The cast of Los Angeles-based sketch group (built from the bones of Chicago's Late Live Show) put together an excellent webseries called Life Hacks For The Mentally Insane for Funny or Die. You can watch all six episodes of this series below, and if you live in Los Angeles, you should go check out The Wheel Show each month at Meltdown Comics!
Read MoreSuper Talent Show returns for GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS!
Chicago's latest, greatest variety show, , returns to iO next Saturday, June 13th with a very special show. After three months of insurgent abetting and dictator overthrowing, the hosts of STS, Nicky Martin, Steven King, and Blake Burkhart, become girls.
What does this mean for the show moving forward? Who can say? More details are available in the following video:
Read MoreConor Sullivan (ex-Oh Theodora) Gets Some Bad News!
When Conor Sullivan, a founding member of Oh Theodora, relocated to Los Angeles last year, the group continued doing shows as a trio for several months, before announcing plans to dissolve this Spring. This Wednesday, April 1st, Oh Theodora is performing , but apparently no one gave Conor any advanced warning before the announcement was made public.
Thankfully the cameras were rolling to capture his reaction to this emotionally charged news. Please watch this video before the inevitable DMCA Takedown ruins the fun for all of us.
Read MoreTailgaters: The Complete Season 1
The cast of , an-LA based comedy show made up of several former Chicagoans/Steamroller MVPs, released a webseries called Tailgaters last week. It's a great, weird little series of shorts that I highly recommend you watch right away, and, if you live in LA, check out The Wheel Show, monthly at Meltdown Comics!
Read MoreVideo premiere: "Brunch" by John Eisenrich
I've gone on record (several times) as being a huge John Eisenrich fan, and this latest video is a perfect encapsulation of why I think he's so great. Similar in style to clips like the now-legendary and the wonderful "Brunch" features Christina Boucher and was shot by Brandon Hauer. Watch it below!
Read MoreThe Steamroller's new podcast!
Very exciting news: The Steamroller is podcasting! Chicago-based writer/improviser/golden boy Harrison George has been recording a series of interviews over the last few months with performers from the Chicago comedy scene, and we're going to release these recordings biweekly, starting today!
Our first episode is a chat with Lee and Matt Barats, who recently moved from Chicago to LA and NYC, respectively. We've got a lot of fun things planned for the coming weeks, and I'm excited for you to hear it!
To hear the show, you can subscribe on iTunes or stream over the internet on the show's dedicated page here on The Steamroller!
Two Bunnies Eating Flowers and their director, Mike Klasek talk process
Earlier this week, Chicago-based writer/performer/director Mike Klasek posted some insight into the rehearsal and idea generation practices he uses when directing sketch group Two Bunnies Eating Flowers on a Facebook thread about experimental comedy. Since my life is one of an audience member, I rarely get to engage with the behind-the-scenes practices of groups like Two Bunnies.
I reached out to Mike about fleshing out this post into something a bit more structured. He wrote up a list of some ideas he's tried out since coming on as the groups director, and had each of the three members of Two Bunnies offer annotations on this list, giving their take on the experiences and experiments. I found the glimpse into the processes of one of the most unique sketch groups going super interesting and I hope you do too!
Read MoreSeven Minutes in Purgatory returns to Chicago November 18th!
Ian Abramson and The Steamroller's standup comedy science experiment returns to Chicago with a special one night only event on !
Standup comedians perform their material directly to a camera alone in a soundproof room while the audience watches live onscreen at the beautiful and historic Music Box Theater.
Guests include Danny Kallas, Mike Lebovitz, Rebecca O'Neal, Candy Lawrence, Jeff Steinbrunner, Trey Brown, and John Eisenrich.
This show doubles as the tour kickoff event for Thanksgiving in Purgatory: Ian Abramson on Tour, which will take Ian and Seven Minutes in Purgatory all over the Midwest in the following two weeks. Comics in Denver, Omaha, and Kansas City will have the chance to participate in their own pop-up edition of 7MiP before Ian moves to Los Angeles in December.
Poster design by Tim Giuliani
Tickets are on sale now and are extremely limited!
See you there!