By Third Coast Review Staff
iO Theater’s second annual iO Fest closed Sunday after 100-plus comedy acts performed over the four-day event. The fest featured homegrown Chicago talent and nationally recognized headliners. Our Third Coast Reviewers are comedy fans too and they attended shows throughout the weekend. Here are their mini-reviews from the last two days of the fest. Also see our coverage of the first half of iO Fest.
3Peat Comedy
Improv may be built on the tenet of promoting teamwork and welcoming others, but its depictions in pop culture tend to center around white guys with glasses and beards—and, as a peek in just about any improv class proves, not without reason, unfortunately.
It takes dedicated trailblazers to break down those walls, and the legendary all-Black team 3PEAT is rightly heralded for its bold, provocative, and absolutely hilarious brand of improv. Comprising veteran performers and teachers from iO and Second City who were tired of being the sole POC on their teams, the group was once a mainstay on Chicago stages, but shows became an increasingly rare and must-see treat as members began finding success on TV and film. (Check out their Comedy Central short, “The Blackening.”)
3PEAT’s appearance at iO Fest launched with a monologue from the fearless Shantira Jackson, a Second City Mainstage veteran, who spoke about her love of gardening and appreciation that the hobby is one of life’s few true meritocracies. “If you put work into a garden, it blossoms,” she reflected, encouraging audiences to find their own rewarding hobbies that don’t require the approval of gatekeepers—a hard truth for a crowd consisting largely of folks whose goal is to land a spot on an iO house team.
When the scenes started though, any seriousness was put aside for a magical, winding set that included a father selecting his favorite child, a talking shooting star, and a hysterical run in which Nnamdi Ngwe and Dewayne Perkins starred in a gambling ad gone wrong.
3PEAT is one of the most incredible teams to have emerged from the Chicago comedy scene and I hope they return to the city’s stages soon. (Anthony Cusumano)
Neil Hamburger
Neil Hamburger opened his iO Fest set with a deranged, liquor-soaked cover of “Crazy on You” by Heart. He screamed, talked, and sang his way through the lyrics while pointing at audience members and pouring alcohol over his three-piece suit. It was absurd, chaotic, and the perfect prelude to what followed. The deliberately off-kilter stand-up and lounge act persona, defined by misanthropic energy and masterfully bad timing, is the creation of American performer Gregg Turkington.
For the next hour, Hamburger wheezed, gagged, and cleared his throat between bitter observations. He took aim at the machinery of fame, aging rock legends, and the bloated sp.ectacle of benefit concerts. He balanced a fidget spinner on his thumb and shared oddly specific travel tips for St. John’s in Canada. While plugging his merch, he called his table a pop-up shop and explained that meant a store that doesn’t have what it takes to survive.
“I’ve got time for a couple more gags,” he said near the end. Then he began physically gagging as the crowd howled. The performance teetered between collapse and control, held together by sharp timing and total commitment. Hamburger’s performance pushed discomfort to its limit and made it magnetic. He suggested that the “iO” in iO Theater must stand for “interesting observation.” It was a fitting phrase for a set packed with strange truths buried in layers of absurdity.
It was a masterclass in anti-comedy, effortlessly balancing discomfort with undeniable charisma. At one point, he suggested that the “iO” in iO Theater must stand for “interesting observation.” It was a fitting phrase for a set packed with strange truths buried in layers of absurdity. (Tumpale Mwakasisi)
Improvised Shakespeare Chicago
IO Fest kept the ball rolling with Improvised Shakespeare. First of all, this company is ridiculously talented. We saw five members of the team: Adam Schreck, Beth Melewski, Blaine Swen, Matt Young, and Joe Burton. There were no memorized lines, but all players are clearly well-acquainted with the Bard's body of work, especially his turns of phrase and classic dramatic voltas. The players ask the audience for the title of a play, and then we get to see the world premiere of whatever show that title prompted. "Canoodling for Yvette" was ultimately an impressively well-structured, completely improvised, two-act masterpiece.
The players blend clever rhyming couplets with sonnet-style delivery, moving effortlessly between scenes that resembled the set-up of a Shakespearean comedy. It was quickly established that "Canoodling for Yvette" meant that a character would be flirting on her behalf—thus we were introduced to the French princess Yvette, in love with the English prince, Henri. Star-crossed lovers during a war between their two nations, Yvette had her best friend, Bernadette, do all the romancing for her. But Bernadette did her job a little too well, resulting in a doomed love triangle.
