd be moving to Chicago to pursue it further.
Did you move to Chicago specifically to pursue comedy?What did you think it would be like when you got here, and how is the reality different from your initial expectations?
I did move here for comedy. I wanted to do stand-up and take the Second City writing program. What an embarassing cliche. I just thought the stand-up scene here must be huge. I figured that talent scouts and agents would be lurking in the back of open-mics to swoop down on local talent. I thought the thing everybody was supposed to do was go to open mics until an agent saw you and then you'd sign with the agency and hit the road as a feature for a while. Or work all these imaginary clubs in the city at night. I had no idea Chicago only had one full-time comedy club. I had no idea about alternative comedy. And I had no idea about any of the underground showcase shows. The reality of the situation was a whole lot different than what I thought it would be when I got here from Iowa. It was confusing at first, but I began to really like it after a few months.
What the hell is a Blerd? Whose idea was it to film all those funny little comedy shorts?
A Blerd is a blog nerd. It's also a comedy website and multi-media comedy show, which currently consists of people like myself, Pat Brice, Mike Burns, Nate Craig, Sean Flannery, Mike Holmes, Jared Logan, TJ Miller, Kumail Nanjiani, Jordan Vogt-Roberts, CJ Sullivan, Prescott Tolk and Kyle Kinane. Nate Craig came up with the name one night at the Elevated. We couldn't agree on any other name. The original idea for the website was from my friend, Rob Johnson, who was my roommate in college. He'd been coming to shows a lot and was reading the comedians' blogs on MySpace when he got the idea. After the ball started rolling, I met Jordan at the Lincoln Lodge and eventually got him on board with the project. I think the format for the videos was his idea.
Are there any performers, shows, or movies that you loved when you were young, and who you wanted to emulate?
I grew up in the Comedy Boom, so there were always stand-up shows on cable and I'd watch every single one of them. I always liked that era of SNL too. When I was real young and you would have asked me what a comedian was, I would have told you Dana Carvey or Pee-wee Herman or the people from MTV Half Hour Comedy Hour. But my current style of comedy didn't really take full shape until I heard people like Mitch Hedberg and Zach Galifianakis and came to Chicago and saw these weirdos we have in the stand-up scene here. I'm definitely more influenced by the comics from Blerds and ChUC and the Lincoln Lodge than I am from anything growing up.
What's a typical weekly comedy schedule like for you?
It's never consistent. There's weeks I'll have absolutely nothing booked, so I'll go to some open mics and see if I can squeeze in Red Bar Radio. Or there's been a few occasions where I have ChUC, the Elevated, the Lincoln Lodge and Pressure in the same week. It's luck of the draw. I'm trying to branch out too. Right now, most of the shows I do are indy showcases in the city, but I'm going to try to get other stuff too.
How did you get started at the Lincoln Lodge, and what's it like to perform there?
The first time I ever got booked there was November of 2004. That's 11 months after I started here. Those guys just saw me all the time at open mics. And I'd show up to the Friday shows a lot so people would know my name and face. The cast over there have all become good friends of mine. I love doing that show. I get excited every time I'm booked there. The Friday shows still feel like a real event. It draws a good crowd and everyone knows they're going to see a good show. I also like the intimacy and how you're right on top of the audience when you
perform. And I like how you're really not restricted with what material you do there. You can do multi-media or you can do really subtle stuff and people will get it. It's a cool room and the cast and staff over there are great.
Tell us the truth - your surprise birthday roast at the Lodge earlier this year - were you really surprised?
Oh, completely surprised. I was so thrown off. I thought I was coming to the Lodge to do a corporate show. Everyone tricked me. That was a really cool thing. People went all-out. 'Humbling' is the correct word, I believe. Renee Gauthier and Mark Geary masterminded the whole thing. It's weird how getting made fun of by people for two hours is probably the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.
Where do you want to go with comedy in the next few years? What's your ultimate dream?
I don't know. I guess I just want to be doing comedy full time. I have four ways I could go with it. I'm really interested in Los Angeles right now. I'm going back there pretty soon and want to delve into that scene. But I'm still really interested in New York and their scene on the Lower East Side. I'm going back out there in January to do some shows, which I'm excited about. I also want to do more club work. And I want to do more colleges and rock venues and I think Blerds is on the right path to doing something close to that pretty soon. In that scenario, I could tour and still be based out of Chicago. And that would be nice because I love it here. My ultimate dream would be to have myself and a bunch of other comics from Chicago get big and then let everyone know we came from here. I think Chicago right now is kind of like the Seattle Grunge scene was in the late '80's. It's ready to explode. It might be a little different from what people are used to with stand-up, but I think they'll really like it. I think it would be great to have recognition for myself, but I would also want recognition for the Chicago stand-up scene as well.
We have unhealthy family patterns to fall back into over dry turkey and cranberry chutney just like you do, therefore this will be our last post until next Monday. Happy Turkey Day, Chicago comedy scenesters!
Last Friday the Bastion popped into Schadenfreude's Rent Party to see the gang up to their usual antics. Tony Sam got up and strummed silliness on his ukelele, Sasha and the Noob led us all in a very sedate version of "put your hands in the air...and make a very quiet noise of agreement," and the always awesome Robert Buscemi confusingly delighted us with some penguin viscera references, but all was good, because the Schadenfolks treated us to holiday ham and sweet potatoes - the fancy kind, bejeweled with marshmallows. Local politics took a satirical beating, and Schadenfreude shamefully admitted actually being a little short on rent, which prompted a visit from a very disappointed "Schadenfreude's Dad," who shelled out as much humiliation as money before the night was over. We found out that the gang's forays into screenwriting are meeting with much interest, and we were promised updates on developments in that area.
