Last Minute Plans: RISK! At UP Comedy Club

By Matt Byrne in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 25, 2013 6:00PM

The overlap between the comedy and live storytelling worlds is smaller than you'd think. While structurally, they're very similar; someone standing on stage, often consulting a notebook between beats, most storytellers stick to their shows, and most comics stay on theirs, especially here in Chicago. Kevin Allison, an NYC-based writer, comedic actor, and member of beloved cult comedy collective The State, created RISK! to give comedians, writers, and storytellers alike the chance to step out of their comfort zone to share "true stories they never thought they’d dare to share in public."

Audio from the live RISK! shows, which happen monthly in New York and Los Angeles, are available for all to enjoy in podcast form, and regularly feature fascinating and surprising stories from folks across the performance spectrum. RISK! has featured stories from the likes of Janeane Garofalo, Andy Borowitz, Sarah Silverman, Mara Wilson (yes, the girl from Maltilda and Mrs. Doubtfire), and Tim Heidecker, whose story about the time he was stabbed while trying to protect his neighbors from their drug-addled son is a fascinating and humanizing glimpse behind Heidecker's seemingly impenetrable persona.

Allison brings RISK! to Chicago tonight, with special guests Jim Padar, Lily Be, Shannon Cason, Stephanie Douglass and Scott Whitehair, all well-known members of the city's live lit scene, with multiple Moth GrandSLAM victories and countless other credits between them. Each show has a uniting theme to make the evening more cohesive; tonight's show, which kicks off at 8pm at Second City's UP Comedy Club, is the SAT-worthy "tumultuous."

RISK! is tonight, Wednesday Sept. 25, at UP Comedy Club, 230 W. North Ave, 8 p.m. $20