It's time for another installment of Claire Zulkey's brainchild Funny Ha Ha at The Hideout. This one's next Wednesday, July 30th, and it's Ladies Night, featuring readings and performances from "Amy Shearn, author of "How Far is the Ocean from Here", Wendy McClure, author of "I'm Not the New Me", renowned blogger Mimi Smartypants, Megan Stielstra, 2nd Story reading series curator, Cameron Esposito, local beloved comedienne, Chicagoist and Time Out Chicago's Margaret Lyons, and filmmaker Steve Delahoyde (who will only show films featuring ladies)."
Speaking of Cameron Esposito, she has been tapped by Seth Thomas to take over producing duties at Fourth Fridays at Town Hall Pub (3340 N. Halsted) starting with tonight's 9:30 show, which features Adam Burke, Andrew Dewitt, Brendan McGowan, Beth Stelling, and Seth Thomas. Free to get in, $7 pitchers, lots of laid-back comedy camaraderie. If anyone goes and takes photos, send us links!
Dan Telfer on AST, encapsulating the stand-up advice he is frequently asked for:
"Since I took over producing Chicago Underground Comedy, I get emails every day from people who want advice on doing stand-up in town. So I thought I would post a thread here specifically dedicated to it...First of all, as many ASTers will tell you, some of the best general stand-up advice out there is on Paul F. Tompkins' MySpace page. Read it now!...Go up before you're ready. Fail. Learn. If you "wait until you are ready" you will never go up, and you will die and that will be it...Go to open mics. Get on stage. Sit through rough sets and stand through rough crowds. Lose your nerve. Nothing is an indicator you shouldn't do it. You'll be great. Not great? Get back onstage. Do something that challenges you. Do something that makes you focus on your material. Do something the audience wants to see. But don't sit offstage pondering what goes wrong. Get back onstage and do something else...But back to Paul F. Tompkins' advice on his MySpace... Advice is stupid. Who the fuck am I? You can't do things that I did. I did them already. You going out there and finding yourself and your own brand of confidence is more valuable than anything another comedian can "give" you. So just go out. All the time. And find out what it is you want to be doing by just doing something and keeping the good parts."
Local comedians Carrie Callahan, Victor Marinier, Dave Odd, (and yours truly, Bastion editor and Chicago Underground Comedy producer) are quoted, and some hot topics are touched on.
"It’s no secret that sexist and misogynistic jokes run rampant in the Chicago stand-up scene: Blow jobs and bitchy girlfriends seem to be topics of choice among male comics...Yet eradicating such quips requires navigating the blurry line between artistic freedom and social sensitivity—which might be an impossible thing to pull off."
"...the recent influx of up-and-coming, male-run stand-up nights—Comedy House and CYSK among them—has swung the spotlight onto the boys’-club vibe, and most comedians admit that the open-mike circuit is a breeding ground for the worst offenders: rape jokes, the casual use of derogatory terms and antifeminist rants."
"Among the small but vocal group of women comics speaking out against sexist jokes, Carrie Callahan was shocked when a performer she introduced while hosting a show said he 'would fuck' her."
So far, no comments have been published on the TOC post itself, though several people have entered some thoughts (perhaps comments are being reviewed before publication), and so far the Chicahahago board is mum on the article, meanwhile lots of private emails and IM's are flying, so we thought we'd open up a conversation here.
Dropping the editorial "we" for a second, I have some thoughts. I'm sure you do, too. The original context of the story, as presented to those of us who were interviewed for is, was a more general "women in stand-up, why are there so few, and how could that be changed?" and the focus of the final story is very different.
What do you think? An unfair generalization about the scene? A lack of opinions and quotes from other female comics on the scene? Too obvious a topic for a story? Let's talk.
Commercial Acting Opportunities for Chicago Comedians? Yes.
A chat with Matthew Miller, casting director with TP&R Casting.
What does TPR Casting do, what kinds of clients does it serve, and what does your job involve?