Also recently, Chicago's Ken Barnard placed second at the Third Annual Andy Kaufman Contest in New York City. According to a press release, "The Andy Kaufman Award, given during the New York Comedy Festival, pays tribute to the originality, humor and courage of the legendary Andy Kaufman. Over 250 performers from across America competed for twenty semi-finalist positions. Of these twenty, eight were chosen as finalists. Barnard made it into the finals when one finalists was unable to compete on the 9th. Coming in as the underdog, Barnard placed second over all."
Also, Saturday, we visited Pressure for some stand-up, where we saw writer and stand-up Michael Palascak, who told us about how opening for Caroline Rhea at the Improv resulted in his imagination spinning out very detailed fantasies of spending the rest of his life with his childhood crush Sabrina the Teenage Witch: "Caroline Rhea was really nice and seem interested in my life. She even tried to get me girls' phone #'s when she was signing cd's for people, so that was sweet of her. It was weird being around someone who in the tv world was both a witch and the aunt of Melissa Joan Hart. Part of me was hoping that in the green room between shows I would somehow kiddingly mention how I had a huge crush on Melissa Joan Hart as a kid and Caroline would think it was funny and call her on her cell phone right there and I would talk to Melissa, MJ, and we would laugh and talk...
...and I would tell her a joke and she would laugh, and then I'd have to leave to go onstage. The next day MJ would somehow be in Chicago for a movie shoot and stop by the club to see Caroline. We'd laugh and talk and eat cheesecake (the Improv has great cheesecake). I'd invite her out after the show, but she'd say how she had to be on set really early in the morning. I'd ask for her # saying that sometimes I might be confused about things in life and I might need someone to explain it all to me, someone like Clarissa. And she'd laugh and give it to me. And then invite me to stop by the set tomorrow afternoon and we could have lunch. I'd come by the set and have lunch with her in her trailer, only reachable by a ladder that goes into her bedroom window. After lunch, MJ would tell me that I could be in the movie with her because one of the actors who was supposed to play her main love interest broke his ankle. And then MJ and I would have lunch and grow closer to each other. And then I would get more movies and become famous and MJ and I would get married and have children...but that didn't happen."
Jason Chin is busy these days. He is directing a new incarnation of The Movie at iO, shooting a pilot for NBC's new online tv network, creating a new improv message board, and continues to improvise with iO house team MetaFive. The Bastion caught up with Jason via email over the last couple of days. Here are his thoughts about some of the projects with which he is involved.
KYLE IN A COMA:
"Whirled News Tonight is very proud to be working with NBC/Universal to create a web-based comedy series. We're writing, directing, and starring in a show we created!
"NBC/Universal did a nationwide search and asked several comedy (sketch & improv) groups to pitch wepisodic series ideas. Whirled News Tonight pitched several ideas and they liked Arnie Niekamp's black comedy of 'Kyle in a Coma.' The Whirled News Tonight cast is writing, starring and directing the series. John Glynn is going to be our first director, then I'll do some and then other cast members as well. We just shot our first 'pilot' and it should hit Dotcomedy.com around the end of the month! We're very excited about this project."
Arnie Niekamp, the apparent originator of the Kyle in a Coma concept, wrote about the surreal shooting experience on his blog A Year of Working .
According to NBC's press release, the premise of the show is that "Kyle is in a coma -- and many of his friends are dedicated to spending a lot of time in his hospital room until he comes out of it. Boredom sets in pretty quickly, and people fall prey to the same wacky stuff they normally do. The only problem now is that they're doing it next to the body of their comatose friend."
The focus of the programming on the new channel will be original, web-exclusive material developed specifically for DotComedy. NBC says that in addition to in-house content, there will be an opportunity for user-generated viral submissions. The site will also feature classic comedy shows such as "Coach" and clips from "Saturday Night Live."
THE MOVIE:
The improvised movie began as an elective class taught by Chin at iO, and is now enjoying a Tuesday night run of shows in The Cabaret.
"The Movie was a huge part of iO when I first started. The form has a tendency to become very self-indulgent and egocentric. The group I'm working with, 'Our Feature Presentation,' is devoted to using the form techniques to heighten OTHER people's moves and characters, and to further the story instead of just doing movie-based bits. We added a Booth Person who manipulates the lights and underscores with pop tunes (a la Wes Anderson, Tarentino, etc.). Also, there's free popcorn. Come see if we're successful on Tuesdays at 8pm at the iO theater."
THE NEW MESSAGE BOARD:
What was the impetus?
"I have had an online improv news and/or journal for almost 9 nine years. I was the initiating force behind
the creation of the CIN board; I gathered the original creators (Dave Gilley, Chris McAvoy, Jeff Griggs, Steve Gadlin) and together we started it. I left the administration of that board over some admin and creative differences. To paraphrase Roger Ebert (who, I believe was paraphrasing someone else) 'The best
response to a movie you don't like is to make your own.'"
FAVORITE THINGS and THINGS TO COME:
"I prefer performing with small casts with longer running times. I'm doing MetaFive right now, which typically is only 3 or 4 people for 40 minutes. I'm looking to do more projects with 4 or less people.
"I'd have to say I'm very proud of just about everything [I've done]. The work I did at iO as Director of the Training Center, overseeing the explosive growth in the early 2000s, adding the iO Annex, managing the sea change between teaching generations.
"Dinner for Six is an improvised romantic comedy that espouses slow, relationship-based scenework and will be returning soon. Whirled News Tonight has been improvising satire for three years straight! I was very proud of my recent scripted Halloween shows. I better stop here. Otherwise I'll just keep naming stuff. I'm very proud."
Have some talent? Want $250? Check this stuff out. Blewt Productions (the masterminds behind Don't Spit the Water and A Demon Who Never Appeared) invite you to strut your stuff in an eight week talent competition: "Impress These Apes will appear at The Playground Theater on Monday nights in early 2007. We're looking for people who can commit to completing a new talent assignment every single week. One week you may be asked to create a short film. Another week you may be asked to perform five minutes of stand-up. Another week you might find yourself performing a song from Grease...We're not looking for the most talented people in the universe. We're looking for people who aren't afraid to give 100% of themselves to some fairly intense creative challenges."
