UP Comedy Club Announces Spring Line-Up of Stand-Up and Sketch Comedy

Tickets are currently on sale for UP Comedy Club's roster of stand-up, sketch shows, and newly added special engagements including the Chicago Improv Festival's 30 Rock show (April 7), Greg Proops podcast show (April 10), and CHIRP Radio's First Time: First Crime show (April 17). Also added by popular demand two shows of Team StarKid: Airport for Birds and Other Great Ideas (March 24 & 31) and an encore one-weekend return engagement of Four Girls (And A Guy): A One Night Stand with The Second City (April 11-13). Tickets can be purchased by calling 312-662-4562 or visiting UPComedyClub.com. UP Comedy Club is located at 230 W. North Ave, 3rd Floor of Piper's Alley in Chicago.

March 14 - 16, 2013
Judy Gold

Emmy Award- winning actress and comedian Judy Gold is best known as the star of the critically acclaimed long-running Off Broadway hit show 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother, for which she was nominated for a 2006 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance. In addition, the show won the 2007 GLAAD award for "Outstanding New York Theater." A book based on the show was nominated for the prestigious Quill Award.

Judy has been in the cast of Nora & Delia Ephron's Off-Broadway play, Love, Loss and What I Wore. Most recently, she has appeared on 30 Rock, The View, The Wendy Williams Show, co-hosTed Anderson Live, The Next Great Baker, and she will be guest starring in the series finale of Showtime's The Big C. She is a regular on Current TV's Say Anything with Joy Behar, and Tru TV's World's Dumbest.

Showtimes: Thursday at 8:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.
Tickets: $20.00

March 27, 2013
Kevin Coval Book Signing Party

Kevin Coval Presents "Shtick: these are the poems, people". A Poetry Reading by Kevin Coval with special guests to celebrate the release of his new book "Schtick: these are the poems, people. "Kevin Coval is the author of numerous poetry collections and chapbooks, including the American Library Association Book-of-the-Year finalist "Slingshots: A Hip-Hop Poetica" and most recently, "L-vis Lives! Racemusic Poems," described as a "stunning, and very personal, piece of literary work that should be required reading in every high school in America" by Impose magazine.

In his early twenties, Coval founded "Louder Than a Bomb: The Chicago Youth Poetry Festival," now one of the largest youth gatherings on the planet, recently the subject of an award-winning documentary of the same name. Coval currently serves as Artistic Director of Young Chicago Authors, the non-profit home of Louder Than a Bomb, and numerous other youth writing and hip hop programs.

Showtime: Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: Free Event

April 1, 2013
Demetri Martin: Point Your Face At This Book Tour

Demetri Martin rose to relative obscurity when he started doing stand-up comedy in New York City at the end of the 20th Century. Later he became a writer at Late Night with Conan O'Brien and then a regular performer on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In 2003, Demetri won the Perrier Award at the International Fringe Festival for his first one-man show, If I. He released a comedy album called These Are Jokes and then created and starred in his own television series called Important Things with Demetri Martin. His first stand-up comedy special, Demetri Martin. Person is considered by many to be his longest and only hour-long stand-up comedy special. Martin has appeared in movies as an actor, most recently in Steven Soderbergh's Contagion and most lengthily in Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock. His first book, This Is a Book by Demetri Martin is a New York Times Bestseller.

Showtimes: Monday at 7:00 p.m. (Sold Out) and 9:30 p.m. (Sold Out)
Tickets: $30.00

April 5-6, 2013
Jeff Garlin

Jeff Garlin is co-star and Executive Producer of the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm. Raised in Chicago and then South Florida, Garlin studied filmmaking and began performing stand-up comedy while at the University of Miami. He has toured the country as a stand-up comedian, is an alumnus of Chicago's Second City Theatre, and has written and starred in three critically acclaimed solo shows (I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, Uncomplicated, and Concentrated).

Currently, Garlin is on a fall comedy tour and has a local show based in Los Angeles at Largo called By the Way - Conversations With (soon to be released). Guests have included Michael Moore, Larry David, Conan O'Brian, Zach Galifianakis, J.J. Abrams, Lena Dunham, and Jeff Tweedy to name a few. Jeff works with Michael Moore as co-founder of the Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival, occurring annually in Michigan. In Summer 2012, Jeff directed his second feature film, which he wrote and stars in. The film, dealin' with idiots, will be released in Spring 2013.

Showtimes: Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.
Tickets: $25

JUST ANNOUNCED
April 7, 2013
Chicago Improv Festival: 30 Rock Show

UP Comedy Club is proud to host the Chicago Improv Festival's 30 Rock Show featuring Scott Adsitt, John Lutz and Kay Cannon. Special opening performance by The Improvised Shakespeare Company.

