Not that there isn’t always sort some of comedy show happening here in town, but lately there has been sort of a surge, what with the Improv Comedy Festival just wrapping up and last weekend’s aptly (and hilariously) named Snubfest Comedy Festival – comedians snubbed from the Improv Fest lineup. If you are still craving a dose of comedy, consider checking out The Playground Theater’s comedy variety improve show, O.I.N.K., featuring many local comedians and......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Art Gabriel Mejia was born in the Chicago area and received his undergraduate degree from Northern Illinois University. Gabriel teaches art at Jones College Prep and says of his art, "I am interested in documenting, through painting and drawing, specific moments in time captured through candid photographs of people that I know very well." He'll......

Do you crave comedy with a side of pancakes? If so, The Lincoln Lodge, located behind the Lincoln Restaurant in Northcenter, will get your carb-filled belly jiggling. In the mullet-like tradition of “business in the front, party in the back”, the forefront Lincoln Restaurant serves up some of the best diner food in town. But in the back room, the party rolls all weekend as The Lincoln Lodge showcases some of the most uproarious young......

25th Century Heroes The L.A. trio presents an end of the world confessional as sketch tragicomedy. In Earth’s last half-hour, the Heroes debate which pop cultural touchstones deserve preservation as they assess their lives. The very personal material is wisely, honestly underplayed and, like their butchered Metallica lyrics, few matters receive a tidy resolution. 25th Century Heroes performs tonight at 8 p.m. in the North Theater Keilly & Roeters Experience counts, as if we needed......

No Pants 2K8, a no-slacks spectacle that was started by the New York-based performance comedy group, Improv Everywhere, is upon us, and you know what that means: Drop trou, pronto! Not so fast...it's not quite as simple as that; there are some basic procedural guidelines. The eventual seminudity begins on Saturday at 2:00 P.M. at the Granville Red Line station and disembarks at Monroe. According to the Facebook page, about 50 people have confirmed that......

The best excuse to see TV stars sans makeup, The Tenth Annual Chicago Improv Festival continues through Sunday at The Athenaeum, Park West, and sites all over the north side. (Yes, south siders, they do hate you, get over it…) Chicagoist attended the opening show Monday night at the Cultural Center, featuring the only three performers dedicated (or crazy) enough to perform at all 10 festivals: Joe Bill, Susan Messing, and Mark Sutton. They brought......

Some say Chicago suffers from second city-itis, but there is no denying that we are the kings of the improv mountain. The legacy of Del Close, Second City, and a penchant for working our asses off make Chicago the best place to study improv comedy. Luckily, people are starting to notice. Tonight, make sure to catch Mark Sutton and the love of every improviser on the planet, Susan Messing, discussing the the 10th annual Chicago......

It's been nearly 10 years since the untimely, unfortunate demise of Chicago-area comedian Chris Farley. We're not going to lie and say we remember exactly where we were when we heard the news or anything like that, but we can't believe it's been that long already. He had still been big in the movies with a promising future at the time of his death, if he could have broken out of the stereotypical fat-guy-does-crazy-shit-cuz-he's-fat role.......

It doesn't seem fair when talented up-and-coming theater companies struggle to attract time-starved critics focused on more established institutions and touring shows. Recently, we’ve been part of the problem, reviewing the same productions covered by virtually every other media outlet in town. So now we ask you: what have we been missing? Next month, Chicagoist will turn its attention to performers still craving attention and respect from the MSM. Email us and explain, in 200......

This weekend’s comedy smackdown: hundreds of performers from around the country take on your seasonal affective disorder. If you’re still not happy by Sunday night, you’re either not trying hard enough or Sexy Rexy let you down. Chicago’s largest parade of comedy rejects, Snubfest ’07, commandeers the Cornservatory through Sunday. All qualifying performers were spurred from another festival. Their consolation prize is our cheap entertainment, $25-for-four-nights cheap, to be exact. Slighted stand-up comics square off......

You bought tickets months in advance, cleared your schedule, and surprised your relatives with tickets to Chicago’s hottest show. Turns out your Wicked tickets were one of 2006’s least original holiday gifts. Last week’s gross for the Broadway in Chicago cash cow set a new local record — around $1.4 million. Remarkable as that sounds, the Chicago production was still outdone by its counterparts in Toronto ($1.5M), London ($1.7M) and New York, whose $1.8 million......