Snubfest 2007 is set to kick off January 11-14 at the Cornservatory, and the festivities will be broadcast on the new Comedy Network. It's the only comedy festival in the world dedicated to helping rejects from other festivals enjoy a moment in the spotlight. Tentatively scheduled to perform are TJ Miller, Pimprov's Marz Timms, Anthony Devito (VH1s Awesomely Badder Fashion) and Jim Mendrinos (author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Comedy Writing).
What else is up? Mackenzie Condon gave us a heads up about Thomas Middleditch and friends catching some spotlight on the Maury show this week (ohh! highbrow!) with their McNuggets rap, in an episode that highlighted viral videos. Middleditch, Fernando Sosa, and Matt Malinsky have videos up here. McNugget clip after the jump.
Also, the Bastion had fun at the Spitfire show at T's on Wednesday, chatting with a cool girl we'd seen do stand up, only to (eventually) realize she was Jena Friedman, (creative partner of Allison Bills), and then having a great conversation with special guest Laura Mannino, comic and producer of NYC's Mintyfresh Comedy, which showcases some of NYC's funniest at Mo Pitkins. Laura was a delight as she warmed up a chilly night in Andersonville with her sharp wit, and reports she's enjoying her time in Chicago. We told her we think it would be great if there was more flow between NYC and Chicago, and told her to send word back home that NYC comics can pop in here for a week at a time whenever they want, and we promise to show them a good time. Maybe we could do an "exchange comic" program. A couch trading enterprise. Okay, maybe not. But a comedy cultural exchange? We think it's a fabulous idea. More Mintyfresh info from Laura after the jump.
(More from Laura Minneno): "Mintyfresh is a comedy show that will be three years old this January. I co-produce the show with fellow comic, Shawn Hollenbach. Originally at The Duplex in the west Village, Mintyfresh has moved around to many venues. The show finally settled as a weekly show this year on Monday nights at Mo Pitkin's. Our weekly stand-up features a large range of comedic styles. We've participated in the last three NY Underground Comedy Festivals. The goal of our weekly stand-up show is to give the audience seven comics with eclectic styles, energy and material. Though the show is part of the 'underground/downtown/not a club' scene we don't discriminate between club comics and more 'alt' comics or comics who have been at this for ten years or one year. New York has wealth of talent and potential, that as producers and comics, we really want to use the show as an opportunity to meet and work with as many comics as possible. I'd have to sit down at our comic database but we've probably have had over hundred comics perform on our show in last three years. Along with our weekly standard stand-up show, we also produce monthly specialty shows that include 'Cocktail,' 'Coming Out' and our new show, 'Cabaret Star.'
'Cocktail' is our variety comedy show that is on the third Tuesday of the month at Otto's Shrunken Head. It features stand-up, sketch, improv, music, characters, monologists, even seocialty magic and juggling acts. 'Coming Out' is on the last wednesday of the month at Mo Pitkin's. The show features gays comics and perfomers (or even not traditional performers) telling their more amusing, less harrowing coming out stories. We've had great turnouts and were featured in the Time Out NY Pride Issue this past June. 'Cabaret Star' premiered this month. It's a short, four week reality TV/Americna Idol style competition in which actual legit singers perform up tempo and ballads and the audience votes for their favorite perfomers. Those semi-finalists perform in the finale show for the chance to win a free night to do their own show at Mo Pitkin's and have it recorded for free. In between the performers, we have musical comedians and feature comedians on the 'judging panel' who play original characters and celebrities. It's a way to bring the uptown musical theater, cabaret audience and the comedy audience together. New York is both unfortunately and fortuanately saturated with shows and perfomers that we've had to find a way to extend ourselves to a niche audience. Maybe our audience who comes to 'Coming Out' would never have an interest to go to our weekly stand-up show or vice versa. We're still growing and we have a stretches of amazing turnouts and sometimes we go through a dry spell. We're working on growing our repeat audience base. I think performers really enjoy our show and feel it's a safe, positive environment to try new material and work out the greatest hits."
We've known for some time that the Blerds family was expecting a new little addition, but last night around midnight it became official: Channel 101's Kyle Kinane is the newest member of the comedy site, which now puts the staff of Blerds on both coasts, with executive offices in Chicago. Blerds mouthpiece Mike Bridenstine conducted an interview with Kyle for his irregular series, Talkin' Comedy, and says, "Blerds is proud to announce that L.A. comedian Kyle Kinane has joined the site. Kyle began performing in Chicago, where he became one of the city's premier alternative comedians before moving to L.A. He recently appeared in the BBC's The World Stands Up and The Vancouver Comedy Festival. Kyle's credits are all international in scope because he quit performing in America after Genny Cream Ale was discontinued. We look forward to reading his unique material on Blerds."
Kyle also updated us here at the Bastion recently: "Thursday 11.9: I bombed in front of a packed house at the Hollywood Improv with jokes about werewolves and loneliness. The beautiful people in attendance apparently fear neither of those things.
"I am just about done shooting a film (cinema, if you will). Don't know how much i can say about it, but it involves a 'massacre', 'cheerleaders', and is the second installment of 'Cheerleader Massacre.' And Eric Acosta's in it too which makes it great.
"I'm totally getting new BMX tires and a safety orange nighttime jacket.
"After three and a half years, I've purchased a bedframe.
"My new apartment does not have ants...until i start eating in bed again."
Inside With: Andy Ross, Writer, Artist, and Comedian
Andy Ross is a Chicago writer, artist, and stand-up comedian. He performs at the Lincoln Lodge, Chicago Underground Comedy, Funny Ha-Ha, and other shows. You can see his comedy clips on YouTube, and enjoy his sharp and clever writing in shows like A Demon That Never Appeared. He's not afraid to declare his love for P.G. Wodehouse, but don't try to describe him as "whip-smart," because he'll see right through you.
