Sunday Double Header
at the Raven Theatre
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The downside is that year after year Chicago attracts hundreds of not very talented comic actors–misfits, neurotics, class clowns, and others who are more funny peculiar than funny ha-ha. When I studied at the Second City Conservatory several years ago, I was stunned at how many people had moved to Chicago to pursue improv and sketch writing. These weren’t just recent college grads but men and women in their later 20s and even 30s. Others flew in for auditions, as if Second City were the Juilliard of comedy–which in a way I suppose it is.
Of course, it’s not always easy to separate the sheep from the goats in a scene flooded with performers aiming to prove to the world–or at least to their friends and families and themselves–that they actually have what it takes. The two sketch-comedy revues that make up “Sunday Double Header” and Stir-Friday Night!’s disOriented reveal glimmers of talent and flashes of originality, though all three ensembles have to work harder at finding out who they are, what they stand for, and why anyone should care.