Showtime: Sunday at 8:00 p.m.
Tickets: $25

JUST ANNOUNCED
April 10, 2013
Greg Proops: The Smartest Man In The World Proopcast

It's just Proops and you. There is no fan fare. Proops takes center stage at a small table and chair set up with a single microphone. Then he's off. An hour of great conversation that flies by at a breakneck clip. He crams the feelings of a great two-way conversation into the lecture-style format of a one-way conversation.

Showtime: Wednesday at 8:00 p.m.
Tickets: $20

JUST ANNOUNCED
April 17, 2013
CHIRP Radio's: The First Time: The First Crime

UP Comedy Club hosts CHIRP Radio's monthly live performance "First Time" series. The First Time series is a night of words and music. Readers write original pieces around a "first time" theme -- this time, it's First Crime. Each reader selects a song to accompany their piece; immediately following their reading, a live band performs their song in a stripped-down setting.

Showtime: Wednesday at 8:00 p.m.
Tickets: $10

Check out UP's ongoing shows & improv revues:

TWO SHOWS ADDED!
Team StarKid: Airport for Birds and Other Great Ideas
Known for creating heartfelt parody musicals for YouTube, Team StarKid now jumps from the small screen to no screen at all! From the group that brought you A Very Potter Musical comes Airport for Birds: an evening of "great" ideas and other bits that have hit the cutting room floor. Come see some familiar StarKid faces fly through 90 minutes of sketch comedy, video shorts, and music! So grab the nearest unattended bag, make sure you have your bird-ing pass, and join us at The Second City UP Comedy Club for Airport For Birds (and Other Great Ideas).
Two shows added on March 24 and March 31. Sunday at 7:00 p.m.
Tickets $18.00

Laugh Out Loud Tour
The Laugh Out Loud Tour features some of the best sketches, songs, and improvisations from The Second City's fifty-two year history. From the company that launched the careers of Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray and more, comes the next generation of the comedy world's best and brightest in an evening of hilarious sketch comedy and Second City's trademark improvisation. The Second City celebrates over 50 years of cutting edge satirical revues and continues to deliver the leading voices in comedy while touring the globe. With scripted and improvisational elements, audiences always enjoy being part of the show and playing along with the next generation of comic legends. Whether it's ripped from the morning headlines or a classic gem from their 50+ year archives, Laugh Out Loud Tour is always a laugh out loud hit.
Showtimes: March 22, 23, 29 and 30 at 8:00pm and 11:00pm
Tickets: $28

ONE WEEKEND ONLY!
Four Girls (And A Guy): A One Night Stand with The Second City
Back by popular demand!!! Four Girls (And A Guy): A One Night Stand with the Second City is a melodic fusion of classic Second City sketch comedy and improvisation. This masterful cast of females (and that one guy) grant audiences a glimpse into a world of longing, dashed expectations, and all of the baggage that goes along with being human.
One Weekend Only!
Showtimes: Thursday, April 11 at 8:00 p.m, Friday, April 12 at 8:00 p. m. and 10:30 p.m.,
Saturday, April 13 at 11:00 p.m. Tickets: $28

What the Tour Guide Didn't Tell You: A Chicago Revue
The Second City does the Second City in this hilarious hometown revue that pulls from 52 years of classic scenes and songs thaT Lovingly make fun of the city we call home. Whether it's wholesale political corruption or a hapless ball club on the north side of town, What the Tour Guide Didn't Tell You is a great way to get a laugh-filled look at the Windy City.
Showtimes: Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 4:00 p.m. Open run.
Tickets: $28.00

The Second City's Improv All-Stars
See Chicago's finest improvisers under the direction of the legendary Mick Napier in an evening of unscripted and unequaled improvisational comedy. This show is highly interactive, unpredictable and thoroughly original which makes for a high energy, hilarious "edge of your seat" show.
Mondays at 8:00 p.m. Suggested rating R. Open run.
Tickets $16

Added Shows: Wednesdays, March 13 and 20, 2013
Sunday March 10 at 7:00 p.m.

REACH: Risky, Eclectic Artists Comedy Hour
See an urban melting pot of stand-up, music, poetry, performance and improv all in one night! Bringing together the city's most diverse voices in comedy and performance art, REACH artists perform theme driven material on history, women, sex and violence, race and LGBTQ themes in rotation during each monthly second Sunday performance. A portion of ticket sales supports scholarships to emerging talent from Second City Outreach & Diversity.
Showtimes: The second Sunday each month through June 2013
March 10 at 9:30 p.m., April 14 at 7:00 p.m., May 12 at 7:00 p.m., June 9 at 7:00 p.m.
Tickets: $13.00