Have you always been interested in comedy? Was there a "Rosebud" in your childhood that serves as a touchstone for your desire to create comedy? When did you first start thinking that comedy was a viable thing to pursue?
My dad told a lot of dirty jokes. Now he gets his material from horribly disposable email forwards, but back then they were time-tested and memorized. Old Swiss farmers would come into his law offices with some naughty newlyweds yarn that had been around since vaudeville. And, I ate them up. But, when did I start thinking comedy was a viable option? Is it a viable option?
What brought you to Chicago? Not enough comedy opportunities in the wilds of Wisconsin?
Actually, Madison is kind of an incubator for comedy. The Onion was founded there; Ben Karlin, executive producer of the Daily Show was part of that; the guys from MST3000 went to school at the UW; Chris Farley was from Madison. I'm not trying to list myself as their peer or anything, but there is an atmosphere there that you don't have to be from L.A. or Harvard to write comedy.
You worked your way through the Second City Writing Program. What do you value most about what you learned there?
My film professor, David Bordwell, once told me that SCTV did classic narrative structure better than anyone else. He was right, and the training center beats you over the head with it until it's second nature. I also learned to approach comedy writing as a craft. You need to grind away at it, not just toss deconstructive snark back and forth with your friends.
What's a typical weekly comedy schedule like for you?
Mondays I watch Studio 60. Tuesdays used to be Gilmore Girls, but now it's Friday Night Lights and How I met Your Mother. Wednesday is 30 Rock, America's Next Top Model, and Lost. Thursday is My Name is Earl and The Office. Sundays are Everybody Hates Chris. And I do some standup some days.
You're part of the Demon Who Never Appeared crew, which requires weekly writing of new scripts. What's your part in that, and what about Demon do you enjoy most?
I help brainstorm plots. Then, Kumail and I split up the show to write two acts each. We give notes on each other's stuff. We rewrite. Jared gives notes and sometimes does full rewrites. Josh and Hannah give notes during rehearsal. Some of the notes give notes. We all scramble for props. The props give notes. I enjoy working with those guys, because they really push it to be the best writing and rehearsal we can do, and for a midnight show, it's really damn professional.
Tell us about your part in the Wendy's Comedy Challenge. Did you get free Frosty coupons or a free trip to Vegas out of it?
It made me write a joke about Wendy's, which goes like this: [miming spooning] This Wendy's oatmeal tastes kinda funny. What? It's chili? Well, then it's delicious! [excessive mugging] I don't tell that joke a lot, because I use the word "delicious" in the punch line of a much better joke.
We've seen you charm a roomful of people with little more than a paper mustache and a silly accent at Funny Ha-Ha at the Hideout. Do events like Funny Ha-Ha give you an opportunity to do different kinds of things than you can at, say, the Lincoln Lodge, or Chicago Underground Comedy?
First, that's a lie; you were late to that show and didn't see me. Second, all three of the shows you mentioned are really open to trying more writerly comedy, but the audience expectations are different at a show like Funny Ha Ha. They have a lot of patience. The audience at the Lincoln Lodge might have enjoyed my monologue, but they didn't laugh. At the same time, they've been an amazing audience when I've shown my comics there, which are even more Wonky McNerdsville. Thinking about it now, I guess I didn't have the moustache at the Lodge, which is like 100% of the comedy.
You seem very well-rounded creatively. You drew comics and had a column in your college paper, the Daily Cardinal (at the University of Wisconsin-Madison). You've done a lot of zippy writing for publications
like Flak Magazine, and rumor has it you do some pretty cool mural design and painting during the daylight hours. Can you tell us about these things, and are there other artistic skills you're interested in developing?
Yeah, I drew a daily comic for three years, which got me in the habit of creating a lot of content every day--drawing and writing-wise. When I moved here, that split into my day job of painting murals for Trader Joe's and writing standup at night. It sounds like a cool job, and it is, but it also gets kind of back breaking and exhausting. I spent two months in a U-Store-It space painting banners to hang around the Minneapolis store. And now, I'm frantically finishing the murals for the new store near Michigan Avenue. It's hard switching gears. When I should be writing standup routines, I'm wondering if I mixed cadmium red medium or cadmium red light yesterday in case I need to match it tomorrow. Hardest life.
You're going to be married this month. Your bride-to-be is a lovely and bright young woman. Does she know what she's getting herself into?
Yup, she's seen the crying.
You aspire to sitcom writing. What kinds of sitcoms are your favorites, and what would be your dream project in terms of comedy writing?
I pretty much like the critically acclaimed stuff you would guess. You know the big three -- Arrested Development, The Office, Freaks and Geeks. That last one stretches the definition of sitcom, I guess, but I'd also count the Masterpiece Theatre Jeeves and Wooster series as a sitcom, which is another favorite. Man, if I could just sit in on a writing meeting for the American Office, I'd poop my pants. I just finished the first draft of a sitcom that'll go on the Jared Logan and Kumail. Mark Geary and Steve Delahoyde will be filming it this winter. That's pretty much my dream project in the short term, because all those guys will make sure it's a side splitter.
If your epitaph were five adjectives, what would you like for them to be?
That's a good closing question. Super final-sounding and ominous. It's like you're pointing a gun at me. Or maybe you're the sphinx. Stop yelling at me.
Are we sick of the alliteration yet, folks? Today we've got just a few things to mention, as the Bastion spent a late night over at the Mix Monday open mic last night, where we are VERY happy to report that Brian the Bartender is back on duty! The place just hasn't been the same without him. We also ran into a few folks who did the Note last night, and we heard less-than-favorable words about the audience there. C'mon Wicker Park, you can smile! We know you can!
Anyway. Chicago ex-pat Brooke Van Poppelen recently reported in to let us know how everything in the Big Apple is going: "This past Monday [Nov. 6] I was in The 2006 NY Comedy Festival at Carolines in the "Best of New Talent Night" ...where casting agents from CBS spotted me and are having me in tomorrow for an appointment!" We're in the process of finding out how that meeting went right this very minute. She ended her quick update by saying, "I have to go sling coffee and then plan a massive attack for my two-person show in Brooklyn with comedian cuckoo bird Mike Dobbins." We'll let NYC know when that drops!
