RECOMMENDED

So last week Rod Blagojevich went on the radio and slammed Illinois legislators as a bunch of losers and lechers, sparking this hilarious headline on Chicagoist.com: “Bitter Blagojevich Drinks Springfield Haterade.”

The timing was perfect—coming just one day after Second City opened “Rod Blagojevich Superstar.” Seriously, does Blago have a financial interest in the show? He’s doing one hell of a job marketing this ode to his idiocy. Because yes, he’s a lowlife egomaniac and the human equivalent of the herpes virus. And yet his continued delusions and obsessive media whoring, it’s kind of golden, no?

National late-nighters hit paydirt with the guy—the coif is a punch line all its own; big ups to “Daily Show” for “Scumdog Million-Hairs”—but Second City’s “Rod Blagojevich Superstar” is the first major flaying of the ousted governor by (and for) the people who actually voted him into office.

Revenge is a dish best served cold, but comedy is best served fast and reckless, and director Matt Hovde understands this in a big way. Jokes about political backroom bullshit fly faster than Blago’s thicket of bangs on a gust of lakefront wind, and somehow it all feels right.

As portrayed by Joey Bland in a black turtleneck and super-deluxe luxuriant wig, Blagojevich is a blissed-out douchebag ignoramus convinced of his own messianic powers. (Actually, Bland looks a little like Sean Hannity under all that hair, and I would argue that, despite their opposing political leanings, they actually have more in common than you’d think.)

In this skewering of all things Rod (and a few things Burris), “Jesus Christ Superstar” was an inspired choice to parody. When Lori McClain’s ball-busting Patti Blagojevich belts out, “I don’t know how to fucking love him,” it’s like some kind of musical theater karmic justice is being handed down on a silver platter. McClain’s performance really got me—the look on her face suggests Patti is a gal who sees life as one long bar fight. Oh Patti. (Nina Metz)

At Second City e.t.c. in Piper’s Alley,1608 N. Wells, (312)337-3992 or secondcity.com. Tues-Wed 8:30p. $14. Through March 18. After that, it moves to Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 800 East Grand, (312)595-5600, through September 6.

What makes Chicago’s theater world special? We picked up the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly for clues. In the cover story, “CSI” star William Petersen explains his decision to leave his role as one of the top paid actors in television, earning a rumored $600,000 an episode, to move back to Chicago and Chicago theater: “It was too safe for me at this point. So I needed to try and break that, and the way to do that, for me, is the theater.” EW went on to credit Petersen for much of the show’s success, notably bringing a theatrical ensemble philosophy to play in its production. Or consider the runaway success of Steppenwolf’s “August: Osage County,” which transferred to Broadway,  receiving critical acclaim and multiple Tony Awards, not by shaking it up with Broadway “names” but instead by virtually transferring the Steppenwolf production intact, with the addition of lead producer and fellow Chicagoan Steve Traxler. What makes Chicago theater—or for that matter, Chicago dance or any other form of performance practiced on our stages—special? We’d contend it’s the power of the ensemble, the spirit of collaboration that champions artistic risk-taking and subordinates the commercial. And so, in that spirit, the critical ensemble responsible for Newcity’s ongoing stage coverage presents our take on the most influential people on and offstage in Chicago. Read the rest of this entry »

Top 5 Shows

“Caroline, or Change,” Court Theatre

“A House with No Walls,” Timeline Theatre

“The Glass Menagerie,” Steppenwolf Theatre

“No Darkness Round My Stone,” Trap Door Theatre

“The Birthday Party,” Signal Theater

—Monica Westin

Top 5 Shows

“Jon,” Collaboraction

“A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant,” A Red Orchid

“Be More Chill,” Griffin Theatre

“Men of Tortuga,” Profiles

“Picked Up,” Neo-Futurists

—Nina Metz

Top 5 Theatrical Experiences

“Caroline, or Change,” Court Theatre

“Columnibus,” Raven Theatre

“As You Like It,” Writers’ Theatre

“The Comedy of Errors,” Chicago Shakespeare Theater

“Romeo y Julieta” (Staged Reading), Chicago Shakespeare Theater/Shakespeare in Español

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Guilty Pleasures

“Jarred: A Hoodoo Comedy” by Tanya Saracho, Teatro Luna

“Speech and Debate” by Stephen Karam, ATC

“Dead Man’s Cell Phone” by Sarah Ruhl, Steppenwolf

“The Little Dog Laughed” by Douglas Carter Beane, About Face Theatre

“After Ashley” by Gina Gionfriddo, Stage Left Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 New Plays

