I have achieved a new level of comedy nerddom. I saw Tim Dillon headline twice in one weekend (Thursday and Saturday early shows) during his run at the Chicago Improv in lovely Schaumburg, Illinois. I have seen comics twice and even three times over one weekend but always in a showcase style show where they…
Category: Standup show review
The Comedy Mothership
The Mothership is not the best comedy club in the world. But the Mothership does something more important and interesting — it cultivates the hell out of new talent better than any club in the country. These door guys are the future.
Joe DeRosa at the Comedy Vault
DeRosa’s specific MO is that he is judgmental, captious, and able to get thoroughly riled up by just about anything. I Never Promised You A Rose Garden4 does not depart from this trend. It’s peak Joe DeRosa as we know and love him.
Chris Rock Live at the Chicago Theatre
Chris Rock is the level of famous where people are just thrilled to be in the same room as him. Normally when I am going to a comedy show, I have to explain to people who the comedian is and where they might know him from. When I went to this show, I simply told…
A Tale of Two Roast Comics: Dave Attell and Jeff Ross Live
I have been a Dave Attell fan for over a decade and seen him live 3-4 times. I have never thought of him as a roast comic. I was always puzzled why he was chosen as Jeff Ross’s roast companion for bumping mics. Dave Attell is a great comic but a roast comic? He has…
Shane Gillis at the Chicago Improv
“Once you become really interested in history you are on the 1 yard line of becoming a Republican,” Gillis proclaimed at this show. Having recently talked with Louis CK for over six hours about all of the past Presidents of the United States*, I suppose Gillis can see the end zone. If an interest in history makes…
Tim Dillon, A Real Hero
What Tim does best is lean in hard to ridiculous, hyperbolic points of view to either demonstrate their absurdity or make a point.
Drew Dunn at the Comedy Vault in Batavia
Drew Dunn started his set in a British accent. Any newcomer to Dunn’s comedy just assumed he was British. He dropped the shtick 90 seconds in and riffed on how you can get away with more in a British accent. This start was the perfect setup for his style of comedy. Dunn’s acts floats seamlessly…
Is Neal Brennan the Funniest Joke for Joke Comic?
This material we saw live is the same material in Neal Brennan’s new special, Blocks, released today on Netflix. I saw this material live at the Den Theater in Chicago in July. What Unacceptable Is: Because of the serious and emotional weighty nature of Three Mics and because Unacceptable premiered on broadway and seemed more…
The Goddamn Comedy Jam Celebrating the DC Improv’s 30th Anniversary
Standup can be revelatory, poignant, powerful, take you on a rollercoaster of emotions, make you feel uniquely and genuinely seen, and can make a political point clearer than the most academic white paper from the most high-profile think tank. The Goddamn Comedy Jam is and does none of those things because it is too busy…
Laughing All Over Chicago and Beyond: Your Guide to the Chicago Stand-up Comedy Scene with Exclusive Reviews, Interviews, and Resources 