A "prominent member" of the Chicago comedy community told us there is going to be a new show unveiled very soon, and says, "it's going to rock the community in sheer scale." Of course, no details yet, but considering the source, we're a little giddy with curiosity and excitement over here.
And don't forget: the D.C. Comedy Festival is taking submissions beginning tomorrow and ending January 5, for the festival April 12-14. Get burnin'! You'll be in good company; the Annoyance Theater's President Bush is a Great Man is already scheduled to perform.
We've been musing on the possibility of the creation of a Rififi-style club in Chicago for some time, but wonder what factors need to exist in order to reach this ideal. Is it venue, geographic area, the personalities that infiltrate it, a delicate combination of all of the above, some other unknown element added to the mix? We'd welcome your thoughts on the topic. In the meantime, we're wondering what Gorilla Tango Theatre will offer the Chicago comedy community; we're intrigued by the idea of Pressure Cafe evolving into an all-comedy venue; and we're really excited with the rest of this month's line-up for Monday nights at the Note, the eight hour long revue of pretty much everything imagined. We're going to check it out soon and report back, especially as it's had a few weeks to smooth out the rough spots. Have you ventured into promising unknown territory? Let us know about YOUR interesting nights out in comedy.
Tonight, the Note has host Hannibal, Brady Novak (the Lincoln Lodge, Heavyweight, Goldibear), CJ Sullivan (Visitors Locker Room, Blerds.com), Andy Ross (Chicago Underground Comedy, a Demon Who Never Appeared), Ricky Carmona (Chicago Underground Comedy, HBO Latino), Mike Bridenstine (Chicago Underground Comedy, Blerds.com), one-man band Willis P. Jenkins, and DJ Seoul, followed by an open mic at midnight and DJs spinning until 4 a.m. What a way to start the week.
Holly Laurent and Jet Eveleth are entering week two of their new sketch show I Live Next Door to Horses, directed by Pat O'Brien. These two young, independent women express their intellect and quirkiness through the diverse relationships and points of view of their sometimes strange, sometimes beautiful characters, existing in scenes revolving around a fictional 1980's TV sitcom. The result is a mixture of bubble-gum-pop-comedy and dark humor. Jet and Holly create an outrageous world where vulgarity and beauty blur.
The Bastion asked Holly Laurent about the writing, rehearsing, direction, and stage decor (horsey paint by number, it appeared). Miss Laurent kindly obliged:
"For the most part every scene was written by Jet or by me; in fact I think half the scenes are Jet's and half are mine, but after we bring in a script we are open to the ideas and inspiration the other player brings, and to Pat's input. All of them would be considered sit-down-written except the closing scene with the two old ladies on the porch. That was from a long road trip where jet and i were trying to make each other laugh.
"Pat is an amazing director, he created the over-arching theme for the show, designed the music, pain stakingly works and reworks the running order but for the most part he tries to give minimal input on the scene content because he wants it to reflect our vision. But actually as I say that I recall several scenes where he gave specific direction about how it should be rewritten with a new specific vision in mind.
"Our rehearsal process was bringing in scripts that we'd been inspired to write and then Pat would give us homework as well. He would give us assignments like 'Next week I want you to bring in a scene that makes you lose from breath from being very physical, a silent scene, a scene where each character speaks one word at a time'... stuff like that. It was amazing because it brought out things in my writing I never would have found on my own.
"The horse paintings were given to me by my sister who was cleaning out her in-laws basement last summer...I never knew what I was going to do with them or why they came my way until this show came along. In fact they were added the day of the performance almost as an after-thought."
This show is funny, sweet, eccentric, stylized and pretty. These are all super positive adjectives, so it is clearly higly recommended.
I Live Next Door to Horses, Fridays at 10:30 in the Del Close Theater. Opening acts include Team Submarine (Steve O'Brien and Nate Fernald) and Garage Sketch (Pat O'Brien and Peter Grosz).
What's up homies. It's a rather lax week here at the Bastion, so for today's entry we're going to throw up an amalgamation of tidbits we've had laying about the office. Enjoy! Only one more day until Friday, folks.
Don't forget that tonight Fizz is hosting the Star + Garter Burlesque + Comedy Revue, which is being billed as a Best Of series this month -- 9 p.m., 10 bones. Producer Jeremy Smith had a couple words about the teething show: "The show has been on fire with great audiences and fantastic performances. In fact, we've had calls from multiple venues trying to steal us away from Fizz, but there's something about the room that just works for the stand ups and the burlesque performers that would be difficult to re-create elsewhere." We are hoping to get all our chores done tonight so we can pop on down Lincoln Ave. to partake in luscious laughter.
David Angelo has released to the Bastion offices an advance copy of his newsletter "Jokeaholics Hilarious", with the caveat that there are some "known typos". Who cares, this sh!t is funny! Sign up for your very own paper copy delivered right to your doorstep (clever way of collecting personal data?), by sending full name and address to yo@davidangelo.info -- he will then ask you for $5 to offset costs of hilarity. It's totally worth it. Trust us.
Those crazy cats at Don't Spit the Water are having a two-year anniversary show this Saturday. They told us the show "will feature comics from our past, comics from our present, and comics from our future. We'll have more comics than you can shake a stick at. After the show, we'll be hosting a FREE party! The party will feature a live performance by The Hump Night Thumpers, the band that wrote our theme song." Listen to that very same song here!
We got word from Mr. Dave Odd that he's taking over every Friday of the month at Kitty Moon starting in December. The first Friday will still be the New Faces Showcase (featuring new comics in a full showcase setting), the last Friday will be a comedy contest complete with a cash prize, and the other two Fridays of the month will be theme nights. He also tells us there are plans to convert Pressure Cafe into Pressure Comedy Cafe, a place to see comedy almost every night of the week. We're excited to see the developments of that!
