Just for Laughs and TBS wrapped up its inaugural week of comedy here in Chicago and we managed to catch a dozen different shows which translated to more than 100 comic faces over the course of five days. A few thoughts on the fest that was:
Best homecoming: Both nationally and here at home, Hannibal Buress’s star is rising fast. It’s easy to understand why. In a 10-minute set at the Lincoln Lodge (and later in the week at Zanies the guy burned through a dozen or so fascinating bits that were right-brained, strange and fascinating and that we can only sum up with the phrase “You had to be there.” Read more »
I’ve been hyping musical comic Jon LaJoie for a while now but I admit I’d never seen the guy live before until last night and I was worried that the Internet sensation wouldn’t deliver. The Montreal comic has racked up YouTube hits with videos like “Everyday Normal Guy,” a rap song about a mundane dude—”I like the show Gilmore Girls, motherfuckers,” he sings—”and 2 Girls One Cup song—some people like to kiss, some people like to hug…some people puke semidigested shit into each other’s mouths.” But like Weird Al, this kind of juvenile fodder seems best encapsulated within the three-minute video format.
But I was happy that Thursday night’s show, “Live as Fuck,” proved me wrong. Read more »
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.
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If the crowd gathering under the marquee at the Chicago Theatre last night was any indication of the weekend to come, audiences for the Just for Laughs live shows—which kicked off Wednesday—will consist mostly of suburban housewives (and the men who love them) and power lesbians. But this was no ordinary festival kickoff—it was the taping for Ellen’s Bigger, Wider, Longer show, which airs later this month on TBS. It was a razzle-dazzle evening of lights! camera! Ellen!, with energy cranked up to megawatt levels. Read more »
Time Out Chicago Comedy editor Jason Heidemann reports from the Just for Laughs festival:
I made it to the Lincoln Lodge just in time for the Just for Laughs Homecoming show, featuring nine returning comics. They came, they conquered, and now they’re back to impress industry people who are scouting the fest for new talent. You get the idea. Nick Vatterott, who left only a few weeks ago, emceed the evening and warmed up the crowd with bits like, “Give it up for giving it up,” “Anybody in the audience married or not married?” and “I’ll be selling CDs after the show…Led Zepplin, 1,000 hours of America Online…” But Vatterott hit his stride when he launched into a bit about hangovers. “I woke up the next morning and somebody had written the word forehead on my dick” (think about it for a minute). Later he ranted about a public-service announcement that blasted the use of the phrase That’s gay. “That’s retarded, I thought.… I can make that joke, my boyfriend’s retarded.”
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