REVIEWS
from actual audience members

Sundays at Mullen’s on Clark, Chicago (no longer running)
January 19, 2004 Paul H Chicago , IL  4 stars
Good show good drinks. Real fun and funny. Host was hilarious…. Silly Sunday night basically. I am not, not going back! Paul :-0)

Saturdays at Chase Café, Chicago (no longer running)
June 05, 2004 Matt J Chicago , IL  4 stars
There are a lot of talented unknowns who show up to make this coffee house outburst with laughter. If you want a fun, inexpensive night, you can't lose with these comics.

March 28, 2004 T. H. Chicago , IL  4 stars
The show is a deal at $5. There's something for everyone to laugh at. It's a different thing to do for a Saturday, and you walk out realizing that you've laughed for two hours straight.

March 10, 2004 Kelly M. Chicago , IL  4 stars
All ages! No worrying about fake ID's and such, cute little coffee shop in Rogers Park with great comedy shows that make you pee your pants! Great date or friends outing.

November 03, 2003 Joe Bob Chicago , IL  4 stars
Come see some great local up and coming comics for very little money, see them before they get big.

Fridays at Café Amante (no longer running)
January 20, 2005 Bob Hansen Crystal Lake, IL 4 stars
Cafe Amante was a great setting for a very enjoyable evening of comedy. The five comedians that performed were all very talented. Each comedian had a unique style that made the evening even more enjoyable.

January 20, 2005 Sean Quinn Crystal Lake, IL 3 stars
An overall solid comedy show. Two or three notably standout comics with a couple gems springing from the remaining few, a close-knit location with great food that makes for a solid Friday night chill spot afterwards. No cover makes this a no-brainer for people strapped for weekend spending cash.

Saturdays at Fusion (no longer running)
March 20, 2005 Bob Crystal Lake, IL
The four comics that performed were outstanding. The setting is perfect for being up close and personal with the performers. The food is OK and prices were average. I think they could make some improvements to the facility to give the comics a little more room to perform. Overall it was a great evening of entertainment.

Sundays at Raw Bar (no longer running)
December 7, 2005 Dee Miller Chicago, IL 3 stars 
So much fun. Highly recommended!

Saturdays at Pressure (current)
March 14, 2006 Jay Rigler Chicago, IL 4 stars
A great way to spend a Saturday night! The cafe is not very large, so you get up-close and personal with the comics! Tickets are $10 or $5 with a student ID... SERIOUSLY UNDERPRICED. Someday they will realize that these shows are worth so much more! Go now, so you can say "I saw that show for $10 at a little coffee shop!" AWESOME! 

   ARTICLES
Joking all the way to the bank
Comedy competition hopes to revive declining stand-up
By Dana Nelson- Columbia Chronicle 4-17-2007

In the 1980s, Chicago hosted popular comics in the stand-up boom of the century. Swarms of people jumped from club to club, hoping to see famous stand-up comedians such as Billy Crystal and Bill Hicks. More than a dozen comedy clubs operated throughout the week, hosting open mics and showcasing famous stars like Eddie Murphy and Robin Williams, who would later be broadcast to televisions across the nation.

However, the scene didn’t last long into the 1990s, as too many competing clubs and too few good comedians took the stage. This disheartened many audience members who turned to other venues and modes of comedy, such as improv, according to Bert Haas, the general manager of Zanies, a comedy club with locations in Chicago, St. Charles and Vernon Hills, Ill., as well as one in Nashville, Tenn.

Local comedian, Dave Odd, who has worked to improve stand-up since the crash, has started a comedy competition that promises $3,500 to the top three comedians in Chicago. He started it to bring more attention to stand-up comedy as well as change the way comedians look at performing.

“There’s just a mentality that comics in Chicago don’t take comedy seriously, they don’t look at it like a career choice; it’s just a hobby for them,” Odd said. “So when opportunities arrive, they don’t get around to it.”

The contest involves six weeks of preliminary rounds at Pressure Billiards and Comedy Cafe, 6318 N. Clark St., Kitty Moon, 6237 N. Clark St., and Jokes and Notes, 4641 S. King Drive. The preliminary rounds started March 16 and will end April 21.