And finally, a couple videos that have been CRACKING us up. The first, from our friend Landon Kirksey out there in NYC:
Gunther Murphy's is Closing its Doors -- The End of An Era, the Beginning of a New One
After receiving an 'anonymous tip' this past Sunday, the Bastion confirmed with ChUC co-creator Tony Sam that Gunther Murphy's has indeed been sold and will be receiving a facelift under new management beginning in December.
Regulars of Tuesday nights at Chicago Underground Comedy understand that the loss of Gunther Murphy's as the showcase's home is a very sad one. The venue had the perfect proportions for an alternative stand-up showcase: an accommodating management and staff, and a jovial energy that permeated the front room, where audience and performers would gather to swap stories, share shop talk, and meet each other over $2 domestic bottles. Sometimes the stale pretzels on the tables would become launched weapons, and full-on pretzel wars would break out, but only sometimes (on the best nights). Love was made, hearts were broken... sufficed to say, the loss of Gunther Murphy's will have an impact on those that have called it home every Tuesday night for more than a year.
We have encouraging news coming from Tony, though. November 28 is the last scheduled night of ChUC at Gunther Murphy's, featuring scheduled performers Brendan McGowan, Hannah Gansen, Mike and Duane, Sam Fels, and CJ Sullivan. Tony told us, "We may have one farewell show there. Right now it is the last show. I am already in talks to move the show. This new incarnation will be better, in a better venue. I think this is a good thing."
We're excited to welcome ChUC to their new home next month, and to say goodbye in style to the good people of Gunther Murphy's at the end of this one.
The neighborhood nestled on the West side of Chicago known as Wicker Park is well known for its glut of music venues and hipster bars, but not so much for any kind of comedy scene. Since the demise of Thyme Cafe early this year, there has been a lack of any real rooms for the denizens or comedic artists of the 'hood (that the Bastion knows of, anyway). However, recently news has filtered in that a relatively new space has opened on Milwaukee Ave. and is actively looking for show producers and improv teams to determine a regular weekly schedule of shows. Chicago newcomer Cameron Esposito told us a little about Gorilla Tango Theatre, and her new show opening tonight: "I am putting up local stand-ups (like Hannibal, Mike Cody, Spike McGuire, Dave Odd, Jeb Cadwell), and providing the Chicago scene with a cupcake/comedy connection as I will be giving out sweet homemade cupcakes at the shows, and hosting the show. Gorilla Tango is the sister theater to Gorilla Tango Albuquerque and just opening its doors this week."
We got word a little too late that our friends at Overstock have brought their comedy revue out of hiatus since their run ended at the Playground Theater, as the featured show of Gorilla Tango's opening night this past Sunday. Now that we know they're going to stay put in the Sunday night time slot, we'll be sure to figure out a way to catch them soon.
With Gorillla Tango's help, our peers to the west may be able to see inexpensive, high quality comedy mere footsteps from their flats, if they're willing to give laughter a chance. In addition to Gorilla Tango, the Note, regularly a music venue, has been hosting a Monday night showcase/karaoke/open mic extravaganza called "Public Hair" for the last few weeks that we've heard has been... interesting. Combine these regular rooms with bigger venues such as Empty Bottle and Subterranean that have been dabbling in comedic entertainment (film screenings, national, and local acts), and the WP may find itself a viable option for comedy in a land full of rock (and roll, that is).
Love can lead to anxiety, an underaged son and daughter pageantry, and a one-night stand with the mentally challenged. Oh, and love entails a lot of talk about doodie as well according to Susan Messing and Joe Canale from their hilarious collaboration on this past Thursday for Messing With A Friend at the Annoyance Theater.
Each week Susan Messing pairs up with a new guest for an hour of improv comedy. This show featured Joe Canale, a brilliant performer as well as Messing's ex-husband. In my brief experiences, two person improv can be quite disastrous but the comic genius, experience, and chemistry of Messing and Canale kept standing room only audience in constant laughter.
Love was the suggestion to start the evening and due to the history of the performers, it drew immediate laughs from the audience. Messing played a new and very reluctant engaged woman to Canale's Bloody Mary drinking and frustrated groom-to-be. The second sketch turned a little crude on paper as Messing portrayed a mentally challenged one night stand that simply wouldn't go away. The interplay was fantastic with both performers creating some great one-liners. A visibly embarassed Canale was then forced into the role of a pre teen boy in a beauty pageant with Messing as the stage mom who directed from the front row.
The sketches started and ended with purpose. Fishing for rhythm and substance was unnecessary as both performers seemed to always be on the same page. Only one sketch seemed to last longer than needed which featured Messing as a bratty granddaughter with a dirty mouth to Canale's frustrated and ass-smacking grandfather. At only $5 for admission, this is one of the best value tickets in town. The sixty minutes zipped by and the audience could have sat there for another hour.
Messing With A Friend starts at 10:30 PM every Thursday with a new guest. For more info on Messing With A Friend, visit the Annoyance Theater online.
The Bastion can't believe it's already been a year since those kids over at the Birds Nest Monday night showcase started throwing shows in the back room of a Lincoln Park sports pub. It's true though, and tonight you can see and party with some of Chicago's best under-underground stand-up comics, to include Dean Carlson, Chuck Roth, Bradley Fojas, Sean Rumrill, Jeff Hansen, Victor Marinier, Nick Morgan, Daryl Amandes, Brendan McGowan, and Mike Stanley. To start around 9 p.m., probably; if not, well, indulge in a few cheap beers with the comics before the show starts.
We're waiting to hear how the first show of Baby Wants Candy's new run at the Apollo Theater went last night. Circumstances prevented us from being there, but we're sure we missed an incredible night with what has been regularly described as one of the best improv bets in town.
