I love comedy, I love music, I love odd ball stuff. Tonight I’m hosting a show that combines ALL of my loves. It’s a show called Blewtenanny! It’s from Blewt! productions who brought you the hit comedy game show Don’t Spit the Water and the current hit talent compitition at the Lakeshore Theater called Impress These Apes.

The show is at 11pm tonight at the Strawdog Theater (3829 N. Broadway) and is only $5. Tonight’s show will have two amazing Chicago stand-up comics: Chad Briggs, and Robert Buscemi. The night’s music comes from the amazing Samantha Cathcart, and the odd ball stuff will come from professional prankster Ken Barnard (the guy who protested the filling of the Montrose sink hole).

If that line-up does not sell you then perhaps some philanthropy might sway you. The Strawdog Theater has a bar with inexpensive beers. By buying the inexpensive beers at the Strawdog’s bar, you help support the non-profit artistic endeavors of the Strawdog Theater. Yup, by drinking beer, you support the arts. Never been easier to do good.

Blewtenanny!
Strawdog Theater
3829 N. Broadway
Chicago, IL
11pm
$5

Here’s some stand-up highlights from a Blewtenanny! back in July (NSFW because of language):

(picture of Ken Barnard performing at Blewtenanny! from Erica Reid)

What’s going on today? Two fun things involving movies. First the “tonight only!” going on.

I’m a huge fan of old movies, and became a huge fan of early film pioneer Georges Melies after reading the young adult novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. Which means tonight is my lucky night because tonight at 7pm at Sonotheque is the “Magic in Cinema” showcase featuring films by Georges Melies. It’s only $8 to see silent films by the first special effects wizard. Worth every movie lover’s penny.

Also, going on every Wednesday night at 8pm at ComedySpotz Theater now till November 19th is the amazing Neutrino Project. The Neutrino Project is an improvised movie. The actors get a suggestion, run out the door with a camera, and then, before you know it, the audience is watching it all unfold on the movie screen in front of them. It’s one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, and has a top notch cast of Chicago’s finest improvisers. Gather your $10 now while you enjoy this preview of the Chicago Neutrino Project:

Amazing Chicago comedy blog The Bastion is shutting down after two years of dedicated service to the Chicago comedy community. This is sad for a couple of reasons, one is that I know of no other web site that wants my photos of Chicago comedy, and two the bastion has been a great source of information about the vibrant Chicago comedy scene.

I will try my best to post comedy goings ons here on metblogs. You can also go to the blogs of the Bastions main writers Elizabeth McQuern and Kristy Mangel for their super-fan’s-eye view of the Chicago comedy world.

We know Chicago has been working hard to lure the 2016 Olympics here. Now, as part of Chicago’s efforts, there’s a website called Chicago 2016 Channel. Here Chicago folks like you and me can submit our videos to answer the question “Why Chicago?” Starting today, if your video answers that question well enough you can win their “why Chicago competition”. The winner gets honored at a 2016 event on October 3rd and will get to meet Olympic swimming wunderkind Michael Phelps.

Not much of a film maker? Then just go over and watch a few. Amazing Chicago sketch group, Schedenfreude has contributed some including one of my favorites:

Technically it’s not Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K for the uninitiated), but, rather, Cinematic Titanic which is just as awesome.

Cinematic Titanic comes from the creator and star of MST3K, Joel Hodgson, and has MST3Ks cast and crew of Trace Beaulieu, J. Elvis Weinstein, Frank Conniff, and Mary Jo Pehl. They continue their amazing talent (and it is a talent) of hilariously talking over really bad movies. So far they have done three films as Cinematic Titanic, BUT they will not be doing those three movies. These guys will be riffing over three completely NEW unreleased movies when they come to Chicago in December!

You probably need to know the where and when. This will all be happening at The Lakeshore Theater on December 18th - 20th. Five shows, three movies, and lifetime of regret for any MST3K fan that does not attend at least one of these. I’m saving up my $35 per show so I can see all three. In the meantime, I’ll have to just watch this Cinematic Titanic preview over and over again:

I’m about to be a horrible tease — Superior Donuts is only playing at Steppenwolf through this Sunday (August 24) and tickets are very hard to come by. But it’s an amazing piece of theater and if there’s any way you can see it, you should.

Arthur Przybyszewski (Michael McKean) runs a donut shop in Uptown that his father opened nearly 60 years ago. In walks Franco Wicks (Jon Michael Hill), a brash young African-American man who talks himself in a job. With just a few other characters, a neighborhood is sketched in. The plot is minimal, and perhaps the few missteps of the play are when it tries too hard to give “stakes” to the action — I would have been happy to just watch those characters talk and learn about their lives. And, delightfully, it’s hilarious. And so very, very Chicago. I give it 10 stars and 5 thumbs up!

(Donuts photo by ReneS)

What could be an easier way to contribute to charity then watch a comedy show? How about if that show has some of Chicago’s best stand-up comedians in it. Boom! I’m sold.

This Friday at 9 PM, amazing Chicago comedian Carrie Callahan will be hosting a benefit comedy show called “Easier Then Running a Marathon”. It takes place at the Lincoln Restaurant (home of the famous comedy showcase The Lincoln Lodge) at 4008 N. Lincoln. The cost is only $10 and all proceeds go to AIDS research.

