Tuesday Tidbits
Lincoln Lodge producer Mark Geary is experiencing some legal and immigration problems and may be moving back to England at the end of the month. Apparently there was some urgent paperwork he neglected to file and his status in America is in danger. Geary is worried but determined to make the best of it, insisting that whatever country he ends up in, he will never stop producing comedy or moderating the Chichahahago discussion board.
TJ Miller is in talks to secure a rotating guest hosting position on The View, an opportunity he describes as "unexpected but not unwelcome." He is especially looking forward to bantering with the quick wits of fellow stand up veterans Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg.
The CTA Tattler is reporting that groups of Chicago improvisers from iO have been staging "public happenings" on city trains and buses over the last few weeks, as part of their final exams after taking improv classes. Their "happenings" included loud and dramatic breakups, aggressive panhandling, and impromptu strip shows. Imagine their surprise, then, when the public took them seriously and the Chicago Police Department were called in. Several performers were detained at the Addison CTA stop, and the chaos was only calmed when Charna Halpern stepped in to explain the situation.
The experience surrounding the Second City mainstage show is being revamped in an attempt to draw consistently larger hip young audiences, whose spending habits the Chicago comedy mainstay would like to tap into. The show's food menu now includes vegan and macrobiotic options, and each admission also includes two free Jäger shots delivered from the bellybutton of the attractive server of their choice.
A third large-scale Chicago comedy festival has been announced this week, this one sponsored by Toyota and Kodak. The Chicago International Chucklefest will be held at the Chicago Cultural Center January 12-27, 2009, and will feature national as well as local talent, with a special emphasis on prop comedy and mime work. The festival will be headlined by Jack Black and Owen Wilson, who will also be conducting a talent search which will be documented by a film crew, and immortalized in an upcoming Paramount Pictures movie, tentatively titled "Gem of the Prairie."
