Veteran comedian Jeff Cesario is known for intelligent, regular-guy observations on everything from life to sports to relationships.
Now fans of the comedian are getting to see a new, creatively stimulated Cesario. And it’s all because he got in touch with his feelings.
“I really started to feel the urge to get back on stage and get more personal with my stuff,” Cesario says, “get more story-oriented with my stuff and try to find new places.”
Cesario, a comedian for 20 years, always looked at things from the perspective of an outsider looking in. He describes the scene and conveys its humor via gags and bits.
But now the Kenosha native is talking about how scenes affect him, making the stories a little more personal and inserting jokes along the way.
“I can get into a slightly more anecdotal framework,” Cesario says. “I mean, I still love to do good, tight jokes, but if I can place them into a story, that can be even better.”
A few factors have come into play to help Cesario rejuvenate his performance, chief among them his outside writing assignments.
Cesario had cut back on his stand-up in favor of more television and movie writing over the last several years. He has written and/or produced for “Dennis Miller Live” and “The Larry Sanders Show,” winning Emmy and CableACE awards in the process. Cesario also wrote the screenplay for Michael Keaton’s fantasy “Jack Frost.”
Early last month he re-teamed with “Sanders” star Garry Shandling as a writer for the Emmy Awards, which many thought was one of the best Emmy productions in years, thanks in part to Shandling’s stellar performance.
All of this writing had a negative effect on Cesario the performer, because he could get on stage for only a handful of dates a year. But the storytelling-based writing has helped him hone his own stand-up storytelling abilities.
What also helped get in the personal slant of storytelling is revisiting the 1979 concert film “Richard Pryor — Live in Concert,” which influenced the former journalist to get into stand-up in the first place when he first saw it in a downtown Chicago theater.
“This incarnation of him was so just like a buddy talking to you,” Cesario explains. “And it was so organic, and he made so many great points. . . . Never preached, never tried to structure a joke, never wrote to a point, just told things from his perspective. `I’ instead of `you’ or `they.’
“And I’m shifting to the `I’ pronoun and seeing what that does for me.”
For example, “instead of just coming up with 10 great minutes on marriage — which hopefully I have done as well — it’s the challenge of marriage, which is really the challenge of growing as a human being,” adds Cesario, a very youthful-looking 47-year-old.
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Cesario is finding it a joy being on stage because of his new attitude (he likes to call it “bemusement with an edge”) and also because he’s not collaborating the way he has to with TV or movie projects.
“In television and in movies there’s 12 cooks in the kitchen, and they’re so busy sampling the wine you don’t know what kind of feedback you’re going to get. In stand-up, I produce, I direct, I perform, I do the music, I do tap dance, I do the lights. It’s all mine.”
Cesario may be having fun on stage again, but that doesn’t mean he’s turning his back on writing for the big and small screens.
He’s busy working on a script for Michael Douglas’ production company, a remake of the Judy Holliday-Jack Lemmon-Peter Lawford romantic comedy “It Should Happen to You.”
Cesario is also consulting on NBC sportsguy Bob Costas’ new talk show for HBO, which will be a combination of Costas’ stint on NBC’s “Later,” mixed with some of the vibe of the current late-night talk show arena. That is set to debut in February.
Cesario was so jazzed by his experience on the Emmys with Shandling that he’s trying to sell Garry on a “Larry Sanders” reunion movie for HBO about the frenetic process of working that evening, where Cesario, the other writers and Shandling came up with new material while the show was in progress.
Jeff Cesario is performing Friday and Saturday at Zanies’ comedy club in Vernon Hills. The club is at 230 Hawthorne Village Commons in Vernon Hills; call 847-549-6030 for show times and reservations.
The stand-up lineup
Here’s who’s working the area’s comedy circuit. Current club sets are scheduled to run through Saturday; new acts begin on Thursday unless otherwise noted. Lineups are subject to change.
– Mark Gross and Leo Nino tag-team Comedy Comedy in Lisle Friday and Saturday (3000 Warrenville Rd. in the Radisson Hotel Lisle-Naperville in Lisle; call 630-226-9700).
– “Saloon comic” Jim Wiggins riffs at Riddles Comedy Club Friday and Saturday (15750 S. Harlem Ave.-Continental Shopping Center, Orland Park; call 708-444-0234).
– Chicagoland favorite Ken Sevara stars as the Barrel of Laughs (10345 S. Central Ave., Oak Lawn; call 708-499-2969) this weekend.
– It’s bye-bye for O.C.Y.C. Production. The Chicago sketch comedy troupe is moving to New York City and says farewell Saturday and Sunday with a show that doubles as “best-of” performances. The title is intriguing: “What O.C. Y.C. Stands For.” The secret is revealed at the Heartland Studio Theatre, 7016 N. Glenwood Ave.; call 773-508-6960.
– WGN-AM radio personalities John Williams and Steve Cochran are fronting a special comedy and music show at the McAninch Arts Center at the College of DuPage on Oct. 28. The evening will feature Bill Leff, a comic and radio personality who makes appearances on Cochran’s afternoon show on Fridays; fellow comedians Fred Klett and Tim Clue; and music from the Sam Burkhart Trio. The McAninch Arts Center is at 425 22nd St., Glen Ellyn. For tickets and other information, call 630-942-4000.
– High school students are taking their competitions to the comedy stage, as ComedySportz presents an improv tournament Sundays for five weeks starting Oct. 29. Juarez, Glenbrook North, New Trier and Mundelein High Schools will square off for four weeks, with the finals set for Nov. 26 at the theater, 2851 N. Halsted St. For more information, call 773-549-8080.
– The Diceman returns to Rosemont. The raunchy Andrew “Dice” Clay makes a special appearance at the Rosemont Theatre on Nov. 2. Call 312-559-1212 for reservations.