Man, Charna Halpern cannot get a break. First, she has to change the name of her whole enterprise from Improv Olympic to IO, which would be crappy enough in its own right, if it didn't always make us think of the classic 'Captain EO,' featuring the ever-lovable Michael Jackson. Then, the much hyped IO 25th anniversary show rolls around a little over a year ago, promising fanfare and excitement with famous alums coming home to......

Many say that the Chicago Improv scene is a "boys club"; that it's tough being a woman improviser in this city. Some say you need improv balls of steel to make it and play with the big boys. Well, last night Cheetara showed us their steel balls and beat another Chicago team, Team Smartypants, in the World Series of Pop Culture on VH1. Cheetara, made up of three Chicago improvisers, giggled their way to a......

We here at Chicagoist have taken an improv class, or two, or twenty. We actually made most of our friends through these classes, and were just young enough to get caught up in the politics of it all. Chicago, more than any other city, is the home of improvisation. We were living the dream; the heart of the art. That's why we were dejected and disheartened when we were ousted from the Mecca of Chicago......

Now in its fifth year, Columbia College’s Manifest Urban Arts Festival has grown larger than most of us could ever have imagined. Then again, it's run by arts students. Their imaginations are larger than most. We’re sure someone’s done a study to prove it. Manifest is an arts festival good enough to rival any summer street fair and a graduation party large enough to make students from more conventional schools jealous. We’ve already told you......

The Chicago Improv Festival kicks off tonight at the Gallery Cabaret in Bucktown with Schadenfreude’s first Chicago stage performance since…probably last year’s fest. The “Schadenfreude Rent Party” is an evening of all new material from a group that routinely packed the house at past CIFs, their late night revues, and the national college circuit until Chicago Public Radio got a hold of them. Then they were too busy hobnobbing with, and making fun of,......

George Eckart - Animator...

WORDSFest, a premier collection of local African-American performers and one of the most entertaining events you’ll see this Black History Month, opens tonight at the Theatre Building. The two-weekend showcase shares a path with last month’s Sketch Fest. Each grew from an impulse to bring together and raise the visibility of a talented community, each arrived at the Theatre Building when they outgrew their original space. Both open their arms (and their workshop) to aspiring......

Now that Santa’s returned to the North Pole and Hanukkah Harry has commenced his rounds, it’s time to focus on New Year’s Eve. Maybe you’ve already ponied up your $100 or more to celebrate that sharp new desk calendar. Or maybe you’ve sworn off Saturday night as an overblown, overhyped, overpriced holiday. If you’re in that second category, consider spending 2005’s final hours at the theater, a more reasonably priced alternative where you leave the......

Pete Schwaba - Writer, Director, Actor, & Producer...

Saturday night was the 25th anniversary celebration of the Improv Olympic, we mean, the IO theater. Held at the Chicago Theater and hyped for months, the bill was rife with comedic talent. IO has schooled some of television and film's biggest stars, and they were all coming home to wish IO and its living founder, Charna Halpern, a happy birthday. (Del Close -- who helped Charna found IO when she split from Second City --......

Who knew that an unassuming ensemble show in the University of Chicago's Reynolds Club would spawn the most celebrated improv community in the world? On July 5, 1955, the Compass Players performed an improvisational revue skewering the day's headlines, the intensely serious nature of U of C students, and irresponsible spouses. Future celebrities on stage that night included Roger Bowen of M*A*S*H fame and Hollywood Golden Girls Elaine May (who envisioned Gene Hackman in......

Jimmy Carrane, Comedian...

Chicago is funny. Everyone knows that. We've got Second City, the Improv Olympic, and we lay claim to Dan Aykroyd, Alan Alda, Tina Fey, Dan Castellaneta, Bill Murray as well as many other famous comedians and writers. To commemorate our funniness, head over to the 8th Annual Chicago Improv Festival. It starts tomorrow and has guest performers from SNL, MADtv, The Daily Show and Anchorman, to name a few. In all, there will be about......

Whenever Chicagoist has dined at Improv Kitchen, we’ve always been reminded of the joke about the performer who must always face the inquiry: “Oh so you’re an actor! Which restaurant?” Here’s to Improv Kitchen for eliminating the middle man! Now who here’s from out of town? But seriously, folks: if we could just figure out how to make TV trays out of actual TVs then this idea would finally reach its zenith! All this makes......