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Die Meisterzingers
The city's comics gather for a high-stakes audition.
A fat-chick joke fails to impress. But when local comic Mike Sheehan unleashes this smart one-liner: “When you’re unemployed, it takes discipline to eat your roommate’s food slowly enough that he doesn’t notice,” the audience, made up mostly of nervous, sweating comics and their friends, perks up. Sheehan was one of 25 local comics called back to audition on March 22 for Just for Laughs, the annual Montreal yukfest that had its Chicago debut last year and returns June 15–19. This year’s fest will feature headliners such as Denis Leary, Aziz Ansari, Russell Peters, Cedric the Entertainer and Bob Odenkirk, to name just a few.
While Just for Laughs held another audition at Jokes & Notes in Bronzeville, tonight’s Lakeshore Theater tryout boasts many of the city’s top alt-comics, including Sean Flannery, Junior Stopka, CJ Sullivan and Prescott Tolk. The benefits of getting booked for the American or Canadian version can be tremendous. “Oh, it’s definitely helpful,” Flannery, who performed at last year’s fest and cohosts the audition, tells us the next day via e-mail. “You meet other comics, managers, producers, etc. If you’re given a set during one of the major slots, very successful people see you in a very electric environment.” Audition cohost Brian Babylon agrees: “Just for Laughs can help put you on the map. Case in point: Hannibal Buress.” Buress now writes for SNL.
But unless you’re a chipper daytime talk-show host with a cute wife (Ellen DeGeneres headlines the Chicago fest again this year), inclusion doesn’t come easy. At the Lakeshore audition, comics get free rein—but just six minutes—to perform. Just for Laughs booker Robbie Praw might consider them for either fest and can pick as many as he likes. Which doesn’t make the process any less nerve-racking. “The atmosphere and time restrictions of an audition are not designed to be in any way convenient for the performer,” says Dan Telfer, a self-described nerd comic who holds his own with an amusing anecdote about unruly Red Liners. “It’s like getting a well-stocked professional kitchen to cook yourself a delicious thimbleful of dessert.”
Comic Beth Stelling kills with a string of self-deprecating jokes mocking her own femininity. “Some woman in a bar was staring at me like an idiot,” she says near the top of her set. “I was going to tell her she’s a fat, trashy hussy, until I realized it was my own reflection.” Afterward, Stelling tells us, “I think everyone would like to be the comic prodigy that can come out their first year being asked to audition, get called back and then put in the festival. But that isn’t realistic.”
Both James Fritz and CJ Sullivan comment on current events (Fritz bemoans the weakened health-care bill while Sullivan rips on March Madness), and a lanky Chris Condren cranks out goofy tunes on his Casio keyboard. But the versatile Chad Briggs has his eyes on the ground a bit too much, and the cherubic Kelsie Huff puts all her eggs in one basket with a Girl Scouts narrative that offers little comic payoff.
“One of my favorite things about auditions is seeing that up-and-coming comic break out,” says Bill Cruz, who cracks us up with his best bits about being Mexican, gay and a Broncos fan in Chicago. “For whatever reason, that ‘just at the right time’ moment hits, and you witness a comedian turn that corner and nail an audition. It’s really awesome.”
Who made the cut? Check justforlaughschicago.com throughout the spring. Tickets for TBS Presents A Very Funny Festival: Just for Laughs Chicago 2010 are on sale at ticketmaster.com.
