Clayton Hauck

The cover of today's RedEye boasts the headline "Laugh it Up" and claims, "The first names in comedy got their start at Second City. Who will be the next legend?" I was legitimately interested in turning to pages 6–7 to see whom its staff is eyeing as the future of the Second City. Disappointingly, not a single up-and-comer is mentioned. Rather, it's a preview of the UP Comedy Club (which celebrates its grand opening this weekend) and a nostalgia piece devoted to folks like Tina Fey, Jason Sudeikis, Stephen Colbert and Nia Vardalos titled, "Where (Aren't) They Now?" By Second City accounts, these folks are already legends.

I don't want to criticize our esteemed colleagues at the RedEye, but since their paper offers no hints or insights as to who might break out at Second City next, allow me to fill in a few blanks with some thoughts of my own: 

For starters, let me acknowlege that few of the names listed below are exclusive to Second City. Many have trained and performed at iO, the Annoyance and other theaters around town (and not all have appeared on the esteemed Mainstage or e.t.c. theaters). But for sake of arguement, we'll credit them to Second City.

First, a win was scored in 2009 when Michael O'Brien was scooped up to write for SNL. He has since launched the culty interview Web series 7 Minutes in Heaven in which he dishes and improvises inside a closet with different celebrities (Patricia Clarkson, Tracy Morgan, Insane Clown Posse). The following summer, four Chicago comedians were picked to join the SNL family including Vanessa Bayer and Paul Brittain as supporting players and Tom Flanigan and Shelly Gossman (e.t.c. and Mainstage respectively) as writers. Flanigan was not invited back after the 2010–11 season and Paul Brittain also departed last month. Sources tell me that Gossman has also recently departed. Though that leaves only O'Brien and Bayer, great things are still likely to come from Flanigan, Gossman and Brittain.

Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson are two of my recent faves who both departed the Second City Mainstage to pursue other interests. Robinson is an incredibly smart and funny writer who is great with facial contortions and has a penchant for the strange. He recently filmed a pilot for a Comedy Central sketch show with Mark Raterman called My Mans which the network declined, but keep that name in the back of your mind. Likewise, Richardson was phenomenal in the Mainstage revue South Side of Heaven as a proud mother, a philosophical stripper and in other noteworthy roles and has auditioned for Lorne Michaels. He's now in L.A.

The Second City Mainstage is currently gearing up for its 100th revue and has a dream cast on its hands. It has wisely retained ensemble members Edgar Blackmon (loose and limber), Katie Rich (whom I recently wrote about here) and Holly Laurent (whose sly and hilarious Lana Del Rey "Hunger Games" parody has been viewed more than 400,000 times already on YouTube and has been mentioned by Rolling Stone, Billboard, Entertainment Weekly, Time and others) and has also promoted Mary Sohn and Tim Baltz from the e.t.c. Bawdy Sohn and shape-shifter Baltz are extremely talented, and Baltz, in particular, is among the very best improvisers working in Chicago today. Rounding out the cast is another formidable player, Steve Waltien.

If you're looking for the next Chris Farley, and don't get me wrong, this kind of clichéd pigeonholing makes me want to vomit, recent e.t.c. ensemble member Brendan Jennings does share Farley's love of high-stakes physicality, and he was a driving force behind the recent smash Absolute Best Friggin' Time of Your Life. I'm champing at the bit to see what he does next. Of course, the e.t.c. now has some holes to fill, and I'm curious to see whom the Second City promotes. It would be wise to retain current cast member Aidy Bryant, who skillfully plays vulnerable oddballs.

Another stellar place to see the next generation of potential superstars is at the new UP Comedy Club's Monday night showcase, The Second City's Improv All-Stars. At the Monday debut, there was crackly chemistry, whipsmart references and a wonderful hat tip to both short- and long-form improv and the show vaunted great talent including Kellen Alexander, Chelsea Devantez, Hans Holsen and Cody Dove. Veteran improviser Rachael Mason was also in top form (which she often is).