TP&R is one of the biggest casting houses in Chicago; we cast everything from print ads to major feature films. A casting director’s job is essentially three-fold: 1) After talking with the director of the film or commercial project we’re working on about the roles and how he or she might be thinking about those roles, we decide--based on our knowledge of the Chicago talent pool--which actors we want to have in to audition. 2) In the first round of auditions, the casting director directs the actors in the absence of the director. 3) After the director and the producers/ad agency have met the actors at callbacks and have made their choices, the casting director hires the actors and negotiates the terms of the contract with the actor’s agent if necessary.
What sort of commercial acting opportunities exist in Chicago for local comedy talent?
Quite a lot, actually. One of the primary reasons ad agencies cast in Chicago is that they want character actors who have improv training.
Would someone who is a stand up comic or improviser but never acted, per se, be a viable candidate for some of this work?
Sure. However, a well trained actor will always have an edge. If you have never taken an on-camera class or a basic scene study course, they are highly recommended form where I sit.
Do people need agents, headshots, reels, and so on, to be considered for opportunities here?
No, not as much as in LA or NYC. Certainly being represented with a talent agency will help a lot as will good headshots, but increasingly there are many opportunities posted on Craigslist or Chicago Improv boards that are very good gigs that don’t require an agent or a fancy reel.
How can people keep aware of these opportunities, and what do they need to do to prepare themselves?
Keep an eye on those public callboards. Subscribe to PerformInk. Go to as many general auditions for the bigger theatre companies as you can. Gets your name out there.
Are their any classes or training you would recommend for people interested in getting on-camera work? I hear you teach classes yourself.
I generally teach at The Acting Studio Chicago; they have a nice range of courses. But there are many good schools in town like Act One and The Green Room.
Brooke Van Poppelen and Joselyn Hughes in Macho. Photo by Andrea Wallace.
Pix from "Gerta" at the Skybox at Second City, July 18, 2008, featuring Elizabeth Bell, Sherra Lasley, Megan Yeomans, Adam Schwartz, John Sviokla and Christopher Jablonski. Photos by Elizabeth McQuern:
Chicago Underground Comedy, July 15, 2008, pix by Bryan Bowden.
James Fritz:
Chad Briggs:
Brendan McGowan:
The audience:
Kate James warns against the perils of the Cock Noogie:
Comedians! You are on notice. You need at least one hi-res photo of yourself performing. We were talking with someone at TimeOut Chicago who wanted to run hi-res photos of a local comic or two performing to accompany the story and the comics came up short. Result? No publicity. So get to it! Snap snap.
Are there a lot of comics doing comics these days, or is it just us? Mike Wiley has published a comic book (see pic at right), "Doofus 2 Death," and has been to a few Comic-Cons recently. You can read an interview with him about his stand-up comedy and his videogame interests on The Wiicast here.
Asmus told the Bastion: "A friend of mine is an editor for Marvel (Nick Lowe). He came to see the Hey You Millionaires show at NYC Sketchfest, and said he would be really interested in having me write something for them. He stressed that they would be very open to me writing something comedic, and he was currently looking for 8 page stories about peripheral X-Men characters. I went home the next day and popped an idea out. I had read a remarkably funny book Warren Ellis did for Marvel in 2005, called Nextwave. So I grabbed the character of Tabby Smith (aka Boom-Boom) whom I thought Ellis had recrafted in a voice I really wanted to write for. I wrote the script in a night, sent it in, and they bought it! Disturbingly simple. It's the first thing I ever scripted for comics, but they really liked it. It will appear in a mini-series called X-Men: Manifest Destiny. Last I heard, it'll be issue #2 or 3. No word yet on who the artist is going to be - but probably a no-name like myself. And I can't wait!"
Check out this new Breeders video by directors Steve Delahoyde and Bryan Bedell, D.P. Ryan Taylor, and featuring Paul Thomas, Justin Kaufmann, Denae Friedheim, and Joe Janes, currently featured on the front page of MySpace video:
The latest production from smash sketch group ¡Salsation! has been extended twice over, and is running every Thursday this month (including tonight!) at the Gorilla Tango Theatre. We got a chance to chat with Ricky Carmona, one of the original co-founders of the group, to find out a little more about the current show, The Devil Wears Chanklas, and about life as a Latino comedian. The Devil Wears Chanklas has been now twice extended, and will continue through the month of July. Can you briefly describe what the show is like for those that still haven't been to see it?
