Improv/Sketch This Weekend
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
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
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
The Improvised Shakespeare Company
Open run: Fri 8 PMImprov/Sketch
Seven strapping men in swashbuckler shirts improvise a two-act Shakespearean play based on a title suggested by the audience. At the show I saw, "The Taming of the Jew" inspired the Bard's usual themes (religion, family, betrayal) and plot devices (murders, disguises, fortunes gained/lost) as well as an uncomfortably funny circumcision. Director-performer Blaine Swen, a veteran of long-form Shakespearean improv who swears they don't conspire during the intermission, has assembled a vigorous ensemble of actors and proven improvisers. Their experience doing Shakespeare flowers in the language: they relish iambic dialogue, execute perfectly timed asides, occasionally utter rhyming couplets (some hilariously forced: "Let us be quick-sa, and get to the bar mitzvah!"), and drop parodic phrases ("scurvenous knave," "midfortnight report") and well-placed anachronisms (the bar mitzvah had a DJ). Even the ending echoed the real plays: story lines resolved tidily--and uproariously. (RH)
$14
Baby Wants Candy: The Rock Musical
Open run: Fri 10:30 PMImprov/Sketch
Baby Wants Candy--a tight troupe now famous for its improvised musicals--began in 1997 as one of the dozens of ImprovOlympic teams formed every year. Somehow they've avoided the usual dissolution of such groups. More impressive, they've never experienced the artistic conservatism that paralyzes improvisers eager to "do it right"--and reap the reward, presumably, of a career in NYC or LA. Instead the troupe has become the very model of smart, physical, quick-thinking, and just plain silly long-form improvisers; they still play well together and manage to entertain. Inspired by the improbable suggestion "So this is it" at the show I saw, nine actors (backed by the five-member Yes Band) improvised a complicated, hilarious, tongue-in-cheek tale of three partnerships on the rocks--two marriages and a professional relationship--and the narrator who helps bring the couples back together. --Jack Helbig $15
Pimprov
Open run: Fri 10:30 PMImprov/Sketch
If pimpin' ain't easy, pimprovising must be even harder. But the five members of Pimprov project a scary ease as they dress and cavort like "Super Freak"-era Rick James (only with more accessories) and smoothly assimilate audience suggestions into thug-themed short-form games. The group stays heavily engaged with the crowd throughout this high-energy show, bringing people on stage and carrying on multiple side conversations during and between bits. What I enjoyed most were their hilarious, spontaneous dancing (from tap to b-boying) and varied characters. These are no one-trick pimps: at the show I saw they shrewdly played everything from north side trixies to blue-collar Chicagoans. --Ryan Hubbard
$12, BYOB
Talk Hard
Open run: Fri, midnightImprov/Sketch
Chicago's late-night scene seems to be gearing up for its own version of a network-talk-show ratings battle, what with Joe Kwaczala's periodic The Late Live Show playing the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival and Patrick Rowland's Barack All Night continuing at iO. Joining the ranks of the city’s suit-and-tie gab show hosts is Jamie Campbell, who—not unlike Jimmy Pardo—comes across as a witty tough guy with a self-deprecating soft spot and a need for your approval. As per the competition, Campbell's show features a monologue, musical guests, and off-the-cuff chatter with local comedians, punctuated by occasional dry non sequiturs from cohost Kevin Pomeroy. At the opening, Talk Hard seemed to be working out its kinks and finding a voice. With some ironing, it may become a showcase to watch. —Dan Jakes $10
Bri-Ko
Open run: Sat 2 PMImprov/Sketch
How many bumbling buddies does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Or juggle? Or deliver a meal in a water balloon? On Saturday afternoons at Stage 773, the answer is three—specifically the three members of Bri-Ko. The sketch-comedy troupe Rube Goldberg would've created if Rube Goldberg had created sketch-comedy troupes, Bri-Ko puts on a silent clown show for the sort of kid who'd appreciate British humor. The name suggests bricolage—i.e., art improvised from materials found at hand. But the many kooky props at hand here (Nerf darts, ping-pong balls, various foodstuffs) are used to make a great, big mess. Tim Soszko, Brian Peterlin, and Chicago Sketch Fest founder Brian Posen bop happily about like Beaker the Muppet, contriving difficult ways to accomplish routine tasks. High art it's not, but the slapstick is practiced and the dumb smiles on these bozos' faces are contagious. —Asher Klein $10-$20
Cupid Has a Heart On: A Musical Guide to Relationships
Open run: Sat 8 PM 773-880-0199Improv/Sketch
I'm pretty sure I fall outside the Cupid Players' target demographic. Judging by this show's content, the troupe's ideal audience member is young enough to be weirded out by the thought of his parents having sex but old enough to worry that he's starting to act like his dad. He dreads romantic rejection almost as much as he fears commitment. And he's not above a hand of strip solitaire. A longtime married man with kids, I don't merely fail to fit the profile--I may be its antithesis. But I had a great time with Cupid Has a Heart On all the same. Directed by Brian Posen, who also plays piano and sings barbershop bass, this late-night show takes a standard element of improv revues--the satirical song--and makes it a raison d'etre. A charmingly goofy cast of ten performs no less than 15 original ditties, mostly keyed to the sensibility of the young, single, heterosexual urban male on the make. That this doesn't result in an unwatchable testosterone fest is testament to a wit that's always firmly based in character and in situations that remain truthful however far they get pushed. Also see this Reader's Choice review and video clip from the 2008 Best Of Chicago issue. --Tony Adler $20
The iO Musical Featuring the Deltones
Open run: Sat 8 PMImprov/Sketch
Like the Cupid Players, another musical comedy act that performs at iO, the Deltones have a penchant for the nasty and the absurd. But unlike the Players, the Deltones improvise. Accompanied by veteran iO keyboardist Dave Asher, they create varied song structures and impressively catchy lyrics, and demonstrate a good feel for when to turn scenes into tunes, capitalizing on fortuitous openings in plot or character development. At the show I saw, the suggestion of "couch" led to an authentic long-form piece with intertwining characters--including a hilarious couch potato who fell onto a plumber, prompting her husband to beg, "Aw, don't pull tools out of your folds, hon!" (RH) $14
Whirled News Tonight Presents Newspeak
Open run: Sat 8 PMImprov/Sketch
The current incarnation of director Jason R. Chin's production is smart. On the night I attended this show, based on audience contributions of news stories, a sketch involving Bipedal Locomotion Enterprises would have taken a prize for vocabulary alone. The ten-member ensemble also made casual references to Ernest Hemingway, Norman Mailer, and William Golding. And how many twentysomethings can do an accurate Alfred Hitchcock impression extempore? Instead of going for the broad and vulgar, these folks more often opt for the microcosmic. A patriarchal defense of polygamy is transformed into a wife lamenting the responsibilities of having multiple husbands. A report about terrorists plotting via Internet cafes sparks visions of subversive activities impeded by spam, pop-ups, and IMing. The players exhibit a genuine rapport: articulate dialogue unfolds logically, swiftly, and concisely. --Mary Shen Barnidge $14