Did the Bastion receive an anonymous tip about a venue that now houses one of Chicago's best stand-up showcases? We're doing a follow-up to get what may or may not be a scoop on that. Or, did the Bears game yesterday just get people excited to make random phone calls about fake gossip? We'll find out soon!
Photos, from top: Sean Rumrill, Daryl Amandes, and Jeff Hansen
Baby Wants Candy cast
Inside With: Jared Logan and Kumail Nanjiani, Co-Founders of A Demon Who Never Appeared
To finish our special weeklong highlight of the Bastion's Pick of the Week, A Demon Who Never Appeared! (Saturday, Nov. 4, midnight at the Playground Theater), we sat down with Jared Logan and Kumail Nanjiani, co-founders of the monthly midnight comedy revue, to try and figure out from where the madness stems. Take a look inside... if you dare!
First off the bat: can you please introduce yourself to the readers: where you hail from, when you landed in Chicago, what you've done artistically since you've gotten here, your favorite movie/band/comic book, and your measurements.
Jared: I'm Jared Logan. I'm from Morgantown, WV. I lived in Knoxville, TN for a while. I went to college at the University of Memphis and I moved to Chicago in 2003. Since I've gotten here I've been doing stand-up comedy nonstop, but I also found time to stage manage one play (called Mexican Wrestling Macbeth) and do the lighting design for two other small productions. I'm also a student at i.O. on and off. My favorite movie is Quiz Show. My favorite band is The Flaming Lips. My favorite comic book right now is called Checkmate. It's about super-powered spies that work for the United Nations. I weigh somewhere around 260 lbs, but I like to think I look like I only weigh 230-240.
Kumail: Kumail Nanjiani. From Karachi, Pakistan. Holla. Moved to Iowa in 1997, to Chicago in 2001. Started doing stand-up in 2002, and have been performing ever since. I have probably performed stand-up close to a thousand times now and it gets a little more fun each time. Haven't really performed on stage in any other capacity really. Took a writing class at Second City. I like Before Sunset, Midnight's Children, and Bruce Springsteen. So, how did the Demon come about? Describe the process of crafting the idea and how it was molded into the creature it is now. In your words, what IS that creature?
Jared: Demon came about when I was in Don't Spit the Water (Saturdays at 10:30pm Playground Theater). That's the great show run by Steve Gadlin and it's put on by Blewt! Productions, his production company that Demon is also a part of. Tyler Lansdown, a hilarious improvisor, plays Big Dummy, the announcer, in that show. He's in the booth and makes occasional wisecracks over the god mic. I saw how funny he was, but due to the constraints of that show, he can't just talk and talk. I thought, wouldn't be funny if there was someone up there on that microphone who is trying to ruin the show? Insulting the guests, interrupting, being a bastard. But of course, it wouldn't be funny if it was a person you could see, so Kumail and I came up with The Demon.
The Demon is a creature from the netherworld with no body or tangible form. All he can do is talk and pull off bits of really unimpressive magic (like making the lights go on and off.) Occasionally, he possesses people or grants wishes, but only if it might ruin the show and we have enough in the budget that month for special effects. He's a complete and total piece of shit. I guess he's supposed to represent everything that can go wrong in a show.
Kumail: Basically we thought it would be a funny idea to take this creature from Hell, with awesome powers and rage and all of that, basicallly an evil being used to getting his way, and strip away all of his powers, and then have him sit in on a show at midnight on Belmont and Halsted. So it ends up being this creature who believes he can send forth rivers of lava, but here he is unable to even ruin a tiny local show, mostly because he is incorporeal now. And he is, as Jared, a total piece of shit. He is petty and mean and jealous and... basically everything bad.
You've been doing this... eight months now, right? How do you think the show is now in comparison to when it first began?
Jared: The show is much tighter now than when we started. We do a new script every month, which is great practice for writers, having to get it prepared and everything. Now, we've got the process down so we always have a rough script two weeks before the show. That way everybody in the show can give notes and have time to learn their lines. We're much more rehearsed now than we were, but we don't want to lose that 'doing it for the first time' anything-can-happen excitement of those early shows, so we always write in bits that are meant to be improvised.
Kumail: Plus, our characters have really developed into having actual personalities and relationships. In the beginning, we had no idea how these guys were going to turn out. We basically had, you know, "This is the announcer character. He is dumb. This is the band leader. She is also dumb." But over time, these characters have evolved into very idiosyncratic and specific people. And they have relationships with each other that stay very consistent. For instance, in the beginning the Demon was just this presence trying to ruin the show. But the rest of the cast has spent so much time with him now that we all kind of know each other. And I think that's why we see a lot of repeat audience members; it's rewarding to see these relationships and characters develop over time.
Remind me: what were some of the highlights in the early months? How about recently?
Jared: My favorite show is the one where Colonel Wigsplitter, our announcer character played by Josh Cheney, fell in love with Maestro Hannah, our bandleader, at the Demon's prompting. It was when Andy Ross first started helping us write and it's the first time all the elements of the show came together. Andy wrote great scenes and Josh and Hannah had all these funny little moments.
My favorite joke was when the Demon was acting like a producer and trying to get the show's ratings up. Colonel Wigsplitter had a chart showing that the current audience share for A Demon Who Never Appeared was .0000000000002% of Chicagoans. There was a beat and then Wigsplitter points at the number two and says "Whoops. That's supposed to be a one." Big laugh.
You get that type of old timey humor in the show with one-liners and slapstick, it's just given to you in a satanic package covered in slime and weirdness.
Kumail: Yeah, having Andy write the show with us really helped us define these characters, because he pays a lot of attention to that kind of stuff. And I thought his portrayal as the Homunculus was one of my favorite moments. Our regular announcer could not make it, so the Demon hired this Homunculus, sewn from the flesh of a hundred murderers, to fill in as the announcer. The idea was obviously that the Homunculus was going to kill us all. But it turned out that he had been sitting alone in his lab for so many years that he had realized the importance of human contact, of company, so he spent the whole show trying to befriend and impress us instead. Plus all he had in his lab was this old black and white television, so he would make all these Night Court and MASH references.
