"Funny Ladies" in Centerstage Chicago: "These young, up-and-coming female comedians are shaping Chicago's underground scene...Chicago has no shortage of talented, funny ladies, but you gotta know where to find 'em in the male-dominated comedy scene." The piece mentions Sarah King (whose "Good Crazy/Bad Crazy" was reviewed in TOC), Cameron Esposito, Jena Friedman, the Puterbaugh Sisters, and Fay Canale.

"Peter Deadpan" - Michael Palascak in Time Out Chicago: "Michael Palascak’s career is taking off, and fast: At last year’s Las Vegas Comedy Festival, he won a stand-up contest that secured meetings with top Los Angeles talent managers (though he admits he doesn’t know what managers 'do')..."

We also got word that Pimprov had a Tribune reporter tagging along at their show last weekend, and will be the subject of a story in the near future.

Chicagoist has a nice write-up to go with the vid.

Thanks Dan and Margaret!

Hey You Millionaires: The Phone Call...(LIVE at Chicago Sketchfest 08)

Highlights from Chicago Underground Comedy, April 29, 2008, Featuring Prescott Tolk, Sean Flannery, CJ Sullivan, Dan Polydoris, Money Kids, and James Vickery:

Dan Polydoris at Chicago Underground Comedy, April 29, 2008:

Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O'Connell at The Lincoln Lodge:

Batch285, "Surprise":

The first time I ever performed stand-up comedy in the Chicagoland area was July of 2002 at Bill Brady's Barrel of Laughs Comedy Club in Oak Lawn, IL. I met some really talented comedians there -- Denise Ramsden, Brian Hicks, Ken Schultz, Brian Aldridge, Todd Glover, etc. They really helped guide me and helped me get work over the next couple years. All the shows I ever got were because of connections they made for me. That summer I also took Level A of improv at Second City.

As for was it a plan to pursue stand-up? I knew I wanted to do comedy/acting/writing -- The winter/spring of '02 down at college, I did my first play and sketch/improv show and I really enjoyed it and wanted to do it for a job. So when I came home for the summer I enrolled in the class at Second City. And then one night that summer I was at Borders and saw a book on stand-up, bought it, and did my first set a couple weeks later. And I realized that was something that I really wanted to succeed at. Then when I finished college and moved home, I realized how hard it was to get on stage as an actor/improviser -- like you had to audition and be good. But as a stand-up, you didn't have to be good. You just had to show up and you got to go on stage. And if you were a decent person, or even just not committing felonies on site, then the next time you came back, you got to do it again. And I really liked that. Like having the control to get on stage and grow as a comedian. So I realized while I may do other things, I would always try to keep getting better at stand-up.

How would you describe your style of stand-up?

I would describe my style of stand-up as "really funny."

What's a typical week's schedule of performing like for you?

Hopefully at a booked show Thurs-Saturday. And then at open mics the other nights. Or at showcases like Comedians You Should Know or Chicago Underground Comedy, if they'll have me. And then Sunday late nights there's an open mic in my living room. It's a nice non-comic my mom crowd.

What sort of representation do you have right now, and what steps did you take to get different representation?

I'm with Ambassador and Iris Talent for on-camera. I'm with Bass-Schuler for colleges. I got my on-camera agents by sending/dropping off headshots/resumes and then an audition. In the Ambassador audition, they really liked it when I performed my various farm animal noises for them, that's totally what got me in with them. And then with Iris, I had to audition with a monologue. So I put together a character monologue using my stand-up material about graduating college and it went well. Like I didn't do them as jokes as a stand-up, I did them as if it were a character in a play.

As for Bass-Schuler, my friend Stolie, a very talented singer songwriter, check out her music open mics -- www.stolie.com -- recommended me. So one of the agents and some interns came out to see me at a Mikey O Show and that went well and then they came again to Comedy Central Open Mic Fight Showcase at Zanies and brought one of the co-owners -- Chris Schuler of Bass-Schuler, and that went well. They really liked that I was funny, clean and relate-able to college kids. And they started booking shows for me a couple months later.