“Kita y Fernanda” by Tanya Saracho, 16^th Street Theater

“The U.N. Inspector” by David Farr and James Sherman, Next Theatre

“Dead Man’s Cell Phone” by Sarah Ruhl, Steppenwolf Theatre

“Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat” by Yussef El Guindi, Silk Road Theatre Project

“Superior Donuts” by Tracy Letts, Steppenwolf Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Revivals

“The Maids,” Writers’ Theatre

“The Lion in Winter,” Writers’ Theatre

“Requiem for a Heavyweight,” Shattered Globe

“Plaza Suite,” Eclipse Theatre Company

“The Birthday Party,” Signal Ensemble Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Play Revivals

“Our Town,” Hypocrites

“The Lion in Winter,” Writers Theatre

“Requiem for a Heavyweight,” Shattered Globe

“Journey’s End,” Griffin

“M Butterfly,” BoHo

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Memorable Productions by a Smaller Theatre Troupe

“Multi-Purpose Doom,” Sandbox Theatre Project

“The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler,” Dog & Pony

“Termen Vox Machina,” Oracle Productions

“On My Parents’ 100^th Wedding Anniversary,” Side Project

“The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” (original mounting), Gift Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Directors

Ann Filmer for “Kita y Fernanda,” 16^th Street Theater

Charles Newell for “Caroline, or Change,” Court Theatre

Sean Graney for “Edward II,” Chicago Shakespeare Theater

William Brown for “As You Like It,” Writers’ Theatre

Greg Kolack for “Columbinus,” Raven Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Musicals

“Caroline, or Change,” Court Theatre

“Grey Gardens,” Northlight Theatre

“Tell Me On A Sunday,” Bailiwick Theater

“The Full Monty,” Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre

“All Shook Up,” Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 New Musicals

“Caroline, or Change,” Court Theatre

“Grey Gardens,” Northlight Theatre

“Songs for a New World,” Porchlight

“The Ballad of Emmett Till,” Goodman Theatre

“I Am Who I Am: The Story of Teddy Pendergrass,” Black Ensemble Theater

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Musical Revivals

“Tell Me on a Sunday,” Bailiwick Theater

“Sweet Charity,” Drury Lane Oakbrook

“1776,” Signal Ensemble

“Jacques Brel’s Lonesome Lovers of the Night,” Theo Ubique

“Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” Circle Theatre

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Worst Musicals

“Shout! The Mod Musical,” Drury Lane Water Tower

“Avenue Q,” Broadway in Chicago

“Dirty Dancing,” Broadway in Chicago

“Russian on the Side,” Royal George Theater

“Gutenberg! The Musical,” Royal George Theater

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Worst Musicals

“Dirty Dancing,” Broadway in Chicago

“The Kid from Brooklyn,” Mercury Theater

“Gutenberg! The Musical!,” Royal George Theatre

“Jekyll & Hyde—The Musical,” Bohemian Theatre Ensemble

“Sweeney Todd,” Broadway in Chicago

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Operas

“Manon,” Lyric Opera

“The Abduction From the Seraglio,” Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Ravinia

“Lulu,” Lyric Opera

“Porgy and Bess,” Lyric Opera (second cast)

“Don Giovanni,” Chicago Opera Theater

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Productions of Shakespeare

“As You Like It,” Writers Theatre

“Comedy of Errors,” Chicago Shakespeare

“Much Ado About Nothing,” First Folio

“Merchant of Venice,” Boho

“Twelfth Night,” City Lit

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Touring Shows

“Saint Joan,” Shaw Festival Canada, Chicago Shakespeare

“Cirque du Soleil: Kooza,” United Center

“The Drowsy Chaperone,” Broadway in Chicago

“My Fair Lady,” National Theatre London, Broadway in Chicago

“Jesus Christ Superstar,” Broadway in Chicago

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Holiday Shows

“The Christmas Schooner,” Bailiwick Theater

“A Dublin Carol,” Steppenwolf Theatre

“A Christmas Carol,” Writers Theatre

“Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular,” Rosemont Theatre

“The Seafarer,” Steppenwolf Theatre

—Dennis Polkow

Top 5 Comedy Shows

“Impress These Apes,” Blewt!

“Shatter,” Pat O’Brien’s solo show at Second City e.t.c.

