Ever Mainard: Comedy Impresario

• When: Thursday 11/15/12 10:30 PM
• Ticket Price: $10.00
• Show Type: Comedy
• Door Time: 09:45 PM

Comedy of Chicago Showcase featuring Chicago’s Top Local Comics.

Joe Fernandez, Ever Mainard, Derek Smith, Clark Jones, Liza Treyger, Danny Kallas and Brian Babylon

Hosted by Mike Lebovitz

Brian Babylon: Brian Babylon is a Chicago-born comic and radio host. The self-proclaimed Prince of Bronzeville is a fixture in Chicago’s rich comedy community. He has been making a name for himself outside of Chicago as well, placing in the finals of the New York Comedy Contest in 2009. He has performed in LA at the historic Comedy Store and Laugh Factory, and in the UK at Jongleurs comedy club in London and more recently Brian was selected to be a part of Comedy Central’s South Beach Comedy Festival. Currently, Brian hosts and produces The Morning AMP radio show on Vocalo 89.5 and 88.7 FM, a sister station of Chicago Public Radio. He is also one of the newest additions to the popular NPR weekly news quiz show Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, contributes to BBC Radio and hosts The Moth Story Slam in Chicago.

Joe Fernandez: Joe Fernandez — a half-Cuban, half-Irish, (Or Cubish) comedian. Growing up in Texas, he had an affinity for the sport of baseball and dreamed of playing for the Houston Astros, but when his body didn’t grow up with his dreams he moved to performing comedy. Joe has been performing since the age of 15 and has improvised with comedy groups at iO Chicago, the Annoyance, and the Playground theater. Joe has been performing stand-up consistently for 4 and a half years now and was a finalist for the Andy Kaufman Awards as well as a member of the Chicago Just For Laughs Festival in 2011. He also has performed in the World Series of Comedy in Las Vegas, the Boston Comedy Festival, the Laughing Stock Comedy Festival, and the Laughing Devil Festival.

Ever Mainard:

Ever Mainard - Ever’s spontaneous characters, quick witted anecdotes, and quirky mannerisms will have you laughing well after her performance. Her background in improv gives her the ability to create visceral and border line cathartic moments in her crowd work and off the cuff riffs. Ever Mainard is a Texas native and rated Top 100 and “fearless” by Chicago Magazine as well as Top Seven Acts to Watch by the RedEye Chicago.She performs regularly at The Beat Kitchen with her cast mates of Chicago Underground Comedy and as a co-producer/host of the A.V. Club recommended and Critics Pick- “The Shit Show.”

Derek Smith: Derek Smith was a different kind of little kid. While everyone else was playing Power Rangers in the street, he was in his room letting Bill Cosby LPs flow into his ear to stew is in brain. A couple of decades later he’s probably more Bill Hicks than Cosby. And when all the comparisons inevitably fail to describe what he’s become, he stands as a different kind of animal entirely: one to be dissected, studied and thoroughly enjoyed. Derek performs all over the Midwest and is co-producer of the Your Funniest Friends showcase in downtown Chicago.

Liza Treyger: Liza Treyger is from the former Soviet Union where jokes aren’t allowed so she moved to America and has been telling jokes in Chicago and loving it. For close to two years she was creator and co-producer of one of Chicago’s most loved weekly showcases, Riot Comedy. In the past year she’s been able to travel the country performing with her friends and heroes in amazing venues and prestigious and super fun festivals.

Clark Jones:

A Clark Jones performance is like a bag of M&M’s. You never quite know the make-up when it starts, but its guaranteed to be plenty chocolatey, and even more nutty. Corny analogies aside, Clark is one of the nation’s premier up-and-coming comedians.

He hails from the south side of Chicago where he honed many of his comedic skills and “survival” wit. Growing up in a hilarious family, surrounded by folks much funnier, yet slightly less vindictive, Clark decided the best way to express himself would be to take the stage.

Also, a graduate of Morehouse College, it was in Atlanta, Clark learned the art of entertaining crowds from different sections of the country, an alement he calls “universitality.”

He has performed in venues far ranging from Comix NYC to Chicago’s Zanies and plenty of places in between. He credits Jokes and Notes Comedy club in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood as the place that gave him his start. He can be found at colleges and clubs telling his brand of off-the-wall humor.

Danny Kallas: The blue-collar Chicago accent of Danny Kallas has been described as “so thick, you don’t even know what hit you.” Raised in Elmwood Park, a tightly-knit community bordering Chicago’s Northwest side, Danny enjoys blending all sorts of comedy. From absurd silliness to intelligent satire, if it’s funny, it’s in his act. Danny has been named on Comedy.com’s list of funniest comedians in Chicago. He was the winner of Snubfest 2009 and has participated in numerous comedy festivals including Just For Laughs in Chicago and the Laughing Skull Festival in Atlanta.