Comedy is art

Continued

Ritter books acts not based on their ability to make people laugh, but their originality at making those people laugh. To Ritter, and probably most comedians, comedy is an art form that can’t always be defined simply in black and white on a page or shared from one person to the next. He couldn’t tell you what comedy is directly when booking an act.

“It’s hard to describe,” he said. “But I know it when I see it.”

Unlike most clubs, Ritter has no guidelines as to what a comic can say or do on stage. It is describe as their canvas and they are allowed to paint it however they see fit.

“All I’m saying to them is ‘Here’s the stage and you have open expression to do what you want on it,” he said.

Ritter would also like to start something like an open-mic to involve some of the local Chicago comics or a midnight matinee type show that challenges comics to be as “blue” and off color as possible.

Ritter also said he books people like Stanhope because their comedy is not only edgy, but also real.

“I think great comedy is closer to the edge,” he said. “But that’s not to say guys like Paul F. Tompkins aren’t brilliant. We love having them. Like I said comedy is a form of expression, subjective from one person to the next.”

Lakeshore Theater also hosted the main stage for the Chicago Improv Festival this year, June 2-8 and Ritter was happy to have them.

“I [was] really excited to sit in the audience and get to know [the performers],” he said.

Lakeshore Theater shows a unique voice for comedy through the acts it books, but Ritter said he hopes to expand that. He noted the artistic vision was fuzzy at the beginning, but over the past year it has become clearer, although they're still a couple years away from the solid vision. Ritter and his associates have big plans for the theater and a long-term goal.

“Our biggest goal over the next 3 to 5 years is to become more actively involved in new shows that challenge the form of comedy,” Ritter said.

To contact Lakeshore Theater or Chris Ritter visit the home page http://www.LakeShoreTheater.com.

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