An Encounter with The People's Temple of Comedy by Randolph LeGrasse

Earlier this week I received an unsolicited email from an anonymous email address with no text in the body, only the subject like "For Steamroller" and a text file attached. I cautiously opened the text file and have copied + pasted its contents below. What follows appears to be an account from an Arkham, MA-based scholar about his experiences with and attempts to understand The People's Temple of Comedy, which begins a residency at the Laugh Factory this Sunday.

Those who are poorly acquainted with reality often believe that everything of interest to history has been documented to build up the knowledge base of future generations. Those unfortunate souls, such as myself, who are offered a terrible glimpse behind the veil, know all too well that sometimes secrets are kept secret for nameless eons, never meant to be peered upon by public awareness.

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Chris Stephens Performs at The Laugh Factory's Open Mic

 can be seen all over town, be it as a standup or as a writer and performer on The Late Live ShowAs a means of capturing the experience of being a young standup comedian tirelessly working Chicago's booming comedy scene, he sent over this record of a recent trip to the Laugh Factory's open mic night.

Hey chuckleheads, Chris Stephens here!

As I’m sure most of you know, I’ve been in this comedy game for the past five years now, really hitting the pavement and giving it my all. I’ve performed pretty much everywhere in this city and I’ve made every single person that lives in this shithole of a town laugh AT LEAST twice. Heck, last year I was number 10 and number 2 on this very blog's annual list of the top 10 up and coming Chicago comics. “10 and 2? I’m DRIVIN’ this thing!” That was a joke I said a lot. It has since been retired.

My point here is that I've put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into the scene, all of it for free. I've often wondered if my hard work would ever pay off, and I'm happy to report to you all that last Wednesday, it did.

Last Wednesday I had the honor of performing at the world famous Chicago Laugh Factory open mic.

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