Well, I offered everyone here the chance to Poke A Bear With A Stick but none of you were interested, so I was left to my own devices on my first of two nights here in Chicago on my way towards Boston and beyond.
I made my way to the downtown Zanies comedy club for their Rising Star Showcase. Truth be told, I was hoping to get ON that Rising Star Showcase, but I didn't know the procedures for doing so...and Bert has a rather rigid structure to such opportunities, as is his absolute right...and so, I went just as a spectator.
...and, I have to say, it was very odd being in a comedy club, by myself, where nobody in the audience knew I was a comedian, watching the show as a spectator... Hasn't happened in a long time. I had to watch myself from laughing at the process rather than the jokes...as that would be rather rude.
...although, I'll share one moment that I couldn't help laughing at the process not the joke. One performer, in the middle of his six minutes on stage, walked over to the nearby stool to check his set list/notes that he'd left there...then he walked back to the center of the stage and announced, "So, my name is Pat McGann." Then he paused.
And I laughed... I couldn't help it.
Obviously, he was about to do a run of jokes about his name...but the way he did it, it made it seem like he had to go to check his notes to remember what his own name was...
More about Pat below.
I'd never been to Zanies before, but it is spoken of highly by the touring comics that I'm friends with... I was surprised that it seemed kind of small, but it actually is the perfect size for a hand-grenade style room (a room where if a joke works, the room explodes...as the audience is close in tight, so the fragments of one person laughing hit every audience member...making it a room that is easy to feel like you're doing well in...) The design is definitely "Heritage Comedy Club" chic...with the walls festooned with ancient headshots of performers who have, mostly, gone on to bigger things...
There are also a run of larger, hand painted, 80's-style colorized caricatures of some of the bigger names to have been part of the Zanies history, hanging over the mirrors and headshots.
They were, in order: (Irish singer) Van Morrison, Joyce DeWitt (from Three's Company), Patrick Swayze, William Shatner (as Captain James T. Kirk), Dustin Diamond (from Saved By the Bell), Max Schrek (the actor from the classic silent film "Nosferatu") and (soon-to-be former Alaskan Governor) Sarah Palin.
(Actually, I believe they were: Sam Kinison, Marsha Warfield, John Caponera, Bobby Slayton, Jay Leno, Richard Lewis and Jerry Seinfeld...but go there sometime and tell me my other guesses are wrong.)
The room runs like clockwork. The seating is efficient and keeps people right up front and center, the servers come over and get your two item minimum orders early. ($4.50 for a soft drink, $7.75 for a pizza for one...) They let you know that to avoid the negative reaction of a check drop, you'll have to stay for the entire 90 minute show because you won't get your checks until after the show--and you can't leave unless you show the person at the front door your paid check.
I know little of that matters to alt-comics who are used to throwing a show wherever and however they can...but as someone who has helped run a traditional comedy club before, I could see the value of doing it this way...and no one seemed to have a problem with any of it, which made it all about the show.
The show started on time and the audience, mostly young and mostly tourists, were treated to nine comics who were all hoping to impress Bert enough to be considered for future work at Zanies.
The MC was Dobie Maxwell. I swear that I've worked with Dobie in the past, but we talked afterward and we couldn't match our previous schedules, so who knows? Definitely a good hearted, fun person to run a night like this...and the audience felt instantly comfortable with his guiding us through the show. (And we're both ex-Wisconsinites, so how could I not be a fan...)
Everybody on the show was solid. I'll give a couple of thoughts on each (with apologies if I misspell a name or two), but the whole show was strong, top to bottom.
Taking the bullet was Eric Pennell. Young guy. Frat guy with an edge...talking about drinking, drugs, hookers... He checked his watch a couple of times and complained about how going up first made it hard for him to get the kind of reactions he was expecting.
Honestly, I felt like the audience was being polite--they stopped laughing in order to hear the next joke fully...only to get criticized for it. But that aggressiveness played into Eric's approach, so it fit...