There will be 64 comedians selected from the preliminary rounds, who will then go on to perform in eight weeks of semi-finals, with eight comedians performing each week. For this part of the contest, winning comedians will win small cash prizes and headline subsequent shows for $75. The top eight comedians will then perform in a final round on June 17, with the top three winning $2,000, $1,000 and $500, respectively.

“Contests are one of the easiest shows to get people to, because the audience is judging the show, so the comics are trying to get as many people as possible to come out,” Odd said.

Chicago has largely been known for its improv-based comedy due to the popularity of clubs like Second City and Improv Olympics, now called the iO Theater.

“This is not a stand-up town,” said Kelly Leonard, vice president of Second City. “The whole art form took a huge dip and all those clubs closed. That whole stand-up comedy boom trailed off and it’s never really recovered in the city.”

He said Second City and iO Theater are successful because they continued to put out good comedians, whereas the stand-up scene fell short when it came to continuous quality.

“[Second City] built a whole improv and sketch comedy scene that has really flourished and is really big, and there’s one club in the city, Zanies, that’s full time,” Leonard said.

Haas attributes Zanies’ longevity to its reputation.

“People will come in, they may not remember who they saw, but they remember they saw a great stand-up show, and they’ll come back because they saw a great show,” Haas said. He said he didn’t host open mics for this reason; most new comedians have raw talent that isn’t developed yet.

Odd agreed that many new comedians didn’t attract business, but he said venues such as Zanies only used the same comedians whose acts got old after time.

“For the most part open mics don’t have much of an audience because a good 70 percent of it is going to be terrible,” Odd said. “But there are so many good comics in the city who don’t get attention from local showcase rooms, simply because they’re not hanging out with the right people or at the right open mics.”

Because major venues such as Zanies and Second City don’t offer opportunities for new stand-up comedians to enter the scene, Odd started promoting open mics in bars and clubs all over the city.

“Zanies is milking their reputation, but not doing much for the local scene,” Odd said. He said he was trying to create a comedy club environment that catered to the demographic that other clubs such as the Lincoln Lodge and Zanies neglected, such as those in the 18 to 25 age bracket.

“There are way too many closed doors where they don’t need to be,” Odd said. “Comedy is going in a different direction and clubs don’t seem to want to keep up with that.”

In order to adapt to the changes of the comedy scene, Odd is putting on what he said is the biggest cash comedy contest to ever occur in Chicago.

One of the rules of the semi-finals is that the comedians have to bring at least 10 people to the show, which will be held at Garv Inn, 6546 Windsor Ave., in Berwyn. This is due to the dwindling audiences that have been present at previous shows, where most of the people in attendance are also comedians.

“It’s sort of dangerous,” Odd said. “Comics get used to performing for other comics and doing things that only other comics would find funny, which sometimes works for hipster crowds, but at the same time when you want to go beyond that to real audiences, that’s not going to fly.”

In order to keep the contest fair, voting audience members are required to tell who they came to see, as well as vote for two people, rather than one. Odd said there may be the possibility of people voting for their friend and the worst comedian on stage, but he said everyone else in the audience may be thinking the same thing and thus cause the worst person to win.

There is also going to be a panel of judges to critique the comedians who also have voting power. The judges cannot overrule the audience, but their votes will be worth more.

Odd said he hoped people took the contest seriously and came out, bringing friends and family as audience members.

“I think that’s going to give us a lot more credibility as far as the comedy event mentality goes,” Odd said.

Odd man out
Do Dave Odd’s stand-up contributions help our scene, or just make one?
Time Out Chicago / Issue 91: Nov 23–Nov 29, 2006
By Steve Heisler

New comics worship him or use him as a stepping stone. Audiences pack his rooms or cringe at his haphazard productions. Established comics despise him or hail him as the scene’s tragic hero. Regardless of your involvement with Chicago stand-up, you’ll inevitably run into Dave Odd. “I’ve done more for the Chicago comedy scene than anyone,” claims Odd, who’s performed stand-up for eight years himself. “I’ve put up over 1,000 shows since 2001. This year alone, I’ve put up over 200 comics at Pressure [Billiards & Café], which, I think, is more than other rooms have done in their entire history.”