What ensued was French accents in the style of Steve Martin in The Pink Panther, which set up plenty of jokes like "it makes more sense in French!" The king and queen were not big fans of the prince dating ANY French person, and the king schemed to kill the prince, setting Henri up to duel his servant/possible other son(?), the be-humped Archibald. As a bonus, Yvette tells Henri, "I will absolutely marry you if you kill your dad." The interruptions of Shakespeare's language—forsooth, insooth, betwixt—with contemporary English were hilarious and perfectly timed, especially with emotional outbursts like Henri saying, "I hate my dad!" The players were all great listeners to each other's scenes, taking bits that worked and weaving them as themes throughout the rest of the play. A major hit was Beth Melewski as Zeke, one of the prince's friends from the pub, who had an unplaceable English accent and was a bit of a pervert.
As with any great Shakespearean play, a LOT of people died in the end. But when the entire crowd booed at Zeke's death, it felt like we united as an audience, echoing what it might have really felt like to see the Bard's magic at work for the very first time.
You can keep up with Improvised Shakespeare's Chicago company on their website and on Instagram at @improvshakesco. (Row Light)
Tellin’ Tales Theatre With Sorry and Panama
Sunday was the final day of an action-packed comedy-filled weekend at the iO Theater. It may have been the last day, but it was certainly not the least. The theater was full of people ready for some laughs and these three Chicago-based teams delivered: Tellin’ Tales Theatre, Sorry, and Panama.
The show started strong with “What’s Yours Like?” with Tellin’ Tales Theatre. This hilarious group of improvisers performed an Armondo, where the improvisers share short stories with the audience and use those as a basis for the wacky scenes that follow. This team incorporated American Sign Language (ASL) creating a smart and accessible show while adding a fun layer of physical comedy.
Following them was the team Sorry, and their edgy humor tickled the audience from start to finish.
Finally, in this stacked bracket was the team, Panama, who found the silliness in grounded relationships and the importance of following the rules within a Costco. Since all three of these teams are in Chicago, make sure to follow them and catch them at their next show! You can find them on Instagram @whatsyourslikeimprov, @sorry_improv, and @panama_improv. (Erin Ryan)
Messing With Lehr
Susan Messing is one of Chicago’s most renowned improvisers, unparalleled in knowing the art form’s rules in order to break them. One of those is the notion of “playing at the top of your intelligence,” aka behaving the way someone actually would, even in the silliest of situations and resisting the urge to offer the audience a knowing wink. Messing masterfully manages to poke fun at a scene while maintaining its integrity, chipping at the fourth wall but never breaking it.
Fellow improviser John Lehr proved a more-than-capable companion from the start. Jumping off the suggestion “cruise ship,” his first character was a recent widower—as in, his wife Edith died just two hours earlier—taking comfort in his immediate chemistry with Messing, who seemed less thrown by Lehr’s lack of grief than the idea of him screaming an “old lady name” like Edith while climaxing. Naturally, the two characters found themselves in bed together, and soon enough, Messing shifted gears and portrayed Edith’s corpse—and let’s just say that Lehr’s character wasn’t quite as ready to move on as he might have thought.
Another scene found Messing in the audience, struggling to find her seat after showing up late to what turned out to be a hypnotist show. Lehr’s scattered hypnotist initially seemed incapable of mind control until he revealed that “some of you have been pre-hypnotized.” Anyone who had gone to the bathroom before the performance was instructed to cluck like a chicken.
It’s one thing for a performer to play at the top of their intelligence, but it’s another thing entirely to get the audience to follow suit—especially when that means convincing 150 grown adults to “bock-bock-bock” on command. (Anthony Cusumano)
Even though iO Fest has ended, you can still see comedy every night at the iO Theater. Check out the upcoming shows or classes on their website ioimprov.com.
Images courtesy of the artists except where identified otherwise.
Support arts and culture journalism today. This work doesn't happen without your support. Contribute today and ensure we can continue to share the latest reviews, essays, and previews of the most anticipated arts and culture events across the city.
