Improv/Sketch Search
The Best of Second City
Sat., June 22, 8 p.m.
773-445-3838Improv/Sketch
The troupe reprises some of its notable sketches.
$23-$26
Go Hug Yourself
Through 6/22: Sat 10:30 PMImprov/Sketch
A sketch revue that explores the pitfalls of "dating, work, marriage, and life in Chicago." $10-$15
The Most Important Week Ever
Through 6/22: Saturdays, 7:30 PMImprov/Sketch
Performers use each week's news headlines to create a satirical sketch show. $8-13
Chasing the Hype
Through 6/23: Sun 7:30 PMImprov/Sketch
The concept behind the latest sketch revue from Think Tank Comedy is intriguing: vignettes employ multimedia, found footage, vaudeville, and silent comedy to parody the 24-hour news cycle. Many of these scenes and characters are inspired: Burt McCallister, a news anchor who prides himself on always being "first on the scene"; bank robbers in the style of old silent films and the Hamburglar; and an NBC writers' meeting in which a stale concept with Howie Mandel is lambasted, only to appear later in the revue as well as in real life. Less successful are the sketches that stray from the concept: weirdly effeminate stay-at-home dads, gay male prostitution, and watercolor painting causing an orgasm in a dandyish painter. The targets could use some of the show's variety. —Tal Rosenberg $10
Cook County Social Club
Through 6/26: Tue 8 PMImprov/Sketch
These four performers are as brazenly committed to improv's "affirm everything" mantra as any I've seen. Their dark, flamboyant comic sensibilities clearly aligned, they orchestrate black-comedy vignettes tethered to richly odd characters. But what most impressed me was how fluidly and creatively they transitioned between scenes, usually dangerous improv moments. The Frank Hayes 4 opens. --Ryan Hubbard
$12
LARP Fiction
Starts June 22. Saturdays, 12 a.m. Continues through July 13Improv/Sketch
A spoof of live-action role playing inspired by the work of Quentin Tarantino. $10-$12
Assemblers 2: Gamma-Radioactive Boogaloo
6/7-7/19: Fri 9:30 PMImprov/Sketch
The sketch comedy sequel explores the world of the modern superhero and the popular comic book genre. Intended for mature audiences, BYOB. $10-$15
The Best of The Variety Show: A Drinking Game Performance
Through 8/17: Sat 11 PMImprov/Sketch
Select sketches from the long-running improv showcase are performed. $10
Same Sex, Different Gays
Through 8/17: Sat 9:30 PMImprov/Sketch
The material may be original, but there's little originality to this evening of musical sketch comedy from pH Productions. The show essentially takes LGBT stereotypes and sets them to music, packing 18 numbers into a one-hour performance. Some of the bits fall flat, and not all of the cast members have the chops to pull off their singing parts. But there are some satisfying moments. A woman sings, "Technically, I'm a virgin," to punctuate her descriptions of all the things she does with her girlfriend. In an oddly touching scene, two men meet while hiding out in the bathroom during an orgy. And a recurring gag supplies the shortest and possibly best numbers in the show: four men harmonizing to such phrases as "Bitch, please," "No you didn't," and "Are you for real, girl?" —Julia Thiel $10-$15
Dinner With the Elams
Open run: Thu 8 PMImprov/Sketch
It takes a great deal of good chemistry for an improv group to click—without it, funny riffs go hanging and good scenes are cut short. Dinner With the Elams has an unfair advantage in that department, as three of the performers are siblings and the other two are marrying into the family: joining Erica, Brett, and Scott Elam in the experienced team are Brett's fiancee, Jet Eveleth (artistic director of the Chicago Improv Festival), and Scott's fiancee, Lisa Burton. It's an enticing hook and makes for plenty of ribbing, like on the night I went, when Erica started off the show by having Scott tell how he lost his virginity. But it doesn't devolve into awkward teasing and gross-out humor, and only once did siblings threaten to kiss. Instead, the family builds scenes unselfishly, working as a really poised and awfully hilarious unit to bring out the best in each other. If their Thursday night show is this good, the family reunion must be formidable. —Asher Klein $12
Messing With a Friend
Open run: Thu 10:30 PMImprov/Sketch
Susan Messing's weekly show, where she pairs off with a guest "friend" for an hour of purely improvised comedy, is one of the funniest entertainments in town. Messing is deeply talented: her acting is focused and nuanced, and she's got one of the the sharpest shit-detectors around, allowing her to cut or extend scenes like a good director. She works with a different "friend" at nearly every performance, often for the first time ever, and each prods her in unpredictable ways. But Messing stays on her toes, finding newer and quirkier characters—like a chatty old lady who sings musical numbers and pop songs at work or a wife from a 1940s screwball comedy who encourages her husband to tie her up—and the proportion of what works to what doesn't is a testament to her congeniality, experience, and broad intelligence. Messing was my pick for Best Improviser in the Reader's 2008 Best Of Chicago issue. --Ryan Hubbard
$5
DBag
Open run: Thu 10:30 PMImprov/Sketch
A comedic revue focused on the question, "Who is that person?," directed by Emily Wilson and TJ Jagodowski. $8-$12
Gulp! Productions
Open run: Thu 8:30 and 10 PMImprov/Sketch
A rotating cast of improv teams and performers.
The Big Yellow Bus
Open run: Thu 8 PMImprov/Sketch
A core cast performs a different type of long-form improv each week, with guests. The actors meet once just before going on, which gives a frenetic unpredictability to their bits and leads to prankish pushing and pulling, but it also produces occasional fumbling to discover others' sensibilities. (RH) $10