I just got a manager. I met a couple different managers at The Comedy Festival in Vegas in November. I stayed in contact with them and got feedback on some of my writing samples from them. Then a couple of them saw me at Gotham in March. And then when I went to LA -- as a part of winning the Lucky 21, Rachel Rusch and JP Buck from HBO set up a bunch of meetings for me with studios, casting people, and managers in L.A. -- I met with all of the managers I was interested in and picked one of them.

You've been kicking ass with the online comedy contests. Can you tell us about the Lucky 21 jackpot, that big bag of money you got, and what your secret strategy is for success with contests?

As a prize I won money, and they set up meetings for me in L.A., and I got a TV spot -- I think that was Gotham but I'm not sure. As for the money, well, according to my parents, I need to buy a new car, but I think they're biased. The one I'm driving right now works fine but I think they want it back soon.

I don't know really how I won. I think it was the result of me being really nice to people for 25 years. I know for the first round of Lucky 21, my parents voted a lot. Especially my dad. I also had a lot of help from friends and relatives and friends of friends and relatives of relatives. And then for the final round Ryan and Kevin Manno from The Manno Program at Q101 invited me to come on their radio show and promote it and that really put me over the top.

Local figures like Zanies' Bert Haas have high praise for you, and seem to expect good things from you. What would you like to do over the next, say, five years?

The next five years? Well, this Thursday May 8th I'm having a staged reading of my sitcom pilot: The Michael Palascak (Pal-a-sack) Show. The reading is at the iO Theater (ImprovOlympic) in the Del Close Theater at 7 pm. iO is at 3541 N. Clark St. in Chicago. Right by Wrigley Field but there's no Cubs game that night so parking should be available around the theater. Everyone is invited -- It's free! I'd love to hear what you guys think! And anyone coming to the reading is welcome to stay for the other improv shows at iO at 8 and 9 pm upstairs and downstairs for free, so come on out! So, yeah, one goal would be to have the reading go really really well and have it turn into a TV show on NBC in between The Office and ER or whatever medical drama exists at the time. But that's just like a short-term small goal. Five years from now I want to host a talk show on Jupiter, the planet. Ten year plan -- intergalactic. Fifteen year plan -- I want to be a really good stand-up and write novels in a house I own.

Elizabeth McQuern

Jena Friedman told us Williams also tagged along to Sunday night's Entertaining Julia show at the Town Hall Pub, where he was "mind-blowing."

Carrie Callahan reported that "I actually barely got to talk to him, but he seemed very gracious and nice. On Saturday he had an incredibly dirty set, and the audience loved it."

Prescott Tolk was impressed with Williams' trademark manic energy: "It was a big thrill to watch a standard showcase night at the Lakeshore Theater transform into a major event. As word got out that he was in the house, the theater went from a quarter full to sold out within 45 minutes. He was friendly and gracious from the moment he walked in the green room. It was great to watch him work. The guy transcends age when he steps on stage. All energy, all the time. I get the feeling that the Lakeshore will be privy to more 'pop-in' performances in the future."

According to Cameron Esposito, Williams had no entourage, hung out like any other comic, snuck behind the curtain to watch Hannibal perform, and "giggled like mad." She confirms that his Saturday set was crowd-pleasingly filthy, and said backstage he was friendly and approachable and asked Chicago's comics about the scene here. "My lovely girlfriend was with me," Esposito went on, "and she said something about a joke he made on stage, and he laughed heartily and said that was the funniest thing he had ever heard. With Robin Williams' approval, I am going to spend more time ripping off jokes from my non-comic girl."

Adam Burke was disappointed to have missed Williams on Friday night but bumped into him Saturday night, almost literally: "He arrived just as I was due to go on stage; I almost knocked him over on my way out of the dressing room. That would have been unfortunate. It was a great night for all the performers as the audience was fairly buzzing with excitement. (Unlike the night before, where apparently half the crowd were completely blindsided by his appearance, I think the cat was largely out of the bag by Saturday.) The place went nuts when he finally came out on stage and he did an electric and utterly filthy set. He confirmed my belief an audience does have to get the references in a joke to find it funny, such as the time he mentioned both Gabby Hayes and Walter Brennan in a bit about John Wayne porno movies. I'm pretty sure 90 percent of the audience had no idea who they are but they all busted a gut anyways. All in all it was a fantastic night."