Then, Saturday is “Angel’s Farewell Show”. This is a send off to much beloved Chicago comedy super-fan Angel Busque. The show will feature her favorite Chicago comedians which means for only $10 you can see Jason Fever [The Mockumentals], Brian Potrafka [Doug Stanhope's The Unbookables, author of "Small & Wrong"], Dan Kaufman (The Bob & Tom Show), Sean Flannery (producer and co-host of the Internet radio talk show the Visitors Locker Room), David Kovac (Performed at the request of Mayor Richard M. Daley for the 73rd Annual U.S. Conference of Mayors), Ricky Carmona (HBO Latino), Brendan McGowan (Chicago Underground Comedy), CJ Sullivan (Visitors Locker Room, Chicago Tribune’s Red Eye), Renee Gauthier (Victoria Beckham: Coming to America), Cayne Collier (producer of Chicago’s longest running stand-up showcase, the Elevated), hosted by local favorite Bradley Fojas (NBC’s Stand Up for Diversity). Plus, all the money goes toward Lupus Foundation of America, Illinois Chapter. Doors for this show open at 7:30 and the show starts at 8 PM.

Back in February of this year, I heard some rumblings about a Chicago Comedy Festival taking place on Navy Pier during the autumn of this year. It’s supposed to have 100 performers, three stages, and a partridge in a pear tree. I know it’s still summer, but we’re not too far from autumn, and I have yet to hear anything more about this Chicago Comedy Festival (the website is just a placeholder with no information). I’m intrigued, but it’s easier to find information on the Just for Laughs festival coming to Chicago in summer of 2009. I was starting to loose hope that this Chicago Comedy Festival thing was going to happen.

Then today I found this youtube channel labeled Chicago comedy festival. This channel has been uploading segments of a documentary hosted by comedy legend Bob Zmuda about the Chicago Comedy Festival from 2001 over the past two days. If you have 30 minutes (or eight chunks of about five minutes) and you have an interest in comedy, then check out these videos. The documentary is filled with comedy treats, but one of the biggest treats for me was seeing one of my favorite rooms in Chicago, The Lincoln Lodge, pop up around the 2:30 mark in this segment. During that segment you also get to see alternative comics like Neil Hamburger, and SNL’s Fred Armisen playing his character Fericito. Of course, Chicago comedy stalwart, Zanies, is there with a whole mess of amazing comedians to numerous to list. To start you off, I’ll put the first part of the documentary here:

I have been neglecting my duties to the Metblog community, and for that I humbly apologize. My every waking moment for the last month or so was occupied by the critically acclaimed Bloody Bess: A Tale of Piracy and Revenge, which has now closed — and not a moment too soon. Why? Because it is almost that time of the year again. What time, you ask?

Football time.

Now before I get all gushy about the Bears, did you guys know we have a women’s tackle football team here? And did you know that they are awesome? The Chicago Force play the Dallas Diamonds for the Independent Women’s Football League Championship tomorrow night at the Holmgren Athletic Complex at North Park University. Tickets are only fifteen bucks, but as it is the championship game, they will sell out fast.

And of course, the Bears are back in training camp, and the preseason is but a few scant weeks away. The drama this year (like every year) centers on the quarterback position, with Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton competing for the top spot. In this fan’s opinion, you’ve got six in one, half dozen in the other. With Rex you get flashes of brilliance marred by periods of extreme crappitude, while in Kyle you get a fairly consistent meh. Grossman claims to have had the most productive off-season of his career, but time will tell if it pays off. For my money I would stick with Rex as the starter simply for that chance that something amazing might happen. But realistically, it is time for the Bears to look elsewhere.

The other excitement of training camp is always Who Is Holding Out for a Better Contract? This year Brian Urlacher played it classy by showing up for all the scheduled workouts even while his contract was still being negotiated. First-round pick Chris Williams came to terms just in time for training camp, which is always good news. The only hold-out was kick-return genius and mediocre wide receiver Devin Hester, who thinks that his eleven returns for touchdowns in the last two years warrant a raise of some kind (hint: It does). Some have suggested that Hester may be more valuable on the trading block, but I’d hate to lose a guy who, behind Urlacher, has practically become the face of the Bears over the past two seasons. His poor performance at wide receiver is due mostly to his lack of experience (Hester played defense in college), and if he can achieve even a fraction of the magic he’s shown on special teams he will be a force to be reckoned with on offense.

The first game of preseason is Thursday, August 7, against Kansas City. I cannot wait.

Oh, yeah . . . The Cubs and Sox are both still in first place, and I hear we have a couple of hockey teams and a soccer club around here somewhere too.

I wrote about the amazing low prices at Edgewater Produce Edgewater Produce (5509 N. Clark St., near Bryn Mawr), earlier on Chicago Metblogs.

I thought I’d offer a visual representation of what $20 can get you there:

Chocolate covered pretzels - $2.17
Chocolate covered peanuts - $3.35
Sesame sticks - $1.36
5 MacIntosh apples - $1.25
Big box of assorted cookies - $2.00
Fresh blueberries - $1.98
20 small flour tortillas - $1.69
Big hunk of jalapeno cheese - $3.89
10 Senor Freeze popsicles - $.99
Fresh bunch of spinach - $1.98
Broccoli crown - $.36

As a comparison, if you were going to spend $20 on Guinness at your average Chicago pub, you’d probably get two beers.

Photo by me, original can be seen here.