10 reasons why Cole’s is the best comedy open mic in Chicago
It's 9:45 p.m. on a drizzly Wednesday night in early May and I'm making my way through a crowded dive bar in Logan Square. A comedy open mic — some...
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5 reasons you need to check out Young Hustle Comedy
In 2016 a group of four young unknown comedians kicked off a monthly comedy show in a Puerto Rican restaurant in Humboldt Park in front of an audience of 30...
Tom Segura at Chicago Theatre: He’s genuinely interested in your offense
Comedian Tom Segura has a message for anyone offended by his jokes (or, as he put it Saturday night during the second of two sold-out shows at the Chicago Theatre,...
Den Theatre does comedy big — adding a full cabaret and full calendar. Next up, Beth Stelling.
“I thought to myself, ‘Oh, wouldn’t this be a great place to shoot an album?’” comedian Maria Bamford said Saturday night of the elegant new comedy space at the Den...
Aziz Ansari at Chicago Theatre: Are we jerks? Reformed jerks? Ansari hashes it out, and eventually gets around to himself
“I just kept waiting for him to talk about it,” the guy next to me said after comedian Aziz Ansari’s show Tuesday night at the Chicago Theatre — the first...
Part music, part funny, ‘Comedy for Musicians’ at Metro is all deadpan Fred Armisen
Usually before a comedian takes the stage, the music quiets, the lights dim and — especially if they’re a headliner — someone announces them onto the stage. If the comedian...
Kathleen Madigan at the Chicago Theatre: Her jokes are about prescription drugs instead of politics — if we’re talking age, she’s an old pro
“I started here in Chicago at Zanies 30 years ago,” said stand-up comedian and St. Louis native Kathleen Madigan proudly from the Chicago Theatre stage Saturday night in jeans and...
It’s a funny thing, divorce: Michele Traina and a cast of comics riff on relationships in ‘Divorce Diaries’ at Zanies
Most people don’t particularly relish delving into the failures they’ve experienced in life, especially not in front of a group of strangers. But most people aren’t stand-up comics. On any...
You don’t know what comedians or where they’ll play, you just show up: Shhh, Don’t Tell Comedy
It’s seven o’clock on a Friday night and the WinTrust Bank on Damen and Melrose is closed. The doors are locked and the lights are mostly off. Inside the bank...
Michelle Wolf on a frozen night at Thalia Hall: You know her from that White House dinner, but she doesn’t take sides
“Thanks for coming,” comedian Michelle Wolf said, taking the stage for the first of two sold-out shows at Pilsen’s Thalia Hall on an especially cold and snowy Saturday night. “I...