What's the strangest thing that's ever happened at a Demon show?
Jared: The second show had Lannie and Emmie, a hilarious improv duo (Alanna Johnston and Emily Candini). They're real hot and sexy, which is why I booked them, but they make any show they're in very strange. They were pouring beer on audience members and generally destroying the stage as much as possible. We're having them back. Then, when we were cleaning up, this...guy came in the back door and tried to make off with a bunch of stuff from the dressing room. He actually got away with Emily's purse. It had her apartment keys and everything. You'd think she would have been more upset about it but she and Lannie just kept cracking jokes because they're not right in the head. Kumail almost got his bag stolen but he fought the guy when he saw the guy making a break for it out the door. That was dangerous. He was much bigger than you, Kumail.
Kumail: I know. Plus from the looks of it he had very little to lose. But i was in full enforcer mode. That whole night was insane. It was the drunkest crowd we've every had, so they were "participating" in the show, then either Lannie or Emmie kept calling one of the drunk guys a rapist, then the whole bag snatching incident.
What does the future hold for Demon? Any special surprises we should look forward to?
Jared: I want to do shows that are even more way out there. As we get our process down even more, it'll open avenues to experiment even more. I want to do a show where the theme is communism, and the Demon becomes like Joseph McCarthy. I want to do a show that guest stars actually terrifying demons, like from Hellraiser, which would be wildly out-of-tone with the rest of the show. I think that would be funny. And I want every stand-up comedian you see in the Chicago scene to do our show and try something strange that they've always wanted to try but didn't have the venue for. I'm not asking people to go up there and 'be weird' but I know every comic has at least one really weird idea that they've never tried.
Kumail: The good thing about the premise of the show is that it affords us opportunities to do pretty much whatever. So that's what we wanna do. Pretty much whatever.
What else have Jared and Kumail collaborated on? Are you work-soulmates?
Jared: Kumail and I wrote a movie script together. It was our first script, so as you can imagine, it's Oscarworthy.
Kumail: Yeah there has been Oscar buzz all over this thing. "But we haven't even made it yet" we told the Oscar committee. They would have none of it.
Jared: We're working with Andy Ross on a script for another project, unrelated to Demon, right now.
Kumail: Yeah it's a half hour sitcom pilot. There are a couple of other folks involved with that one too.
Jared: We want to do other stage projects, and take our stand-up on the road. We've got lots of plans.
Kumail: We're trying to set up a stand-up "show" together, tour together. Plus we've kicked around ideas for other stage shows in the future.
Jared: People do joke that we're 'work-soulmates' or what have you. We just have very similar tastes. That means that we can write a script together without much arguing and then hang out and watch a movie afterwards without arguing about which one we're watching. We're just both big horror nerds.
Kumail: I would say the three worst movies I have ever seen were with Jared. Wait, no, I watched Bio Dome on my own.
Catch the Demon tomorrow night, with special guests Naomi Ashley, Joel Chmara, and Nick Vatterott.
Photos from the top: Dr. Kumail, possessed by the Demon, October 2006, taken by Krystle Gemnich.
"Maestro" Hannah Gansen, March 2006 (first Demon show).
Josh Cheney as Colonel Wigsplitter, October 2006, taken by Krystle Gemnich.
Today the Bastion introduces a new feature, in the center of our Special Features column, "The Bastion's Video Pic." Our first pick features (yes) TJ Miller, and a new favorite performer, the very busy and incalculably gifted Allison Bills, who keeps her talent sharp in performances all over the comedy landscape here in Chicago.
Friends have tipped us off to her amazing performances with partner Katie Nahnsen (who also works on Sports Action Team) in Getting Serious (currently in hiatus). The two are are eager to find another chance to stage that show (or a new incarnation thereof), which has been described as brilliant, and has earned some second glances from big festival producers. A "Part Two" version of Getting Serious may find a home onstage sometime this spring.
In the meantime, Narna is running upstairs at i.O. Thursday nights at 10:00 with Hans Holsen and Jena Friedman, plus one guest improviser each each week. It's in the early stages of development but is said to be a great laugh.
We're hoping to sit Miss Bills down for a proper interview sometime soon, but in the meantime, she shares this with us:
"Saturday nights at 8:00, I do the i.O. musical, which is also a new project for me. I did my first show this week and it was really fun. I am newer to improvising songs, but it is a fun muscle to be working. Super Fun Time just ended this past Sunday night, which I was doing every week for months, and I've just decided to teach a writing class Monday nights. Next week, I'm appearing in the Reckoning's staging of "What About Bob?" at 10:30 on Tuesday night. I also have a road-show gig I'm doing soon for i.O. and travelling with High Five to St. Louis to perform and do workshops for the university. I'm writing a couple of screenplays and a musical with Jena Friedman, and wanting very much to fill every minute with working and creating. I also coach an i.O. team, teach at i.O. and Second City, and do bizco for Second City."
Seth Meyers at Disposable Nation Opening at E.T.C. Theater Last Night
A Bastion spy was on hand at The Second City last night at the opening of the E.T.C. Theater's new show, Disposible Nation, and caught a glimpse of Saturday Night Live Head Writer, Weekend Update Co-Anchor and super mega dream pie Seth Meyers.
Meyers was also at the after-party, and, according to our source, "he was very kind to all of the comedy commoners, fulfilling the reputation that he has in NY of being the Nicest Hot Smart Funny Guy Ever."
Inside With: Tony Sam, Comedian, Producer, Scientist
Tony Sam is a Research Associate in the Developmental Biology Department at Children's Memorial Hospital and has been published in the esteemed scientific journal Nature. He's also a busy Chicago comedian and co-founder of what many consider <
Chicago Metroblogger Fuzzy Gerdes has written a nice little piece about the evolution, influence, and omnipresent ripple effect of Chicago's gift to comedy - improv. ("World, we give you our improv. You're welcome.")