“Steve and Jordan, Respectively” i.O. Theater

“Brother, Can You Spare Some Change?” Second City e.t.c.

“PennyBear: A Collection of Miniature Plays and Curious Diversions,” Apollo Theater Studio

—Nina Metz

Top 5 Female Performances

Janet Ulrich Brooks, “Golda’s Balcony,” Pegasus Players

Christina Anthony, “Brother, Can You Spare Some Change?” Second City e.t.c.

Erin Barlow, “Red Angel,” LiveWire

Sarah Goeden, “13 Dead Husbands,” Sansculottes Theater

Rachel Quinn, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” Circle Theatre

—Nina Metz

Top 5 Male Performances

David Cromer, “Our Town,” The Hypocrites

Usman Ally, “Celebrity Row,” American Theater Company

Steve Wilson, “Red Angel,” LiveWire

Edward Thomas-Herrera, “The Last Days of Beast,” Live Bait’s Fillet of Solo Festival

Daniel Behrendt, “Beggars in the House of Plenty,” Mary-Arrchie

—Nina Metz

Top 5 Out-of-the-Box Performances

“Inner Space,” Joffrey Ballet’s American Moderns

“Walking Mad,” Hubbard Street Dance Winter Series

“The Young Ladies Of…,” About Face Theatre

“Dr. Egg and the Man With No Ear,” Redmoon Theater

“One on One,” Hubbard Street Dance Winter Series

—William Rogers

Top 5 Dance Shows by Chicago Companies

“The Sky Hangs Down Too Close,” Lucky Plush Productions

“Nuevo Folk,” Luna Negra Dance Theater

“De-Evolution of Mudwoman,” Breakbone DanceCo

“Vintage Modern,” Same Planet Different World Dance

“American Moderns,” Joffrey Ballet

—Sharon Hoyer

Top 5 Overrated Productions

“Dave DaVinci Saves the Universe,” House Theatre

“Dirty Dancing,” Broadway in Chicago

“Shining City,” Goodman Theatre

“The Glass Menagerie,” Shattered Globe Theatre

“Scenes from the Big Picture,” Seanachai Theatre

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

Top 5 Theatrical Disappointments

“Dirty Dancing,” Broadway in Chicago

“Les Miserables,” Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre

“Yohen,” Silk Road Theatre Project

“Richard III,” Strawdog Theatre

“Macbeth,” Greasy Joan & Co.

—Fabrizio O. Almeida

 

The short version of this review: If you’re planning to see one show at Second City, bypass the mainstage.

In fact the two shows currently running at Second City—“America: All Better” on the mainstage and “Brother, Can You Spare Some Change?” on the e.t.c. stage (see my review here)—are a case study in comedy formatics. In other words, the format of each show is the same but the results lie on opposite ends of the spectrum.

Break down most sketch comedy at Second City and what you’ll find is an initial premise repeated over and over. The joke is not really advanced or deconstructed or developed. The trick is to keep the audience engaged anyway, and the folks over at e.t.c. do this with considerable ease. It takes inspired ideas to make such a gambit work.

Alas, the same cannot be said of the 96^th revue on the mainstage. Hell, just look at the title—call your show “America: All Better!” and you’re just advertising a lack of wit and better instincts.

Three new cast members join the ensemble, with Lauren Ash as the standout. She brings to mind the loud sarcastic girl at the pep rally, and she’s a natural fit here. Tellingly, she doesn’t have to fight (i.e. resort to overblown performances) to be noticed. (Veteran Emily Wilson, on the other hand, does an awful lot of screaming with very little payoff.) In a sketch where Ash could easily be the harpy—complaining about her boyfriend’s emotional reticence—she is funny, but she also taps into something authentic: frustration and hurt.

Anthony LeBlanc (also new) needs to create more of a defined presence for himself, though his song about interracial love (sung to a white women in the front row) contains priceless, tasteless lyrics, including: “I want to plow your snow.”  Clever raunch is a delicate thing, and LeBlanc has a knack for it.

Michael Patrick O’Brien is new to the mainstage, as well. Over the summer I went nuts for his Andy Kaufmanesque solo show called “Shatter” (when he was billed merely as “Pat O’Brien”). His strength as a performer is that you’re never sure if he’s fucking with you—this comes to the fore just once in the show, when his “love life” takes center stage.

