The Dollar Store is throwing an extra awesome show at the Hideout at 7 PM on March 2, if you feel like enjoying a little taste of "photographer/provocateur Nathan Keay, comedian Chris McAvoy and short-story great Pete Coco."

Through a new program with The Second City, Columbia College students will get credit for playing around in classes like "Context for Comedy," "History and Analysis of Comedy" and "Creating Scenes through Improvisation." No word on a prereq course involving banana peels and seltzer bottles.

Speaking of The Second City, alum Alan Arkin snagged an Oscar for his role in "Little Miss Sunshine" Sunday night. This is extra cool because, as Jack Black, Will Farrell, and John C. Reilly explained through song (in the clip below), comic actors don't often get the respect that their more dramatic thespian brothers do when it comes to "serious awards" time:

Chicago sketch mainstays Schadenfreude took a little break from their monthly rent parties but are coming back with a vengeance this Saturday night at 8 PM at an extra fancy location: the Wilmette Theater. The show will be recorded for Chicago Public Radio, hot on the heels of (fake) Alderman Ed Bus' appearances on 848. Justin Kaufmann also tells us that tonight "We are going to be on Chicago Public Radio’s election coverage. Tonight when they do the election results show, they are going to check in with the campaign headquarters for Alderman Ed Bus. We aren’t going to tell the audience it’s not real. So it’s election night stunt city baby! I’m going to pipe in some sfx and music and make it seem like a big party."

Here's a clip of Aspen Comedy Festival-bound Chicago sketch comedy duo KevInda playing at last April's Rent Party:

And, at another Rent Party, Pete Grosz talks about the inherent weirdness of doing stand-up comedy with Saved By The Bell's Screech: