Now that the Lincoln Lodge has found a new home in Subterranean, all of the many awesome shows that the Lodge houses and supports also have a new home! Double Feature, a really great show that features screenings of comedic short films with sets from local standups, is one of these shows!
DF producers Ian Abramson, Tim Barnes, Melody Kamali, and Marlena Rodriguez are back with a new video promo hyping the show's return on Wednesday, March 26th! Get your tickets here!
Read MoreMy favorite part of doing this website is getting to spotlight the work being done by the most talented people in the hugely exciting and talented Chicago comedy community. I reached out to a bunch of these people and other friends of The Steamroller to share their top five favorite people, places, and things from Chicago comedy 2013. Check out a huge list of top fives, as well as my personal list, below!
Favorite thing: The Late Live Show
This shouldn't be a shock to anyone familiar with The Steamroller. The Late Live Show was the best comedy show of any kind in Chicago, and now it lives in L.A., where Real Actual Famous People are guests (like Mad Men's Rich Sommer and Freaks and Geeks' Samm Levine). The final run of shows earlier this year at iO were some of the funniest, most well-executed nights of comedy I've ever seen; it was so exciting to see a collective with such a strong, specific comedic voice come into their own in front of packed houses week after week. They're coming back next month for a handful of shows at iO and SketchFest, and I couldn't be more excited.
Favorite festival: A Jangleheart Circus
I can't believe how perfect A Jangleheart Circus was. On paper, a three day festival of improv and sketch from over 100 (mostly local) independent teams and performers might sound well intentioned but ultimately unrealistic. In real life, it was electrifying proof of the power of Chicago's underground improv comedy scene. Endless congratulations are due to the festivals' organizers, Alex, Walt, and Caitlin, the folks responsible for making the Upstairs Gallery the palace of comedy it is. Jangleheart packed an unbelievable number of friendly, clued-in comedy people (performers and fans alike) into one venue, filling out shows on three separate stages, distilling everything that's cool and energizing about SketchFest into one no bullshit Summer weekend.
Favorite one-off/concept show: Henry Soapfloats' Funeral/HIJINKS November (tie)
I've written a whole bunch about both Hijinks (the monthly show produced by Two Bunnies Eating Flowers and Sovereign at the Public House Theater) and Henry Soapfloats' funeral (organized by local standup Ian Abramson) on here, so, again, this should come as no surprise. Ian Abramson's Funeral For A Prop Comic was a delightfully absurd, fully realized vision put on in a death trap of a basement, featuring some of the funniest, strangest up-and-coming standups in the city flexing their solo sketch muscles.
I posted a breathless wrapup of The HIJINKS Trolley Show earlier this month, and want to reiterate one last time that it was one of the most delightful things I'd ever seen, made all the more special considering of the pitch-black darkness the two teams behind HIJINKS are generally known for. It felt like one of those shows that, in 15 years, 300 people will talk about as if they were there. They weren't.
Favorite internet thing:
Yes Yes Garfbert Yes!
Favorite audience member: Fard Muhammad/Katie McVay (tie)
Fard and Katie are two of the biggest assets to any audience in Chicago. The effect of Fard's tremendous, purely delighted laugh, which can be heard soundtracking most, if not all footage from the Late Live Show (normally punctuated by shrieks of joy), is amplified tenfold by his unwavering proclivity for grabbing a seat in the (normally vacant) front row at every comedy show.
It goes without saying that Katie's one of my favorite comics working in Chicago right now, with perspective that perfectly vacillates between crippling self-consciousness and a total lack thereof. As an audience member, she's often struck by fits of boisterous laughter so ridiculous and sincere, that fellow audience members are enabled to comfortably indulge in their own unhinged enjoyment, which is an incredible thing to watch happen.
First Annual Steamroller Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award: The Lincoln Lodge
Had the window for best of submissions not closed a few days before it was announced that The Lincoln Restaurant was closing and thus The Lincoln Lodge was suddenly cast out into the void, in search of a new home base, most of the lists below would look a lot different.
I'm working on a longer thing about The Lodge's enduring influence and continued greatness, but for now, I'm going to have to speak for all those on this list and beyond: The Lincoln Lodge was (and is, it's not dead) an incredibly important, reliably awesome home for weird, interesting comedy in Chicago throughout the 21st century. Lodge Papa Mark Geary, along with his myriad cast members, worked to create something wholly unique and good. I'm confident that they will find a new home and continue to support and create great comedy well into the future.
Read MoreThe four producers of , Ian Abramson, Tim Barnes, Melody Kamali, and Marlena Rodriguez, return with another thrilling, unpredictable edition of Critics on the Street.
Tim talks race with a hispanic filmgoer! Marlena gets called "not normal" for having a black friend! Ian hits his side while laughing at a seventh grader's jokes! Melody skillfully plugs the show's Instagram page mid teen girl fight! More stuff, too!
Read MoreVery exciting! The producers of Double Feature, a totally unique hybrid short film festival and standup showcase return with another Critics on the Street video! Turns out a bunch of people actually went to see Kick Ass 2 .
Double Feature is , at The Den Theatre, and features standup from Clark Jones, Kristen Toomey, Alex Stone, Ian Abramson, Tim Barnes, and Marlena Rodriguez, as well as a bunch of short films from a bunch of awesome folks that have yet to be announced.
Read More, a Wicker Park-based standup comedy/short film festival returns to the lovely Den Theatre this Wednesday, July 31st, at 9pm. I'm happy to premiere their ridiculous new promo video, which DF producer explains: "consists of us doing a man on the street video outside of a movie theater (critic on the street) on the hottest night of summer thus far. In the middle of one of our first interviews the power goes out and we then talk to the recently refunded customers and have them criticize the few minutes of the movie they caught."
Check out the clip below!
Also, if you're interested in going to Double Feature this Wednesday (which features standup from Adam Burke, Tyson Karrasch, Kenny DeForest, Melody Kamali, Marlena Rodriguez, and Andy Fleming & Stephanie Hasz, and videos from Comedians You Should Know, The Katydids, Big Dog Eat Child, Paul Thomas, and more), I've got a pair of tickets to give away! If you want to win them, email The Steamroller () and say so!
Read MoreDouble Feature is a new monthly show happening the final Wednesday of the month at in Wicker Park. Each month, a handful of standups will split stage time with a series of short comedy films from Chicago-based filmmakers. The show is produced by a quartet of up-and-coming comics, Ian Abramson, Tim Barnes, Melody Kamali, and Marlena Rodriguez, whose shared interest in standup and filmmaking birthed this unique concept.
In advance of next week's inaugural show, here's an exclusive clip of the four producers' recent man-on-the-street misadventures at The Bean, a tourist magnet in downtown Chicago. is next Wednesday, April 24th at 9pm at the Den Theatre, tickets are $5 and can be preordered here.