It’s a good bit, and I wish there were more of them. The best sketch features Shelly Gossman as a Russian gymnast performing a balance beam routine on the rail separating the front of the house from the back. Stepping over drinks (and imbibing them at various points), she is accompanied by her effusively bearded coach (a very funny Brad Morris) and color commentary provided by O’Brien and Joe Canale. It’s the one bit that feels absolutely right. It’s a surprise and it manages to be both lightly transgressive (I’ve never seen any Second City cast member venture this deep into audience territory) and strangely hilarious.

Ultimately, though, there is something missing in the creative drive. (Matt Hovde is the show’s director). If “Impress These Apes” has shown us anything, it’s that funny people—given the right motivation and freedom to play—will generate unique and indelible material. Second City can’t accommodate the freeform structure of “Apes” (nor should it) but I think there’s a lesson in there somewhere. Second City has always had impeccable taste when it comes to hiring talent, but shows like this suggest there has to be a better way to take advantage of what these folks have to offer.

“America: All Better” certainly has enough good actors in it—I’ve come to really appreciate what Brad Morris is doing as a performer—and it’s not quite a colossal failure. Then again, it is so mediocre as to be insignificant. (Nina Metz)

At Second City Mainstage Theatre, 1616 N. Wells St., 312-337-3992 or www.secondcity.com. Tues-Thur 8p, Fri-Sat 8p & 11p, Sun 7p. $20-$25. Open run.

RECOMMENDED

We’re all breathing different air these days, what with a disastrous economy and all hopes pinned on a shiny new president who seems awfully close to perfect. The cast of Second City e.t.c.’s thirty-seceond revue is clobbering these sentiments for all they’re worth.

Something about the show’s vibe, though, feels especially fresh and full of momentum. You won’t find one “Hey, Grandma” bit, no cocktail party or barbecue sketches, no dad uncomfortably talking about the facts of life with his kids. Not everything here centers on current events (and a couple sketches miss their mark), but I’d say ninety percent of the material has an original spin to it—either due to its construction or the performances themselves. An image of Cloud Gate makes up the set design—the cast is literally performing on top of the Bean, and the height suits them.

“Brother, Can you Spare Some Change” (directed by Bruce Pirrie) features one new cast member, Christina Anthony, and she is a major talent. It can take newbies a few months to figure out how to be themselves within the parameters of a Second City show—everything is polished and lively and very mainstream—but Anthony is confident right from the start and she is probably the most exciting addition to the e.t.c. stage since the arrival of Keegan-Michael Key so many years back.

She sings a song about bad luck in love, backed up by cast members Amada Blake Davis, amusingly pert and neurotic, and Laura Grey, an imp with huge eyes and an energy that stands out from the pack. But watch as Anthony slinks into the crowd and attempts to pick up an audience member, her seduction red hot and hilarious.

Timothy Edward Mason—who joined the cast last year and was somewhat muted—displays more of his specific comedic personality. The guy has the biggest smile on that stage, and he and Anthony have real chemistry in their scenes together. Mason has a twisted side, seen in full effect as he devolves into a sputtering weirdo, ending the scene with his hand down his pants—looking startled at his bizarre behavior but unable to stop it. Later, Mason turns a bedtime song for his daughter into a very funny bit by virtue of his delivery—earnestly dirty, you might call it.

There’s also a surprisingly funny opera about Mayor Daley sung in Italian (Adam Sandler used to do something similar on “Saturday Night Live,” but the high quality of the show puts you in a forgiving mood). In one of the strongest bits, Andy St. Clair takes the stage all by his lonesome, playing a Southern-fried defense attorney in the William Jennings Bryant mold, dabbing a folded hanky to his upper lip as he improvises with an audience member. It’s a very good showcase of St. Clair’s talents and ability to charm an audience.

Tom Flanigan is perhaps the quietest cast member, but his understated boy-man persona works. He is frequently the perplexed guy—but it’s a layered performance, somewhat dim, but not quite dumb.

This is a factor too important to be dismissed—without good acting, sketch is just a collection of potentially funny ideas. I’d say that potential has been reached this time out. I’ve been critical of Second City’s show in the past; they can feel like regurgitated clichés of themselves. “Brother, Can You Spare Some Change?” is unquestionably a Second City show, but an extremely good one at that. (Nina Metz)

At Second City e.t.c., 1608 N. Wells (second floor of Piper’s Alley), (312)337-3992. Thur 8pm, Fri-Sat 8pm & 11pm, Sun 7pm. $20-$25. Open run.