There’s no denying Odd’s a workhorse. When he’s not on the road, Odd spends his hours e-mailing, following up on bookings, taking the stage at open mikes, putting together-slash-hosting comedy showcases and flyering the holy hell out of college campuses. He’s currently running three shows, and next month will add a bunch at Pressure and Kitty Moon. After spending so much time involved in the local scene, Odd’s developed a set of beliefs as to how it operates. “The Chicago comedy scene is like the high-school cafeteria, where everyone has found their little clique,” he says, the first thing out of his mouth when we meet. “The reason I put up shows now is because those cliques wouldn’t give me stage time when I started out.”

That’s all well and good for some; others see Odd’s actions causing more harm than good. “Dave Odd breathes this attitude of entitlement to stage time just by virtue of being a comic, and it sticks with [young comedians] throughout their careers,” says Mark Geary, coproducer of the vaunted Lincoln Lodge. “To get ahead, you have to work your nuts off, self-promote and prove you deserve stage time.” The Lincoln Lodge, Chicago Underground Comedy and the Elevated are widely accepted as the most consistent alternative stand-up rooms in the city. The Lodge’s booking philosophy has an eye toward the top of the top. As a result, the room gives off a vibe of exclusivity. While Odd’s shows are intentionally more inclusive, Geary feels they’re nonetheless detrimental. “Adding more showcase rooms doesn’t do anything other than thin the pool, like having eight McDonald’s on the same block,” he says. “The community needs to consolidate and produce more open mikes.”

The trouble is that, outside of Odd’s shows and a handful of open mikes, there are few opportunities in Chicago’s comedy landscape for new performers to work out their kinks. As such, he’s the first to give these comics a showcase slot—a huge source of pride for Odd. “All these guys you see on the scene now started with me,” he says, “and it’s because, one, I don’t hold incredibly high standards for what I put in my show and, two, I give everyone a chance. They shouldn’t not be able to perform just because they’re not friends with the right people.”

One such comic is Mike Bridenstine, now a Lincoln Lodge staple. A few years ago, Bridenstine started touring the open-mike circuit. His first paid showcases were booked through Odd. At the time, Odd had shows at the Holiday Club, where there was no spotlight or stage, and the Chase Café, where the stage was a coffee table. While he’s grateful for the opportunities Odd provided, Bridenstine feels his responsibility to Odd ends there. “Other people gave me stage time back then, but they don’t go out of their way to remind me,” he says.

Geary and Odd have their stark differences, openly shared on Chicago’s stand-up message board (groups.yahoo.com/group/chichahahago). In fact, neither can make a comment, however innocuous, without the other jumping in. Geary might be the most vocal, but he’s not the only one. “People tell new comics, ‘Don’t work with Dave Odd. He runs crappy shows, kills rooms and exploits comics,’?” Odd says. “But they also say, ‘Oh no, you can’t perform at the Lincoln Lodge yet.’ Well, my stage time gets them to that level.”

For the time being, Odd remains a constant presence in Chicago: New comics get stage time, audiences get shows of varying quality. While his outspoken nature might rub his peers the wrong way, the scene as a whole is learning to accept Odd as a necessary part of Chicago stand-up. “Like him or not, he’s doing what he loves and he’s a funny, prolific joke writer,” Bridenstine says. “The thing is, if Dave Odd weren’t the first person to tell you how great he was, he might be the most respected comedian in Chicago.”

Dave Odd opens for Frank Townsend at The Improv Friday 24.

Stand up and deliver
Thriving underground scene puts the edge back in comedy
[Chicago Final Edition] Chicago Tribune - Chicago, Ill.
 
Allan Johnson, Tribune staff reporter
Apr 8, 2005
(Copyright 2005 by the Chicago Tribune)

Your typical comedy club consists of a stage, microphone and curtain or brick wall as a backdrop.

But there's another comedy club in Chicagoland where there might not be a stage at all or even a microphone--an underground spot where the club might be in the back of a restaurant or bar.

This comedy scene gives emerging talent and more daring stand- ups a chance to try out a twisted punch line, or even get booed off the stage, at shows such as "The Elevated" at Cherry Red on North Sheffield Avenue or "Da Comedy Corner" at Amelia's on West Grand Avenue.

"Pretty much every single night of the week there's some kind of show going on somewhere in the city," says comic and producer Dave Odd.

