Chuckle chuckle, y'all

After last week's misadventures, I finally got my comedy on.

It was a Tuesday night at Phyllis' Musical Inn in Wicker Park. For those who don't know, Phyllis' is one of those majestic holdovers from the days an outsider making a trip to Wicker Park meant someone was either lost, looking to do something illegal or was about to have something illegal done to them. It's from the days when the six-corners at Damen, North and Milwaukee was called "Hooker Alley." The old-timers still recall when you could buy an eight ball, a half-and-half and some rusty kit for a nickle.

Phyllis' is from the days when men were men, women were women and babies weren't being freakin' pushed down the middle of the sidewalk in their ergonomically designed three-wheel strollers at two miles an hour while over-made-up Wicker Park mommies window-shop at Marc Jacobs while lazily chatting about WHETHER CARRIE OR CASSANDRA OR BETTY-FREAKIN-SUE IS THEIR FAVORITE "SEX IN THE CITY" CROTCH-JOCKEY!

As featured in the Chicago Tribune, folks. As featured in the Trib.

But anyway, Phyllis' Musical Inn. It's a dingy old bar with booze, suds and a bartender who kept having to slam the cooler five or six times before it would shut. Eventually, he took a screwdriver to it.

I had been to the bar before, but sometimes you fall back in love.

The purpose was an open mic comedy night.

Now, I like comedy probably more than the next man. To me, it's a truer language than even music. Yeah, there's a lot of impressions of wives done at places with names like "The Chuckle Hut" and I'm tired of comedians on TV making jokes about the Amish, then saying it's OK to make jokes about the Amish because the Amish will not be able to watch the TV in the first place. I actually have seen that at least twice.

In general, though, I have three rules for comedy. I don't give a damn about your kids, saying you're worried about sounding racist before telling a racist joke doesn't make the joke less racist and don't do impressions of characters that other comedians created. It could be the best "I live in a van down by the river" motivational speaker guy impression in history, but I have the ability to go on YouTube and watch Chris Farley do it for real.

A lot of the comics at Phyllis' Musical Inn were great. Thanks to one of them, I'll never be able to watch Mr. Roger's Neighborhood again without wondering "What's the going rate for a no-bedroom, no-bath with a portal to another dimension?"

Even the ones who sucked were great. The "Hilarious Brothers" absolutely bombed, but in such a ridiculous way that it was, in fact, hilarious.

My girlfriend and I appeared to be the only non-comedians in the bar. When we went to step outside, one of the comics nervously asked "You're not leaving, are you?" But that was a plus in a way. Everyone seemed to know each other, chiming in and heckling their friends. People seemed to know what it meant when someone admitted they were trying "new stuff." It was charming to watch people who speak the same language get together.

It was charming, but I don't know if it's alternative. I think my search has failed for another week.

Stand-up comedy is a broad medium for communication. It's more a category like "music" than like "hip-hop" or "punk." Comedy is a field that can include Bill Hicks and Bill Cosby. It can include Cedric the Entertainer and Larry the Cable Guy. It can include people who bring guitars up to the stage and people who bring ventriloquist dummies.

Although the assembled comedians all knew each other and spoke the same language, they can't really be considered an alternative culture. Comedy was more their means of expressing whichever culture they belonged to. The pretty girl who did celebrity impressions and told jokes about cheap dates can't really be considered the same type of comedian as the angry man who poked holes in the Jesus story and compared picking a religion to playing the lottery ("You CAN'T WIN the lottery!").

Both were really funny, though.

I guess the nature of comedy shows -- especially open mic ones on Tuesday nights -- means they can't really be considered alternative. Because there are so fewer comedians than say, musicians, any show has to have a sampling. Musicians can assemble hip-hop shows easily. It's harder to pull together a show of angry young Chicago-area atheist comics.

An alternative culture is like an ethnic restaurant -- variety within a subset. Comedy is more like the salad bar at a grocery store. There's a little bit of everything and, in the long run, it's more sustaining.

Great way to spend a Tuesday, though.

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Paul Dailing
Paul Dailing (pictured standing in front of the World's Largest Boot), now has a different haircut. He's also lost a bit of weight since that picture was taken, but not as much as he likes to think. More