The Chicago comedy world has had a blessed few days recently, with visiting personalities reveling in our fair town and its offerings. As you know, the Improv Festival took place last week, which saw the likes of Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers out and about, performing and partying. This past weekend, the Improv hosted Dave Attell for five sold out shows. While we do profess to being kind of in strong, strong like with Mr. Attell, we were not able to get out to any of the shows. Lucky for us, local powerhouse Mike Holmes opened it up for Dave all weekend, and has very nice things to say about the experience:

"It was a great weekend! Probably the best experience I've had in comedy so far. All 5 shows were sold out. And the crowds were incredible. 450+ people who were all really excited to see Dave perform.

"Dave was great. The chance to watch him all weekend was priceless to me as a younger comic who still has a lot to learn. Each set was different from the next. While he told a lot of the same jokes, he rarely told them the same way. He experimented with different tags in almost in every set. It was great to watch. He's the kind of comic who makes you want to go home and start writing.

"Off stage he was a really nice guy. I certainly had a few, 'I'm sitting in the green room with Dave Attell moments' but by the end of the weekend I felt pretty comfortable. After the last show every night, he would invite the entire crowd to hang out at the front bar at The Improv with him. A lot of people would and Dave would take the time to meet all of them and take pictures and whatnot. That was great to see. You begin to understand why his fans love his fans love him so much.

It was an awesome experience. I love stand-up comedy!"

Mike Holmes, Dave Attell, and Mike Bridenstine chillaxing.

Last night we persevered through another night of comedy, to see Paul F. Tompkins at the PUTS Hideout show. Local heavy hitters Robert Buscemi, Prescott Tolk, and TJ Miller featured to a packed house. After the show, several people stuck around to chat with Mr. Tompkins and have a few drinks. He is a hilarious, amiable guy, and we were happy to host him in Chicago for his first time ever here! Come on back anytime, Paul!

Prescott Tolk, TJ Miller, Robert Buscemi, and Paul F. Tompkins play well together.

- Kristy Mangel