The underground scene may not be as prosperous as the so-called comedy boom of the late 1980s and early '90s, when national chains such as Catch a Rising Star and the Improv brought the Jerry Seinfelds and Ellen DeGenereses to the area. But this new scene may be more vital, as it is developing the next Seinfeld and DeGeneres . . . if not the next Maron and Garofalo--Marc and Janeane, respectively, two players in the so-called "alternative" style, a quirky, non-traditional, sometimes bizarre comedy that turns stand- up on its ear.

And that "alternative" style is what's on view at many underground venues.

"What is successful with underground comedy is it pushes the form," says Cayne Collier, who runs The Elevated, a weekly showcase that has been running for more than eight years.

More than 10 years after the alternative scene was launched at New York's Luna Lounge and Los Angeles Un-Cabaret by Maron, Garofalo, Dave Attell, Kathy Griffin and others, the off-kilter comedy offshoot has found a niche in Chicago's underground community. It is thriving here because the alternative form is more acceptable in these venues than in mainstream clubs looking to entertain more general audiences.

"I've had performers who were very much set-up/punch [line] as far as the structure," says Collier, 32, "but what they chose to do [with the material] and the way they chose to do it was not mainstream."

The comedy is unconventional. It sometimes uses long stories with odd punch lines, jokes where the endings are unexpected, premises that are either aggressively social or political, or pushes the boundaries of taste and decorum.

Robert Buscemi, a comedian in Chicago who works underground rooms, feels a freedom in Chicago underground spots. "I don't feel stagnant artistically, either," says Buscemi, 35. "I feel more and more on my game. I feel that my writing gets tighter and tighter."

Amy Danzer (the name as published has been corrected here and in a subsequent reference in this text), 30, of Rogers Park has seen Buscemi at various haunts around the city, and finds him "bizarro and disturbingly gritty at times, but it's good stuff."

Yet as much as Buscemi's career is blossoming, the underground scene will never replace Chicago stand-up institution Zanies on Wells Street. But while Zanies, which also has rooms in St. Charles and Vernon Hills (and a location in Nashville), is the most popular comedy club in the area, many of the comedians playing the underground rooms can't get work there. Because many of them lack the experience to handle crowds expecting a higher, more polished caliber of comedy. There are so few full time comedy clubs, and so many acts needing stage time to work out their material, that the underground scene blossomed.

"When I came back to comedy, I saw myself and a lot of other comics that were very promising and smart and funny not getting stage time, and not having a place where they could go do their act other than open mics," says Odd (a stage name), 28, a comic off and on since 1997. To give comics such as himself a voice, Odd devised the Edge, a comedy and variety showcase he's been producing for four years at several bars and clubs in the city and suburbs.

"I think there's such a lack of opportunities for guys to work in Chicago," the Skokie native says. "There's not that many clubs around, and it's hard to get into clubs that do exist."

One such outlet, the Red Lion Pub at Lincoln and Fullerton Avenues, provided open-mic comedy in a smoky, cramped room. In 2000, promoter Thomas Lawler, wanting to expand the Lion's scope, approached comic Mark Geary. The Lincoln Lodge was born that September in a back room of the Lincoln Restaurant on North Lincoln Avenue. It evolved into a mix of mainstream and alternative comedy, sketch and improv, live video bits, audience participation, and variety and music acts.

"Part of our business imperative was to add that little bit of structure to their [comedians'] proceedings," says Geary, 36. "Create more like an improv/sketch structure to a show where people are really invested in it and committed to it."

"It's a great time," Danzer says of the Lodge's loose ambience, willingness to embrace more adventurous comics, non-traditional comedy, including such familiar features as "Man on the Street" interviews with perplexed passers-by, conducted by a seemingly bored comic.

"What I also like about it is its non-pretentious environment. For the most part, everybody-- from emcees to hosts to wait staff to comics--is pretty down-to-earth."

There are no signs that the thriving underground comedy scene in Chicago is going away. As long as these multipurpose venues have drinks, music, food and other areas to fall back on (along with cheaper ticket prices--if they charge for admission at all), there will always be comedians prepared to add an extra dimension.

"For some of these alternative venues, all you need is a microphone, some chairs, and that's basically it," says Lawler, 33. "In San Francisco, you have people doing shows at Laundromats or luggage stores or wherever someone lets them set up a show.

"And that will happen anywhere you have ambitious comedians trying to make something happen for themselves."

-- Allan Johnson