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Spit Take Saturday: Dylan Moran at Just For Laughs Chicago

0910_dylan_h_208595tWelcome to Spit Take Saturday, courtesy of Brown Paper Tickets’ Comedy Doer Julie Seabaugh and her professional comedy criticism site The Spit Take. Julie’s goal with the site is to “elevate the public perception of stand-up comedy to that of a legitimate art form, and to enable comedy criticism be taken as seriously as that of theater, film, music, food, even video games. No a**-kissing. No bias. No mercy. Just honest, unfiltered, long-form reviews written by professional, knowledgeable comedy critics.” 

Every week Julie will select an entry from the site to be included on our blog and hand-pick some related events happening that week that she feels all you comedy lovers out there will appreciate.

So, without further ado, let us introduce you to this week’s Spit Take Saturday!

Irish comedian Dylan Moran drew a packed house at his Friday night Just for Laughs performance at Park West. Fans of the sardonic standup lined up around the block for the chance to see the creator and star of Black Books, who performed a generous set of close to two hours, including a highly demanded encore.

Despite the cheekily underwhelming, “Let’s do a show…or something!” kicking off Moran’s show, he quickly endeared himself by displaying a surprisingly keen grasp of Chicago culture and geography, and proving himself quite fond of the city with “buildings so big you have to drive around them.” References to Wicker Park and Logan Square (Okay, he called it Logan Park, but he still gets props for trying) and a clear appreciation for Chicago’s Italian beef/sausage combo were a welcome change from out-of-town performers who seem to not even know where they are.
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Spit Take Saturday: Anjelah Johnson at Just For Laughs Chicago

just for laughsWelcome to Spit Take Saturday, courtesy of Brown Paper Tickets’ Comedy Doer Julie Seabaugh and her professional comedy criticism site The Spit Take. Julie’s goal with the site is to “elevate the public perception of stand-up comedy to that of a legitimate art form, and to enable comedy criticism be taken as seriously as that of theater, film, music, food, even video games. No a**-kissing. No bias. No mercy. Just honest, unfiltered, long-form reviews written by professional, knowledgeable comedy critics.” 

Every week Julie will select an entry from the site to be included on our blog and hand-pick some related events happening that week that she feels all you comedy lovers out there will appreciate.

So, without further ado, let us introduce you to this week’s Spit Take Saturday!

Threats of a torrential derecho kept some Chicagoans home instead of braving the storm and put a damper on the Just for Laughs-branded pedicabs that shuttled fans around the city. But they didn’t stop eager Anjelah Johnson fans from lining up with their umbrellas and galoshes outside The Vic Theatre, the former vaudeville venue on Chicago’s north side, to snag good general-admission seats for the former MADtv cast member’s Wednesday night performance.

Nashville-based opener T.C. Cope had an undeniably energetic stage presence, but it wasn’t enough to compensate for his dated material. Large, stagnant chunks devoted to Tickle Me Elmo, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and a SeaWorld drowning that happened in 2010 made it feel as though Cope hadn’t read a newspaper or been online much recently. He showed versatility with his Luther Vandross impression and preached the efficacy of R&B as an aphrodisiac, but somewhere along the line he meandered, reaching the halfway point of Toby Keith’s “Angry American” before it became difficult to remember how the joke began in the first place. The crowd seemed to like Cope well enough nevertheless, though perhaps Johnson’s younger, hipper fans weren’t his usual audience.
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Just For Laughs Chicago – The Pet Projects Series

The Just For Laughs Group was founded in 1983 with a focus on comedy festivals, television productions, live shows and talent management. The Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal is now the largest comedy event in the world and welcomes 2 million people every summer.

Brown Paper Tickets is proud to be ticketing this year’s Just For Laughs Chicago Festival‘s Pet Project Series at The Playground Theater from June 15 to June 17. The Pet Project Series is where some of Chicago’s finest comedians are given an hour to showcase their Pet Projects.
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