RECOMMENDED

In sketch and improv—especially among younger performers—you’ll often see an inability (or unwillingness) to move beyond the easy laugh. It takes real chops (and risk-taking abandon) to build a character beyond a series of punchlines. It’s the difference between someone like Ricky Gervais—whose public persona is wittily complex, both dark and light—and joke man Howie Mandel, who can get off a decent one-liner, but who cares?

“Hero” (the one-act improvised play running Wednesdays at i.O.) looks this challenge in the eye and mostly comes out on top. With a cast of veteran actors—Brian Boland and Claudia Wallace are former Second City mainstagers; Jet Eveleth and Holly Laurent are members of The Reckoning, an improv team with serious talent—the actors are relaxed enough to carefully build their characters. (Patrick McKenna rounds out the ensemble.) This is a group (directed by Sandy Marshall, of Schadenfreude) that understands how inhabit a manufactured world with total confidence.

Hero mythology is the underlying theme of each show, although the one I caught was hazy on this point. I don’t think it matters. Half the cast offered up performances that were modestly funny but limited (and limiting to the story). This was a problem for Wallace, especially, who seemed trapped within the two-dimensions of her a vapid character.

The stronger work came from Boland, something of straight man when he was at Second City, who uses his tall good looks to subvert expectations. His character insights are specific and detailed, and boy does this guy know how to play burning dissatisfaction.

The other standout is Eveleth, with her hair clipped Mia Farrow-style, circa “Rosemary’s Baby”—more than anyone, Eveleth showed genuine dramatic instincts, charging face-first into a portrayal of quiet desperation that was funny and unflinchingly honest. Also, quick on the uptake; on the night I attended, she turned a momentary speech impediment into a Porky Pig sign-off—an inspired way to acknowledge her verbal flubbing and tweak it at the same time. (Nina Metz)

At i.O. Theater, 3541 North Clark, (773)880-0199. Wednesdays at 8pm through October 29. $10. 

RECOMMENDED
The first fifteen minutes of Pat O’Brien’s “Shatter” are improvised. Just O’Brien—low-key and deadpan—and a few props, awkwardly interacting with the audience. It’s pure genius. (The one-man show runs on a double bill Tuesday nights at the Second City e.t.c.) The opening bit involves the Guinness Book of World Records, exposed for the stupid collection of random anecdotes that it is, with O’Brien attempting to shatter various entries. In his sweater vest and tie, the guy is like an overgrown Catholic school boy, shy and yet unexpectedly subversive. There’s a lot of Andy Kaufman in his performance—a kind of agreeable hostility—and you’re never quite sure what’s going on or when it’s OK to laugh. You can’t ask for more in this particular genre—rare is the one-man show this good or this outrageously unexpected. O’Brien has a canny way of playing his intelligence and observational skills against his low-grade skittishness and apparent innocence. The result is an inspired sort of looniness. When playing himself, he is both uncomfortable in his skin and very much in command. In the scripted portions, his focus on the smallest details of character is like an Edward Hopper come to life: With Foghat’s “Slow Ride” blasting from the speakers, he is a pool shark nailing every shot in time with the music, a freaky look on his face—all crazy eyes and ego. The performance is scaled just right. He does a creepy-ingratiating turn as an instructor teaching a course on how to play the spoons, and gives a nice middle finger to bad stand-up routines—performed behind a giraffe mask. He also backs into an uproarious joke involving the insipid lyrics to Matchbox 20’s “3am”—the bit requires a long setup, but the payoff is worth it. See this show before it closes. Preceding O’Brien is Nicky Margolis, a former e.t.c. cast member whose one-woman show “Split!” follows the rhythms and beats of a standard Second City revue. She is chipper, if only mildly funny. But she is uncompromising when it comes to attacking the narcissistic underpinnings of a one-person show, and her final scene—which has her singing a power ballad duet about self-empowerment with a video of herself, like something out of a deranged “Wicked”—is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time, pushing self-love to its obvious conclusion. It’s a hilarious conceit, and she pulls it off perfectly. (Nina Metz)

“Split” and “Shatter” run at Second City e.t.c., 1608 North Wells, (312)642-8189, on Tuesdays through July 29.

