Allan Johnson

Paula Poundstone's upcoming variety television show for ABC is moving along "swimmingly," contrary to a story in TV Guide that's got Poundstone a little ticked off. "This guy, I'm going...

Time again for another comedy lesson. This class is titled "How Not to Be a Hack." A hack is any comic that uses easy, no-brain standup fodder to get laughs,...

You won't see ventriloquist Jeff Dunham on HBO's "Def Comedy Jam" anytime soon (and not because of the very obvious reason that you're thinking). But Dunham does admit that his...

As regular readers of this space (all 14 of you) probably have learned by now, people get into standup comedy for a wide variety of reasons. Some see it as...

If MTV can present a movie awards program, why can't "Soul Train" produce an awards show devoted to comedy? Actually, the longtime music-dance show, which got its start in Chicago,...

When All Jokes Aside celebrates an anniversary, it doesn't fool around. Last year, when the club that features African-American comics had its first birthday, it marked the occasion by relocating...

A major event in comedy is happening to the north of us, even as you read this. No, Andrew Dice Clay hasn't come to his senses. The Montreal International Comedy...

Lawyer-bashing has been in the news lately. After the mass shooting at a San Francisco law office a few weeks ago by a businessman who blamed attorneys for his losses,...

How does Aaron Freeman, one of Chicago's most on-target political pundits, top "Do the White Thing," which enjoyed such critical and commercial success? He grows up. "We all run around...

Addie Price and three friends were listening to a jazz band in a booth close to the stage at the Jazz Oasis. They had come to grab a bite to...