Second up was Michael Alexander. Michael is another performer that I swear I've seen before...but I'm not sure when or where. Michael's thing is pop culture/current events jokes (which is something I like)...done with an amazingly classic set-up/punchline construction (which I also tend to like, but Michael holds onto classic structure like it was a religion.) Could have been a late night monologue had all of the topics been up to the minute (topics ranged from Michael Jackson's death to slightly dated Britney & Lindsay bits to election-era McCain jokes.)
The problem with that traditional joke structure is that it doesn't lend itself to building avalanche style laughs...so he felt, like Eric, that the audience was going station-to-station with him...they'd laugh at a joke and then get quiet... At the end of his set, Michael told the crowd, strongly, to "Loosen the fuck up..." but I don't think they were being tight as much as they were being oddly considerate...
Third...Bryan Berrey. Bryan was part of the Just For Laughs festival taping...and I can see why. Telegenic guy with a definably awkward approach. (For people familiar with the Seattle comedy scene--imagine Ross Parsons, if Ross Parsons looked like Jared Leto.)
Not every joke worked and his natural self-amusement caused him to break character a couple of times...but I enjoyed what he was doing... Especially a running joke where he debates random people with deep mathematical logic over things deserving of being glossed over.
Definitely someone I'd want to see again.
Fourth...Jessie Baltus from Minneapolis. Another person I think I'd seen previously...possibly in the Twin Cities. And since he's sporting a Rollie Fingers mustache as part of his "handlebar with chin puff" (look it up) look, I think I'd remember him.
Jessie calmly allowed himself not to propel his performance forward in his first couple of minutes on stage. It was a daring move, because it didn't feel like he was supposed to be up there...but it then allowed him to leave the structured jokes of the previous performers behind so he could share his anecdote-based material...
In the end, he comes across as a naturally funny (and odd) person. That can never be a bad thing.
Fifth...Kevin Bartini from New York. Kind of Matt Weinhold-like...in build, voice and funny. Kevin's material was personal, original and well presented. In the six minutes he was given on stage, he easily presented the strongest full presentation of anyone I saw tonight.
Definitely would want to see him again.
Sixth was Pat McGann. Other than playing a little hopscotch with his topics (to which attention was drawn to when he'd check his notes), I thought Pat was strong and solid. He picks apart topics with a certain Dennis Miller-ness (the old, funny Dennis Miller...)
Bet he works a lot--now and in the future.
Seventh was George Tracey. "What the hey!"--is a fun catchphrase the way George delivers it...part Chicago good ol' boy, part brain injured survivor of a car vs tree accident (that's not a joke, that's actually what happened to George.)
I've seen quite a few performers with brain injuries in my day...and George was definitely on the "getting laughs because he's funny and likable" side and not the "getting sympathy because of his condition."
Eighth up was Michael Palascak, which was an unexpected treat. Like Bryan Berrey, Michael was featured in the Just For Laughs tapings...and he's headlining a lot of the clubs that I've been researching on my tour. I also talked with Ron Reid, manager of Seattle's Comedy Underground and producer of the Seattle International Comedy Competition, before I'd left Seattle and he'd mentioned Michael as being one of the buzzed-about names in the industry right now.
Again, I can see what the industry is seeing in him. He's young, tall, awkward, smart... At first I'd thought to compare him to Josh Blue (without the palsy, obviously) for his taking the odd, simple truth...but I've since refined my thoughts to make more of an Anthony Clark comparison.
Michael is still doing a lot of college-based or college-referencing material. That should naturally phase itself out over time as he develops.
Definitely going to keep my eye out for him in the future.
Closing the show on this night was Danny Kallas. Danny was, if I may betray a prejudice, what I was expecting from a local showcase in Chicago. A tough, no-nonsense North Sider who comes across as very natural in making strong opinions funny.
He yells, but his quiet asides are what make him special...as they give smart context to the broader opinions.
And that was the show. I had a good time, saw some good comedy, met some good people.
Not bad for a Monday night in a town where I don't know anybody.
pg--I'm going to balance out my time here in Chicago by trying to get in to see tonight's Chicago Underground Comedy show. It's not stage time, but it's something to do.--chicago (for one more day)
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Originally Posted by KevinLee