It is a little depressing to see a twisted soul like Timothy Edward Mason, hilarious and slightly freakish earlier this year at SketchFest, now reduced to just another guy doing the same old tired Second City schtick. Mason’s previous sketch troupe, Brick, has been disbanded for a few years now, but their reunion show at SketchFest in January was brilliant and strange and full of unpredictable moments. Also, it was very, very funny. The same can not be said of “Campaign Supernova,” the thirty-first revue currently occupying Second City’s e.t.c. stage like a warm beer on a humid night (Matt Hovde is the director). Too much feels like a retread of a retread, including a sketch with spliced dialogue that is an almost exact rip-off of something Brick did with far better results. There is a slow jamz ode to R. Kelly’s incessant lyrical rhyming and trial delays, and while I like what it’s aiming for, it never quite comes together and it needs more work. A few sketches point to something verging on originality. The new cast members—four out of the six—make the strongest impressions of the night. Tom Flanigan, with his easy-going vulnerability, mines something fresh from PowerPoint and Peter Frampton. Laura Grey does an old-fashioned mime routine that it is actually quite ingenious—even when her victim, a member of the audience, doesn’t see or understand what’s being mimed, Grey remains in character and plows forward anyway with a sweetness bordering on hostility. Megan Grano does the strongest character work as a ball-busting, no-nonsense-spewing, Suze Orman-type financial adviser: “I just saved you $23 million—and a shitty relationship!” she informed someone in the front row. Veterans Amanda Blake Davis and Andy St. Clair are likable if forgettable, though St. Clair has a nice rapport with the audience as he wanders through the theater. Good thing, because it helps smooth over the numbing been-there, done-that moments. (Nina Metz)

At Second City, e.t.c., Pipers Alley, 1608 N. Wells, (312)642-8189. Open run.

RECOMMENDED

There is something to be said for a year’s experience on the Second City mainstage. Last year’s rookies, Brad Morris and Amber Ruffin, hadn’t quite staked their claim in 2007’s monster hit, “Between Barack and a Hard Place.” This time out, Ruffin is relaxed and goofy, qualities that play nicely against the brittleness of newcomers Shelly Gossman and Emily Wilson. (Gossman seems to have the most potential—a performer willing to embrace the strange if only someone would let her.) But wait until you see Morris. There is a tendency at Second City to mug through a scene; Morris is having none of that. This is not a loud or look-at-me kind of actor, and when he plays a character, it comes from somewhere in his core, veering between deadpan and a condition I would call companionable intensity. Also, he does a mean Chewbacca. Directed by Jim Carlson, the show overall is good but not exceptional. Times are tense, and so is the comedy. The presidential race is boiled down to “black, old or woman.” There is the obligatory “Hey, grandma…” sketch; could do without one of those for a while. Same with the retread Cubs material. Notably, Carlson has toned down the smug and manic edge that tends to creep into these revues when they are directed within an inch of their lives. If only every scene were executed with the same off-kilter attitude as the Jiffy Lube bit, with Morris informing each customer that a simple oil change turned up a few problems, and Ithamar Enriquez (always a welcome and mirthful presence) as the mechanic called in to explain the jargon. The rhythms of the sketch are unexpected and the performances “Office”-like in their heightened sense of reality. Morris even backs into a legitimately funny IKEA joke. If you’re gonna to do an IKEA joke, this is way to do it. (Nina Metz)

At Second City, Pipers Alley, 1608 N. Wells, (312)337-3992. Open run.

RECOMMENDED

Hal Sparks started his career in Chicago when he began studying with Second City in high school. In 1987 the Chicago Sun-Times named Mr. Sparks “Funniest Teenager in Chicago.” He shortly thereafter headed off to California and his career was launched. Through March 2 Sparks will make one of his regular stops to the area when he takes the stage at Chicago Improv in Schaumburg. Sparks has performed in some of the more prestigious comedy clubs in the country, including The Comedy Store, The Laugh Factory and The Ice House, as well as performing at Comic Relief’s American Comedy Festival. If you are not too familiar with the comedy circuit you may recognize this stand out performer from his stint as host of E! Entertainment Television’s “Talk Soup” from 1999 till 2000. Sparks made waves as Michael on Showtime’s “Queer as Folk” and was a favorite on VH1′s “I Love the 70s.” He also loved the 80s. Whether commenting on pop-culture television, breaking boundaries in gay television or standing behind a lone microphone Hal Sparks is a funny man. Check him out. (William Scott)

At The Improv, Woodfield Mall, Schaumburg, (847)240-2001.