Edited to add: we just heard from Hannibal on the weekend's excitement: "I actually was in the audience watching the show. I knew that Robin had performed the night before. Jena Friedman was telling him about me. He found out that my name is Hannibal and he couldn't believe that there was a comic named Hannibal and he had to see it. That's how I got to perform on the show. The crowd's energy was excellent and the show was a lot of fun. He was really complimentary and said that he enjoyed my set. It was great to watch him work. I also went to the Town Hall Pub Sunday. Watching him in a small venue like that was really exciting. "

-Elizabeth McQuern

Tha' Weave, 4.30.08

Photo by Krystle Gemnich

To get amped for the show, check out this clip from the paparazzi, who covered opening night's gala event at the Gallery Cabaret two weeks ago:

Dive Bar! from Adam Witt on Vimeo.

We'll be there, so come say hi!

The Aspen RooftopComedy Festival, as the new endeavor is known, will be May 30 and 31, and Chicago's Robert Buscemi will be there to "share the spotlight with some fantastic talent, including Isaac Witty, Jimmy Dore, Tig Nataro, Robert Hawkins, and others I've admired for a while."

Buscemi will be performing in the "Best and Brightest" showcase along with Nathan Trenholm and Matt Braunger, who Buscemi describes as"two of the best comics ever to emerge from Chicago," and Buscemi credits his association with Chicago Underground Comedy and Rooftop Comedy for bringing him to the attention of the festival's producers.

"Well, my week is off to an incredibly surreal and unexpected start. I got to be the 5th Beatle for the sketch group Hey You Millionaires last night as they faced off against the Canadian sketch kings Kids in the Hall in a couple matches of Whirlyball.

They arrived, and we played two rounds of Whirlyball. I scored two of our three total goals. We lost the first match, we won the second match. This epic battle between the US and Canada ended in a tie. I was defended by Kevin McDonald. I scored on him twice. How cool is that? I was doing pretty well at keeping my cool until I scored my first goal. But that had nothing to do with Kids in the Hall. I’ve just never scored at Whirlyball before."

Promo for the upcoming sketch show Stimulus Package:

Chicago Underground Comedy - DC Comedy Fest Audition Showcase Highlight Reel, from April 22, 2008. Featuring Adam Burke, Fay Canale, Brendan McGowan, Dan Telfer, Carrie Callahan, Chad Briggs, Steve O. Harvey, Team Submarine, Brady Novak, and Nick Vatterott. Individual sets can be seen here.

Carrie Callahan at Chicago Underground Comedy's DC Comedy Fest Audition Showcase, April 22, 2008:

Adam Burke at Chicago Underground Comedy's DC Comedy Fest Audition Showcase, April 22, 2008:

Brendan McGowan at Chicago Underground Comedy's DC Comedy Fest Audition Showcase, April 22, 2008:

Nick Vatterott at Chicago Underground Comedy's DC Comedy Fest Audition Showcase, April 22, 2008:

$$Money Kids$$ (Lauren Lapkus and Candy Lawrence) at Chicago Underground Comedy April 29 2008:

"...I spent the last three months of 2007 being the mentor and “the job” for the cast of the 20th season of The Real World. What an amazing experience. Its one thing to teach beginning improvisers who come here. They love the work, they’ve seen it and they want in. But these kids came from a different perspective. They approached it with raised eyebrows and were pretty scared. And partying was foremost on their minds."

1. Best stand-up
2. Best improviser
3. Best improv group
4. Best sketch group
5. Best place to see improv/sketch that isn't iO or Second City

Results will be published in the June 26 issue of the Reader. You can also vote online right here.

A long excerpt from the book, and a video clip of Close's last birthday party can be seen here, in the Reader. Here's a clip of Johnson on ABC7, talking about Close and his book.