If you haven't come out to see the show you gotta get on that, people! It's a solid, funny, smart show. The cast is tight and you get to see some awesome performers onstage. Most importantly, the show is funny and it's something we're all proud of as a whole. There are sketches that speak specifically to and about Latinos and there are sketches where it crosses over to everyone. There are sketches about gentrification and there are sketches about vampires, Superman, boxing. It's everythang. That was one of our goals as a group from the get go. Definitely from my perspective coming into the show and the group, my thinking was, "we're called Salsation. We're all Latino. Just look at us. If you don't get the Latino angle on our appearances alone then I don't know what to tell you." I didn't want to have sketches where everyone hits you over the head that "this is Latino comedy". I want everyone in the audience laughing just as hard at every sketch, whether it's a sketch about Humboldt Park, or your grandparents, or going out on a date.
From your perspective as a Latino comedian in Chicago, do you find that the art is segregated or is that a false claim?
Definitely the art is segregated. How many times do you see Southside comics performing on the Northside and vice versa? If it's not an audition that's bringing everybody together on a weekday morning at Zanies or a Montreal audition at the Lincoln Lodge on a Friday night then people are going to stick to their sides of town. There's a lot of factors that come into play that may explain it all and rationalize it but it boils down to the fact that the different sides of town don't cross over as much as they should and the end result is we don't get to see as many funny comedians as we should. It's a booking issue too. The people who book rooms need to travel out of their safe zone and see what's happening in different rooms in the city. I get disappointed in a room on the Northside when they book the same 3-4 acts from the Southside once a year, not because I don't like to see those comedians, but because I know that if there is this amazing group of talent that's coming from that side of town then there has to be more. And there are. There are so many funny comics who don't perform on "our side" of town that it boggles my mind.
Have you ever had an unpleasant experience within the art because of your ethnicity?
I've had some bad moments. Off the top of my head I can remember a booker once told me "Don't do any ghetto shit." That was before he even saw me onstage! He hadn't even seen my act yet but he was already thinking I was gonna go up there and be ignorant. I doubt he was telling all the comics who came through the club that warning. It'd be hilarious to see him telling every comic that though. "Hey Kumail, no ghetto shit buddy. Not tonight." I do have to thank that booker though because I ended up telling that story onstage and it got me great laughs for a nice little run.
I don't know if this is an unpleasant experience but it's always interesting to me when a comic will be onstage and they might say something racial and people in the crowd will look at me like "what's his reaction?" Who gives a shit what my reaction is? If you don't like it or don't find it funny, react to it on your own.
From the ¡Salsation! Theatre Company's 2003 revue "Veracruz!" Performed by Sonia Astacio, Diana Campos, Josie Dykas and Sylvia Alvarado. Written by Sonia Astacio, Diane Herrera, Diana Campos and Ed Garza. Directed by Ed Garza. Peformed at Teatro Luna in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood.
Can you describe similarities or differences from ten years ago, when Salsation was first formed, to present-day, regarding Latino comedians and Latino-inspired comedy?
We did celebrate our tenth anniversary . . . In my ideal world I'd love to see the whole group together with all the members past and present and see what can happen. There have been some amazing, talented people who have been with the group over the years that I would love to see come together and do something special. There's no other group in Chicago that does sketch comedy with an all Latino cast. There wasn't one when I was with the group ten years ago, and there hasn't been one since I've come back. The fact that Salsation has been around as long as it has is a testament unto itself. That's a credit to Salsation as a whole and the audiences that have come out and supported the shows over the years.
