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18 surprising things Alec Baldwin told us at Chicago Ideas’ Curiosity Series

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This past Tuesday night, Alec Baldwin revealed who he is “beyond the screen” to a rapt, sold-out audience at Chicago’s Athenaeum Theatre. Chicago Ideas’ CEO Jessica Malkin hosted the evening as part of the Curiosity Series, which offers rare opportunities to interact with innovators from every walk of life. During the hour-long talk which included …

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Best Night Ever’s Sam McHale talks about the show’s third anniversary and how to produce the best night ever

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On Monday, April 3, Best Night Ever celebrates its third anniversary. Not every stand-up showcase reaches that milestone, but Best Night Ever is known for living up to its name. Every Monday night at Gman Tavern, producers Sam Ash McHale, Mike Cronin, Dave Losso and Mike O’Keefe put on a quality line-up of rising and …

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Chicago Ideas hosts Bassem Youssef, the “Egyptian Jon Stewart,” and his best advice is …

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Chicago is known for its magnificent architecture, but right now I’m not thinking of brick and steel. Chicago is also known for its magnificent architecture of the mind. Chicago Ideas is a non-profit that specializes in bringing the world’s most innovative thinkers to Chicago to sync up with their local counterparts, namely you. As Chicago …

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7 years after death, comedy legend Greg Giraldo returns to spotlight in upcoming biography

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Speaking to Matt Balaker I came close to slipping up and calling him “Greg.” Matt, along with Wayne Jones, are the authors of the upcoming definitive and only book about ingenious comedian Greg Giraldo who died of an accidental prescription drug overdose in 2010 at the age of forty-four. Talking with Matt even by phone …

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Saturday Night Live: bring back Katie Rich. We’re all poorer if you don’t.

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  All the way through elementary school I attended the Chaos B. Mayhem Progressive School in the Washington, D.C. suburbs. That wasn’t its actual name, but it was the ‘70s and it may as well have been. Our math teacher was growing pot in the class terrarium and four grades were thrown together in one …

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President Barack Obama’s greatest comedy hits and a thank you for being our headliner-in-chief

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I’m hoping I won’t bring Secret Service running if I say no one blows up the stage and kills with a mic like President Barack Obama. He deserves the title Honorary Comedian. He’s got the heart, the spirit, and certainly the timing and delivery which just got better and sharper and more confident over the …

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Don’t abstain from voting! Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart stage musical spectacular telling us why!

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My morning routine: stumble around for forty-five minutes employing my patented life-saving shortcuts. Number one is scrambling eggs in the microwave but only for forty-seven seconds. Any more and they’ve got the consistency of tires. Then, a coupla meds, hopefully avoiding the sort of fog where I might take today’s meds, promptly forget and then …

Don’t abstain from voting! Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart stage musical spectacular telling us why! Read More »

Chicago’s Open-Mic Festival is the playoffs and World Series of open mics … and it’s free!

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November is a season of championships and it’s not just the Cubs. Beginning Sunday, November 6, Chicago celebrates its Third Annual Open-Mic Festival. The competition takes place over five nights at twenty-one venues. It’s a unique opportunity for comedians and comedy fans. Festival producer David Gavri expects at least fifty comedians at each open mic, …

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You can REQUEST the next “Comedian of the Month” at Chicago’s Comedy Scene Radio

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Want to score Chicago comedy gold and win prizes for your favorite Chicago comedian? You can do it right now whether you’re in Old Town, Tinley Park, Transylvania or Tulsa. You can do it at 9:00 a.m. or by the light of the moon. The new REQUESTS feature at Chicago’s Comedy Scene Radio makes it …

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Talking with The Brady Campaign’s Kim Parker Russell about “Fun Lovers Unite! An Evening of Music, Comedy and Gun Sense” … and what we can do everywhere to hurry up some progress

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A harrowing and tragic evening brought Kim Parker Russell to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence where she is now a regional organizing manager. There, Kim has accomplished something heroic. She has forged optimism from trauma. Not cheery, lightweight optimism, but optimism borne of sound strategy and the conviction that change is possible and …

Talking with The Brady Campaign’s Kim Parker Russell about “Fun Lovers Unite! An Evening of Music, Comedy and Gun Sense” … and what we can do everywhere to hurry up some progress Read More »

Talking with Jeanne Darst about comedy, gun sense and truth

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One time a man knocked pamphlets out of my mom’s hands and called her a Communist. In the late ‘60s, “communist” was a pretty bad thing to call a person. Why the epithet? My mom was campaigning on Washington, D.C.’s National Mall for gun reform. It’s one of my earliest memories. It happened just after …

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Talking with Josh Mills about “Fun Lovers Unite! An Evening of Music, Comedy, and Gun Sense”

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In the dim early hours of June 17, 1992, Asher Montandon was the target of a robbery on a Los Angeles street. The robber had a gun. He ended Asher’s life in a moment of violent chaos which would reverberate through time to this day. Asher was 24 years-old and  living with his brother Maccabee. …

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Comedy fans should know about these two Kickstarters

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The best Kickstarters aren’t just pleas, they’re opportunities. Best are the ones with perks that match your passions. They are a serendipitous way to be part of a project that is in sync with your dreams. I recently heard about two campaigns that hit these marks for comedy fans. The American Bystander #2    End date: …

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