The Young Hustle Interview

The Young Hustle Show is a monthly weekend showcase at The Chicago Laugh Factory, produced by Clay Hurlbut, St. James Jackson, Nick Ogle, and Skyler Higley. What started in the upstairs of a restaurant two years ago has quickly grown into one of the hottest comedy shows in all of Chicago. The next show is at The Chicago Laugh Factory on Friday, May 18 at 10PM. For this interview, we sit down with the producers of Young Hustle to talk about starting young in comedy, producing a show with your best friends, and going all in to pursue your dreams. Enjoy!

Signs of a Dog Shit Room...

When you’re driving two, three, four or however many hours to a show out of town to a room you've never played before, there’s an impending fear hanging over your head the whole time.

You drive about 15 mph over the speed limit because you left the city late and traffic was a bitch, but your fear is not being late. The gas light is on and the next station is 37 miles away, but that’s not the reason for the sick feeling in your stomach. Suddenly, a raven flies overhead, and you think, ‘That’s pretty ominous. I may get into an accident and die today.’ Yet even death is not the reason for the feeling of dread and doom you sense. The main fear is, this show is going to be dog shit.

You always have a different idea of what the room may look or be like, but nothing fully prepares you for the little capacity people have for how a comedy show should properly be run. So when you first show up, here are some of the signs you can look for to know you’re in for a dog fight.

Staying Sober in Stand-Up.

Kelsie Huff

Someone may have told me this story at a bar. I can’t remember where I heard it but it’s a good story.

A couple went to see a Broadway show staring Barbara Streisand. They were enthralled with Ms. Streisand’s performance and decided once the curtain went down they were going to find her and offer to buy her a celebratory drink.

The singer emerged from backstage and was greeted by her new fans. They instantly declared the next round was on them. Turns out, Babs wasn’t thirsty. She thanked the couple for their tidings and then promptly asked them to please buy her a baked potato instead.

The Thing About Hecklers...

By far and away and without a doubt, the two most frequently asked questions I’ve gotten over and over since I started teaching standup comedy are: “When will I need a manager?” and “What do I do about hecklers?” I laugh every time I hear either question, but they get asked constantly. Nothing could be less important in one’s first year of comedy than these two questions, but I’m going to deal with the heckler issue.

In a word, RELAX. There are no secrets, and there is no peril. It’s all a myth – just like the one that says women love men with a sense humor best, but that’s another topic for another day. I’ll focus my energy on stomping out this fire before attempting anything else. This needs attention. First off, there are far more important things to think about when learning this difficult craft. Getting heckled should not even begin to be part of the conversation until much later. Does it happen? Of course it happens. Every stand-up comic eventually has to deal with this issue to one degree or another, but in one’s early stages of development it’s a non issue.

Jared Freid at Zanies (St Charles)

Jared Fried will be performing at Zanies in St. Charles IL this weekend for 3 shows ONLY.
Fried, a NYC based comic, has been featured on Tru TV’s “NFL Full Contact,” MTV’s “Failosophy,” and more recently on AXS TV’s “Gotham Comedy Live.” He is also a writer for TotalFratMove, BroBible, and HeTexted. Each week you can find a new original column on TotalFratMove.com and his dating advice column on PostGradProblems.com. In addition to writing he is also the host of the JTrain Podcast and the creator of the “Frat Dude Goes To” series where he travels the country interviewing “Bros” at wild events like the Carolina Cup and the AVN Awards. 

Catch Jared this weekend!!

Tony Woods at Zanies!

Tony Woods will be at Zanies for a ONE week run starting March 25th!

Woods is a seasoned veteran in the comedy world, recognized by fans and peers as one of the best and most liked comics in the business. Tony has been on Comedy Central, Last Comic Standing, Showtime at the Apollo, NBC’s Friday Night Videos, Just for Laughs, NYPD Blue, HACK, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and the HBO Comedy Spot just to name a few credits.

Don't miss this rare opportunity to catch him at the legendary Chicago Zanies comedy club. Highly recommended.

Comedy Of Chicago 

Staff Writer

Get to the south side...

Jokes and Notes might be gone. But there are still some great rooms on the south side.

If your a comic who is really serious about performing stand-up comedy - and you have never performed at a south side room you really aint that serious & you're doing your self a disservice.

Nine times out of ten, such rooms will have a real "paid a cover" audience, a professional DJ, a dope ass host and real local stars who drop in to work out sets. Any serious comic who has performed at a black room and killed it - will tell you there is no feeling like it in comedy. And if you can confidently destroy in that type of room on a consistent basis - you can fucking kill anywhere.

Sure, some of the rooms are way out and maybe are a long drive or hard to get to on public transportation etc - So what, big deal... figure it  out like serious professional, go with a group, share a car, go Uber Pool whatever it takes. This art form is difficult as hell so push yourself and get out of all the lazy comfort zones. Joke and notes aint coming back, and shitty north-side mics are a dime a dozen right now. But there are some magical rooms going down on the south side that are the next best thing to what jokes 7 notes use to be...

Here are some recommended rooms you should check out...

Joe Zimmerman @ Zanies

ZANIES DEBUT: - Joe Zimmerman has TV credits from The Tonight Show , Conan on TBS, Comedy Central (2013), The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, NBC’s Last Comic Standing, Nickelodeon, and his own Comedy Central Half Hour Special. So basically he's a comedy monster and this will be a rare opportunity to catch him performing in the Chicago area - Zimmerman will be debuting at the iconic Zanies comedy club this week for 4 nights only. RECOMMENDED highly - so come out and support your local comedy club!

Rosement Zanies: Thurday March 15th (One night only)

Chicago Zanies: Fri March 16th to Sun March 18th