What I have seen change over time in regards to Latino-inspired comedy locally is the presence in the stand-up scene and how big it's grown. Not just comedian- and audience-wise but production-wise as well. And I want to give a big ass shout out and credit to Mikey O. for what he does in this city in regards to comedy, stand-up comedy, Latino comedy. If people haven't been to a Mikey O. show they don't know what they're missing. It boggles my mind when I see local papers talk about the best places to see comedy in this city and they'll name rooms that I go to and they won't mention Mikey O. shows at all. You go to a Mikey O. show and it's gonna be a party. Wednesday night, middle of the week, Mikey's got crowds in there 300 strong having a good time. He gives us a chance to go up there and shine. Mikey doesn't care if you're Latino, white, black, he cares about you being funny and that the audience has a good time. [Local weekly paper] The Reader did a story on Mikey recently and they saw what he does and they were like, "we didn't know this was happening." Really?!!? Where have you been, because he's been here promoting and making it happen for quite some time now. The people have been sleeping and look what they're missing. Comics like Joey V., who Mikey O. was the first to put up, both he and myself have been on HBO-Latino; Alex Ortiz has been on BET and NBC; the national headliners Mikey brings in... I'm telling you, it's a solid show that is put up by him errrrrytime. He's done a lot for us and I'm forever grateful.
Overall we are more of a presence now than ever before. Salsation has gone from doing shows in the front of bars to audiences of 6-12 people to having runs at Second City e.t.c. and Gorilla Tango Theatre, going on tours and entering festivals. You can see Latinos doing stand-up comedy at Joe's On Weed St. And audiences are coming out and supporting it. I believe the audiences were always there but there wasn't as large of a scene as there is now. Now we have some great, talented people on stage and producers behind the scenes who are giving something that audiences are enjoying. And it's still going to get bigger. Every time a show happens that means someone in the audience could watch it and go, "Hey, I'd like to try that," and that could be a potential future performer. None of this right now is as big as it can be, especially in a city like Chicago where comedy is one of the things we are known for.
After Salsation's current show ends, director Patrick Garone says that they will begin prepping the touring show, to debut in September at college campuses around the country. Talks of a smaller studio show in December is in the works, and then the group will prepare their entry into the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival in January. By the time the festival is completed, the group will have begun work on their new show, to debut next spring.
Votin DemoCRAT: "Barack Obama (Jordan Carlos) makes a music video set to the beat of Justin Timberlake's SexyBACK. Some of his political friends and rivals also make cameos on this hot track." (Featuring Brooke Van Poppelen as Hillary Clinton.)
The Lakeshore Theater, which has staged countless comedy shows featuring both well-known national acts and emerging Chicago talent since it's arrival on the scene in March of 2007, is looking to expand its capabilities into the realm of production.
The Bastion recently spoke with Lakeshore owner and mastermind Chris Ritter and got the scoop on the theater's ambitions.
"In addition to being able to shoot things off-site, we’re basically going to be converting the Lakeshore into a studio. We’ll have multiple camera positions permanently installed, be wired for good sound, have a green-screen available on stage, the works. There’s been a growing interest from comics in using the Lakeshore as the venue they want to record concerts in -- Demitri Martin, Michael Ian Black & Prescott Tolk have all recorded CD’s here and Rick Shapiro will be shooting his new DVD here in September. Having the production company in-house will enable us to offer production services to folk at a less expensive rate than an outside company coming in will be able to. The production companies first client will be the Lakeshore itself. As you know, internet marketing is a critical part of reaching comedy audiences and we want to be doing all sorts of stuff to promote Lakeshore events and help fill the house through the production of original content for web distribution.
"Long term goals include producing two distinct TV series. The first would be a standard “Live at the Lakeshore” stand-up comedy show and the second would be a reality-based series revolving around the operation of the venue itself. Lord knows, if they can make compelling TV out of a tattoo parlor, we have enough drama and laughs around here to do the same! Even longer term goals would be to develop and produce feature films.
"Given the amazing wealth of talent we have coming through the Lakeshore on a weekly basis, this really just seems like a natural fit and the best way to take our enterprise to the next level and distribute great comedy to an ever-wider audience. We’re still in the midst of putting all this together, so it’s all kind of evolving now, but it’s very exciting."
The Lakeshore Theater is at 3175 North Broadway. Scheduled upcoming acts include Kristen Schaal, Mike Birbiglia, Christian Finnegan, Schadenfreude, Blewt's third season of Impress These Apes, Doug Benson, and Maria Bamford.
