Comics are not always funny—but in those cases, they can be claimed as high art, like The Walking Dead or Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. Comics—the other kind—aren’t always funny either. They either curl up like dead spiders and disappear beneath a dresser forever, or they soldier on to another open mike.
That quick homonym demonstration aside, here’s the deal with a new stand-up comedy show happening at Challengers Comics + Conversation on the last Thursday of every month. Action Comedy is a nod to Action Comics, the series in which Superman first appeared, published by what would become DC Comics. The show’s produced by a five-boy team of Kevin Brody, Mitch Kurka, Ian Abramson, Jeff Scheen, and Zach Peterson, and joins an already pretty stellar line-up of live programming at the shop.
Action Comedy gets it right this month by having the wonderful Megan Gailey—recently spotted at Just for Laughs Chicago—headline. Others on the bill—including Goodrich Gevaart, Melody Kamali, Trey Brown, Charlie Rohrer—the organizers culled from their circle of acquaintances. I’m less familiar with them, which is a perfect reason to stop by; though as free comedy nights flourish, particularly along the Milwaukee Avenue corridor, comedian-producers will need to book acts outside their friends to consistently draw crowds. I hope that’ll happen here.