Second City likes to send its people out on the road and on cruise ships. When they're not out entertaining folks in Des Moines or at sea, be on the lookout for the sly and mischievous John Hartman, the completely nutty Chris Witaske and others like Barry Hite and Tim Stoltenberg.

Of course, all these people are just the tip of the iceberg. But I'm willing to make a safe bet that at least a few of these comedians will one day be household names that our friends at the RedEye might then consider.

Ameriville by Universes at Victory Gardens Theater

Photo: Michael Brosilow

A member of the NYC-based Universes, Mildred Ruiz-Sapp is currently bringing down the Biograph in Victory Gardens’ Ameriville, with a booming singing voice and stunning command of spoken-word poetry. Raised in the Jacob Riis housing projects of Manhattan’s lower east side, Ruiz-Sapp began singing in church as a young girl, then studied literature and language at Bard College in upstate New York where she met Steven Sapp, a fellow Universes member. After graduation, the two moved to the Bronx, where they co-founded The Point, a youth development center dedicated to the cultural and economic revitalization of Hunt’s Point. The Point became a hub for theater, dance, and music in the neighborhood and the birth place of Universes. 16 years later, the group’s distinct combination of poetry, song, and movement has gained them national acclaim, and Ameriville reunites Universes with frequent collaborator Chay Yew, staging his first production as Victory Gardens artistic director. Ruiz-Sapp spoke to us about the birth of the project, the relationship between politics and art, and how New Orleans audiences reacted to the show.

Lookingglass Theatre Company says it will open its 25th season (!) this fall by revisiting Metamorphoses, Mary Zimmerman's 1998 adaptation of Ovid. The production, which played out in and around an onstage pool, made its way to Broadway in 2002, making Zimmerman just the second woman to win the Tony Award for direction of a play.

Zimmerman's new production (exact dates are yet to be determined) will reportedly feature a number of Lookingglass ensemble members as well as original cast members. Following the Lookingglass run, Metamorphoses will play Washington D.C.'s Arena Stage beginning in February 2013. The remainder of Lookingglass's 2012–13 season will be announced in coming weeks.

Photo: Courtesy of Shout

Funny and peculiar are two different things. Exquisite Corpse, a monthly show starring, written and produced by high-minded sketch group Claymore Productions, is occasionally funny and definitely peculiar. They perform the second Saturday of each month at 10:30pm at Stage 773.

The group films each performance and uploads it to their website. I was hoping that Saturday's show would be available now at their site at claymoreproductions.com so that I could rewatch it and attempt to stitch together a review of what I saw. Alas, it wasn't there as of this writing. But from what I can tell, the loose narrative that tied the sketches together had something to do with a rebel movement trying to overthrow the oppressive Brotherhood and its house-music driven ideology. Dixieland music is forbidden and women compete for the title Miss Jessica of the Brotherhood. Hey Claymore guys reading this, am I close?

There was a scene set at a book burning, a curious little sketch that did take a few funny swipes at the the self-help tome He's Just Not That Into You and the Garfield comic strip. In another, a guy panhandling on the El calls out his fellow passengers for their silence and in the show's funniest sketch, a guy mourning the death of his grandmother (who was blown up) has a hard time coming to terms with the fact she may have been murdered.

Mostly, the sketches were head scratchers (perhaps it's my frame of reference). The Lady Liberty of Dixie (a dude in drag) struts around in a kimono and feather boa shouting, "Hey boy, ain't I a woman?" to her cabal of shirtless servants. A sepia-toned film clip has the cast imitating the Little Rascals (I think). I was intrigued by the show and I was impressed by their level of commitment and attention to detail, but a hilarious show this wasn't.

Stand-up comic Jesse Baltes opened. He's great with crowd work and at one point talked about how after men are done urinating they sometimes have an extra squirt or two still lingering. One time, says Baltes, he was caught with his fly undone wiping a little extra pee off his penis. After the show at Stage 773 let out, I found myself washing up in the bathroom and who should be standing next to me at the sink, hesitating ever so slightly, but Baltes himself. Now that made me laugh.