Spoofy musical group Lola Balatro has a four-night stand at The Playground (3209 N. Halsted) on Fridays, starting tonight, July 11 through August 1. The show is at 10:00 p.m. and tickets are $10. Tonight's opening comics are Prescott Tolk and Sean Flannery.
The Second City is kicking off "The Second City Improv All-Stars" on Saturday, July 12, 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. at The Apollo Theater Chicago (2540 N. Lincoln Avenue). The show is directed by Mick Napier and features a rotating cast including Alex Fendrich, Niki Lindgren, Rachael Mason, Craig Uhlir, Claudia Wallace and Steve Waltien. Call the Apollo Theater Box Office for tickets - 773-935-6100.
Speaking of Annoyance Theater founder and Chicago comedy legend Mick Napier, Time Out Chicago just published a fascinating interview with him, called "Mick in the Head," which explains his recent horrific experience with the smoking cessation prescription Chantix, and his determination to shake off its ill effects. Napier is slated to direct Second City’s 50th anniversary main stage show beginning in late 2009.
Chicago improv comedy duo Cathcart & Olson will represent Chicago at The 5th Annual San Francisco Improv Festival, July 31 – August 2. "Cathcart & Olson perform rapid fire comedy that celebrates and analyzes current trends, human behavior, and the struggle to maintain balance in a chaotic world," according to the press release. Cathcart & Olson have performed at improv festivals in Toronto, Austin, Seattle, and Washington, DC; and at venues all over sweet home Chicago. They will stage a send-off show at The Playground Theater on Tuesday, July 29 at 8:00 p.m.
Being in the grocery store with my grandmother as a child was always a fascinating experience -- that woman seemed to know everyone, and wasn’t afraid to talk to them at length in the dairy aisle.
Though Neil Arsenty and Noelle Schmitt have only known each other since college as opposed to 50+ years, they have come to realize that all of their friends are interconnected somehow, and thus spawned Big City, Small World, playing Thursdays through July 17th at Donny’s Skybox.
"Noelle and I met eight years ago in college and have been good friends ever since," Arsenty told the Bastion. "Ever since I heard my first Mike Nichols and Elaine May album, I've been wanting to do two-person sketch and in December, our mutual friend (and my oft director of Skybox-shows-I've-performed-in) Jay Steigmann suggested we join forces to put together this show. We were both amused to discover how much everyone is really connected in our lives, like so-and-so went to high school with this person who is now the roommate of this person who is longtime friends with someone that I met years ago. That basically was the basis of the show."
Previously, the pair have made a few short films, including Super Happy Help Squad and the web-series Basil. Schmitt is writer and performer for SchmittHaus, a production company she is launching with her brothers Matthew and Jared. They are currently working on a video webseries. Arsenty has been in about ten sketch revues in Chicago (nine at the Skybox), he's a writer and performer for the video podcast Midwest Teen Sex Show, and a member of the sketch group Cell Camp. He's also performed improv and stand-up from time to time.
In this two-person show, Arsenty and Schmitt play a wide range of characters from angsty teen and cool mom, to video store clerk and customer, to recently-fired husband and menopausal wife.
Though each vignette is brief, each is endearing and, of course, funny. With only one show left, make it a priority to get to Second City and see this show before it’s too late.
Trapped opens at 10:30pm with Big City, Small World following. The final show is Thursday, July 17.
Chicago sweethearts Joselyn Hughes and Brooke Van Poppelen are going to be staging their brand-spankin' new sketch show, "Grow a Pair", this Thursday and Friday at the Lincoln Lodge (4008 N. Lincoln). The show is directed by Second City alum and Chicago ex-pat Deb Downing.
Joselyn and Brooke sum up the show thusly: "People like pretty, quiet ladies. We are loud, drunk, and obnoxious and decided we weren't fooling anybody by pretending we were petite flowers. Macho is a show that lets us express our machismo through ridiculous characters that are all powerful, animated, and opinionated. And definitely not quiet."
Asked about their collaborative efforts, both with this sketch and in their stand-up work, they said: "We spend a lot of time together; being that we are lady stand-ups and perform often. We decided to stop competing and decided to team up and wage war against the world together. We practically have collaborated ourselves into a life partnership. Our next project will probably involve adopting an Asian baby and opening a used book store/coffee shop. It's weird for sure."
