Here are some fun articles today about upcoming Blewt! Productions.
Recently in Performances Category
The Animal Drawing Rivalry continues, now in Japan.
Oh man, hilarious.
Urlesque.com has a face off between Cats, Owls, and Any Animal You Want.
We also got mentioned on Coudal and Gapers Block.
APES CLOSES TONIGHT!
More Later!
The Chicago Reader Named Impress These Apes the Best Variety Show in Chicago!
Thanks to all the readers who voted!!
There's a lot that can go wrong here. Impress These Apes is an eight-week talent competition, now in its fifth iteration, in which contestants prepare assigned acts--stand-up with a puppet, say, or anti-comedy--to be judged American Idol-style by "hyper-intelligent apes from the future" (three comedians in masks). The acts might easily flop--or, worse, they might not be bad enough to elicit sufficient zingers from the apes.
And yet there's never a dull moment.
Blewt! Productions has engineered Apes with silly backstory and wacked- out characters enough to keep things lively. And the contestants--who've endured a rigorous audition process for the chance to win prizes, $500, and the title of Least Pitiful Human--are always up for the increasingly weird tasks at hand. The possibility that Apes could fall apart at any moment only means that when something special happens, like an underdog pulling out all the stops, it's glorious. It runs through July 26, Mondays at 8 PM; tickets are $10.For its fifth edition, this eight-week talent contest has been streamlined. The backstory, explaining why three hyper-intelligent apes from the future are subjecting eight people to weekly challenges, is gone, and bits between the apes and other characters-a bronzed beauty pageant host; the sidekick, Future Human-are kept brief. The focus is on the contestants and the challenges, which are harder and weirder than ever. The first week's task was to perform anti-comedy. Chloe Ditzel prepared a unicycle routine that was derailed when she couldn't mount the thing; Otis Fine chugged two bottles of wine and sat quietly, awaiting the consequences. Few shows in Chicago are as consistently dangerous as Impress These Apes-anything can happen and usually does. -Steve Heisler
The end of the year is always a good time for Blewt! Productions when all the year-end reviews come out. Fortunately, this year is no exception!
We were listed in the Top 10 best things to happen to Chicago Comedy in this decade by Time Out Chicago:
"Top moments that cracked us up--and changed Chicago comedy" 2004 A group of Chicago writers and comics forms Blewt! Productions, which creates long-running comic faves Don't Spit the Water and Impress These Apes.
They also predicted that in 2010 we'll get our own network TV show:
Our funny predictions for comedy in 2010
6. Impress These Apes will become a smash network-TV game show. Soon every kid in America will be wanting Captain Apehab, Barry Shirley and Bushmeat dolls.
And Apes was listed in the best comedy moments of the year:
HOME TEAM
Best Peter Boyle impression
It wasn't just our simian friends whom contestant Chad Briggs won over week after week in season four of the futuristic game show Impress These Apes. We, too, were mesmerized by the local stand-up, who was crowned Least Pitiful Human at ComedySportz this fall. Our favorite moment? Briggs as Peter Boyle having a conversation with a carton of eggs: a funny, oddly endearing tribute to a departed comic actor with Chicago roots.
All three of those were written by Jason A. Heidemann. Thanks, Jason!
In PerformInk's Year In Review, Nina Metz included us in some of her favorites of the year:
Small and Intimate Make Theatre Better Second City is a safe bet when you have visitors in town, but the really intriguing comedy--comedy that hasn't had its edges buffed down--tends to happen elsewhere, including i.O. (where those same Second City cast members frequently perform after hours). And pound for pound, Impress These Apes is still the show the beat in terms of originality and offbeat humor.
Thanks, Nina!
Erica Reid
