The sold-out crowd at the Lakeshore Theater Thursday reveled in its nerdiness as it awaited comic gurus Robert Smigel and Dino Stamatopoulos, who joined the Just for Laughs fest for a first-of-its-kind screening of the Unaired Bozo Circus Parody. By our estimation, few were disappointed. Both were in full irreverence mode as they gave away the snacks and brews set aside for them backstage to the audience and ticked off a list of words and phrases they would not be using onstage due to the presence of Stamotopoulos’s mom in the audience. They agreed they would not say fuck, sweet titties, the c-word, cuntly, cuntford (oddly, they deemed cunterly okay), action cunt and the phrase remember when you blew me and remember when I blew you.

But then they got down to history of the Bozo Circus parody. Those of us who grew up in Chicago remember one the original actors who played Bozo the Clown—the indelible Bob Bell—and it was him and the WGN version of Bozo specifically that attracted Smigel. I had forgotten that Bozo was a global phenomenon, but its Chicago incarnation supposedly remains the most successful locally produced children’s television program in history. Fox greenlit Smigel’s pilot back in 1998 and as Smigel pointed out, “When you see it you’re not going to believe that any network ever wanted this.”

The single show features Smigel as “Prozo the clown,” Stamotopoulos as “Wizzy” and TV Funhouse host Doug Dale as “Looky” or Cookie. It was filmed in front of a live studio audience—a totally bewildered mixture of parents and children, a few of whom were clearly amused by joke, many of whom were not, and watching the audience reactions is the short pilot’s second greatest joy. The first is its attention to detail. Everybody remembers Bozo, but if you’re a Chicagoan who watched it daily as a kid, you’ll find Smigel’s version especially eerie, with its spot-on re-creation of signature show moments like the magic arrows that choose contestants, the Grand March and the famous pie fights that happened periodically. Smigel and cohorts do a fine job nailing the inflections and cadence of their real-life counterparts—another supreme joy. But never mind my ramblings, the show has been leaked to the Internetm and you can watch it here.  Note that Stephen Colbert has a supporting role as the voice of Furball the cat, and the superb Jon Glazer and the late Jim Zulevic both share writing credits. Smigel acknowledged that Comedy Central has express interest in bringing the show back.

Afterward, Smigel and Stamotopoulous took a few questions from the audience and showed rarely seen animated clips like Porn for Kids, a Conspiracy Theory Schoolhouse Rocks and a brilliantly tasteless Michael Jackson parody. I had to dash as Smigel brought the indefatigable Triumph the Insult Comic dog—who returns to The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien tonight. As the door swung shut behind me, I heard Triumph blasting the Lakeshore Theater: “I haven’t seen a shithole this huge since Kirstie Alley picked up a seashell.”