Brooke, Joselyn, and Deb Downing will all be headed to the DC Comedy Fest in August to perform stand-up. After that, they are planning to take "Grow a Pair" back to NYC with them after polishing it "back home" this week.
In late June 2007, a little bar in Edgewater called Kitty Moon became the home of a newly created comedy showcase. The creator of the show, Othy Schwering, had just finished his first level of improv classes at the Annoyance Theatre and was in search of additional stage time. Rather than slug around Chicago’s densely populated comedy scene in search of a coveted timeslot, Schwering decided to stage his own variety show and invite stand-ups, improvisers and sketch performers to fill up his bill.
One year later and a venue change to The Playground Theater, Schwering’s comedy showcase, known as Othy’s Improv Night Kabaret or O.I.N.K.!, is still going strong. He and his co-producer, Kannan Arumugam, just celebrated the show’s one-year anniversary last week with an all-star line-up that included the Chicago Reader’s choice for best Chicago stand-up, Michael Palascak; the Chicago Reader’s readers’ choice for best sketch group, Hey You Millionaires; and the one-man sketch stylings of Nick Vatterott.
The Bastion sat down with Schwering to discuss the history of O.I.N.K.!, Robert Buscemi and why a pig in a spacesuit represents comedy.
Tell me about the beginnings of O.I.N.K.!
The first three shows were known as "Pallin' Around with Othy" and consisted of some former improv classmates and me as "The Johnny Come Earlies" and a few guest improv groups. So it was basically just an improv open mic. One classmate, Kannan Arumugam, was the only one to consistently show up to perform with the Johnnies, and we soon formed what is now the two-man house troupe of O.I.N.K!, Las Madres del Fútbol.
How did you go from an improv open mic to a pan-comedy showcase?
I met a brilliant comedian with a penchant for genius, one Robert Buscemi, who frequented the cafe that was, at the time, my employ. I asked him if he would do some stand-up to open up the show, warm up the audience, and generally spice things up a bit and he obliged. A comedy variety show was born. He would stop back by every once in awhile and suggest comic friends that would do sets when he couldn't make it.
If O.I.N.K.! had a mission statement, what would it be?
O.I.N.K!, from its inception, has always been about bringing together audience and artist in an unpretentious atmosphere where everyone can relax, feel respected and have a good laugh midweek. It's a chance for improvisers, musicians, and comedians to come together with like-minded artists and hone their craft in front of some great O.I.N.K! audiences.
You perform improv with Las Madres Del Fútbol and do some stand-up as O.I.N.K.!’s host. Tell me about your comedic beginnings.
I suffered with bouts of pretty severe depression in college until a friend turned me on to “Mr. Show” on DVD. It was such a flash point for me—and not just comedically. It was so brilliantly executed and it just looked like what they were doing was a lot of fun. I realized then and there that one has to choose to be happy and live for yourself. I had always been interested in comedy and performing, so I switched majors from political science to theatre, finished school, and moved to Chicago.
You use a pig in a spacesuit as your logo. Where did that come from?
One muggy summer night last year, as I was doodling in my daily-machinations/think-thought notepad and brainstorming ideas on how to market the show, I started drawing pigs, with the tie-in tag line of "ham it up" in mind. Eventually, I noticed that the onomatopoeic "oink" shared the same first letter as Othy, and in the true spirit of self-aggrandizement I workshopped a number of iterations of the acronymic moniker until I came up with Othy's Improv Night Kabaret. The show's start at the Kitty Moon helps explain the pig in a spacesuit logo. Plus, I thought "O.I.N.K! at the Moon" was funny, as it seemed that the act of "oinking at the moon" was a foolish, if foolhardy gesture.
Any future plans?
The addition of Jen Larson as our first "oinktern" has further freed up Kannan and me to put on a slicker, smoother, and higher quality show and her energy and enthusiasm has definitely helped to reinvigorate the show. If anyone is looking for an unpaid oinkternship, they will find them readily available! As far as plans for the future go, we are researching how to make the show better and better. Discounted tickets are now available online at www.oinkshow.com, a new stand-alone website is in the works and we've teamed up with Jones Soda to develop a line of O.I.N.K!-branded cream soda. Mind you, all these bells and whistles are only there to further our goal of creating great shows that bring together artists and audience in a rollicking comedic communion. Ham it up!
