Special Bastion correspondent Robert Buscemi hit the Lakeshore Theater over the weekend to catch the stand-up magic of Arj Barker. He's a little tough on himself as a reviewer, but the show was great.

Maybe I'm not the guy to review Arj Barker, since everything he says almost knocks me off my chair. And the guy who sat right behind me at the show was right there with me, practically crying laughing without stop. The two of us would be laughing two minutes later at some sub-joke Arj had made in the most passing of fashions. (About, for example, an analog watch hiding away in the "egg-shaped vibrator" it was originally sold in.) In my opinion, Barker is just a freaking phenom.

But watching him perform is almost like a social experiment. I've seen him, oh, five times now maybe. And he's just an absolute demon of subtlety and understatement. It's like watching Lou Reed play the flute or something. It's a whole other genre, and you have to listen underneath his preternaturally placid surface for the insanely wicked material below. He's so detached he could be walking on hot coals up there.

He's the king of the stare-down. He plays chicken or high-stakes poker with a crowd. He never tips his hand, so it's like he's playing a Zen trick somehow. It's hard to describe, but the guy DEMANDS that you meet him on his terms. So I think people who don't get into him might feel like they're not being catered to in the way they're used to by an entertainer.

But I felt catered to plenty. His material is blazing. Some of the best I've ever heard.

One time a couple years ago I heard him at the Comedy Cellar in Manhattan get an insufficient laugh on a joke, so he said "Hey, you don't have to laugh at every joke. We're not human LAUGHINGS, we're human BEINGS." Just killed me.

And apparently he's like one of the biggest stars in Australia. I'm not even kidding. Who knew? Them Aussies know a thing or two, I guess. Maybe we should put them in charge of something.

Otherwise, our man Kumail opened, riffing away delightfully about the brand-new billion-dollar lighting at the Lakeshore Theater and killing them with fantastic bits as per usual. And middle-act Tony Camin was very, very funny and likable as well, a real goofy and enjoyable performer who stuck around to riff at the midnight show as well, where for my money was even funnier. His arms are rangy and his mind is sound.

Oh, and The Lakeshore Theater (can we just call it the LST?) just got voted "best place to see live comedy in Chicago" by Chicago magazine, so huge congrats to them for being so aggressive at booking marquis alt-comedy shows. God knows LST has shaken things up in these waters.

Anyhow, all hail Arj Barker. I'm not even kidding.

I think I'm the worst comedy reviewer ever.

Buscemi hopes to sell out a second smash week in a row at the Annoyance Theater for his "Buscemi and Friends DVD-Release Party" this Sunday, July 29, at 8 PM. Email rbuscemi@gmail.com to request your half-price discount. His DVD, "Robert Buscemi, (t)wit, a concert film by Jordan Vogt-Roberts" can be bought at the bar.