O.I.N.K.! is every Wednesday at 10 p.m. at The Playground Theater. Tickets are available online at www.oinkshow.com , where you can also send a message to request more information about being part of the show. Also, if you say "porkchops" at the box office, your ticket is only $5.
Photos (of, top to bottom, Othy Schwering and Kannan Arumugam, Nick Vatterott, Hey You Millionaires' James Asmus and Jim Fath, and Michael Palascak) by Annie Lesser.
Chicago Underground Comedy Highlights, June 24, 2008. Featuring former Saturday Night Live writer Michael McCarthy, Comedy Central star Jimmy Dore, and Jay Leno favorite John Roy, as well as ChuC cast members Dan Telfer, Hannibal Buress, Sean Flannery, Prescott Tolk, and Adam Burke:
Movie Bloopers, by Dan Polydoris:
June 25th, The Comedians You Should Know Show, featuring Hannibal Buress, Danny Kallas, Nick Vatterott, Ken Barnard, Mike Von, Nate Simmons:
Collars Up, "Baby Says":
Hannah Gansen at Big News at IO West
Paul Thomas' "Stupify," with Sean Flannery and Hannibal Buress:
It has been almost a year since stand-up comedian Pat Brice passed away, and in honor of his memory, BCA Sports will be holding a beanbag tournament, benefiting Bridgeport Catholic Academy School and the sports program.
From the press release: The BCA Sports committee will be holding a beanbag tournament, Bags for Brice, in honor of Patrick Brice. Pat was a dear friend to all who knew him. He lived everyday of his life to fullest and brought joy to those around him through his outgoing personality and his passion for stand up comedy.
Pat was a lifelong Bridgeport resident, as well as a graduate of Bridgeport Catholic Academy, Class of 92. During his time at BCA, Pat excelled at sports such as basketball and baseball. All proceeds from the tournament will benefit Bridgeport Catholic Academy School and the Sports program. The tournament will take place July 12, 2008 from 11:00am-7:00pm, at Nativity of Our Lord Parish, 653 W. 37th Street, Chicago, IL. The tournament is open to adults 21 and older. Limited to the first 64 registered teams (first teams to pay). The cost is $40 per player or $80 per team, and a $20 donation for people not playing in the tournament. There will be cash prizes for 1st-3rd place finishers as well as a handmade set of beanbag boards for the 1st place team. Food will be provided, BYOB (cans only).
There are a variety of ways you can contribute to the Bags for Brice tournament. You can register to play or come out as a spectator and join in one of our many raffles throughout the day. We are also seeking donations that include, but are not limited to, bean bag sets (both boards and bags), gift certificates, food and beverage, merchandise and/or cash. The donations will be used or raffled off during the tournament. All sponsors will be listed in a brochure distributed at the tournament. For more information about the Bags for Brice tournament, please log on to www.bcachicago.org.
It's time for another installment of 
The new issue of Time Out Chicago, on newsstands now, includes a story, 
Spoofy musical group 
Chicago improv comedy duo 
Being in the grocery store with my grandmother as a child was always a fascinating experience -- that woman seemed to know everyone, and wasn’t afraid to talk to them at length in the dairy aisle.
In late June 2007, a little bar in Edgewater called Kitty Moon became the home of a newly created comedy showcase. The creator of the show, Othy Schwering, had just finished his first level of improv classes at the 
The Bastion sat down with Schwering to discuss the history of O.I.N.K.!, 
I suffered with bouts of pretty severe depression in college until a friend turned me on to “Mr. Show” on DVD. It was such a flash point for me—and not just comedically. It was so brilliantly executed and it just looked like what they were doing was a lot of fun. I realized then and there that one has to choose to be happy and live for yourself. I had always been interested in comedy and performing, so I switched majors from political science to theatre, finished school, and moved to Chicago.
available online at 
