Comedy – Fancy Boys Club

A decade of Seeing You Next Tuesday…

April 16, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

Open mics are weird things. As I mentioned in a piece I wrote earlier this year, you are given the chance to get onstage and talk into a microphone and the only thing you have to be able to do is show up and write your name down. On that night, a person going up for the first time is on even playing field with an experienced veteran. All that matters are the jokes.

There are some open mics that are basically booking auditions. Usually held by comedy clubs, these mics are not about working on new material, but they’re about trying to get paid work. Those mics serve a purpose (comedians should learn how to professionally try out for spots) and they are important, and because of that, they’re usually very well attended.

But See You Next Tuesday, a mic celebrating its tenth anniversary of being in the bottom level of Plainfield bar MoeJoes, is not an audition mic. It’s something much, much more special than that.

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Comedy

An open letter to comedy…

February 4, 2024by Matt Drufke4 Comments

My name is Matt Drufke and I have been doing standup comedy while based in the Chicago suburbs for almost eighteen years. I love being a suburban comedian. I have always found the scene out here so supportive and caring and filled with people who care as much about how you’re doing as they care about how much you make them laugh. And perhaps this is why I find myself needing to write this. Because something happened this week and it bothered me enough where I wanted to write this.

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Comedy, Pop Culture

Not All Who Yondr Are Lost: Chappelle, comedy and camera phones…

December 31, 2023December 31, 2023by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

When something happens with Dave Chappelle, it’s a near guarantee that my Facebook feed will be littered with my comedian friends all wanting to give their thoughts. An event that happened last week got some traction, so last night, I started seeing all kind of thoughts and comments about what happened to the comedian this week. You, dear reader, are now stuck hearing my thoughts.

This is the vicious circle.

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Comedy

Fancy Boys Club sits down with: Jack Baker

February 16, 2023February 14, 2023by The Fancy BoysLeave a Comment

A staple of the Chicagoan suburban comedy scene for over a decade, there are few comics working more than Jack Baker. Clubs and shows love him. Audiences love him. Other comedians love him. It’s really kind of gross.

This Sunday, Jack is preparing to record his first special at The Comedy Vault in Batavia. He agreed to sit down with us and let us ask him some questions…

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Comedy

One among many…

January 10, 2023by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

Last night, I attended a stand-up comedy open mic. If you’re unfamiliar, that is where you are guaranteed four minutes of stage time so long as you’re able to write you name down on a sheet of paper. It doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned pro with jokes on jokes to spare, or someone who has always wanted to go up and nervously has a few things jotted down. Just want to get up and yell horrible things about people you don’t like? As long as you can write your name, an open mic will not only have you but tell you that you’re just the same as everyone else.

So, at best, they are something of a mixed bag.

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Comedy

Fare Thee Well, Penny Road Pub

January 30, 2022by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

Located in what felt like the middle of nowhere in Barrington, Illinois, the Penny Road Pub was a bar and multi-staged venue that made its living by hosting shows. More often than not there were bands, but myself and a few other different comedian/producers tried to get comedy started there as well. Unfortunately, we all learned one thing: because this venue is in the middle of nowhere, Penny Road Pub had, literally, zero foot traffic. The only way to have a crowd is to bring the audience yourself, which is not a skill suburban comedians are super-great at.

The venue closed down last night and that made me wistful. In the fifteen years or so I’ve been doing comedy, that venue provided me some of my happiest/angriest/weirdest moments. I got to hang out with some amazing people, meet lifelong friends, and watch amazing comedians work their craft in front of small audiences. When I say small, it was usually just my wife, Jon- the brother of co-producer Lewis Rhine, and Jon’s friend Charlie. Later, Lewis and I would add Joe Motisi to our production team, mostly because we just liked spending time with him and we all thought each other were hilarious.

What the show lacked in numbers, though, it more than made up for in memories.

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Comedy, Misc.

Fancy Boys Club Sits Down With Mike Maxwell

July 5, 2021July 4, 2021by The Fancy BoysLeave a Comment

Both blink-182 guitarist Tom DeLonge and Chicago comedian Mike Maxwell understands something very clearly: Work sucks. They know.

Where DeLonge expressed that sentiment in one song, Maxwell has done something on a much larger scale: he has created The Anti-Boss, a one-man show which takes a look into the world of the workplace. The show, which will happen next on July 7th at The Comedy Shrine in Aurora, has been showcased at clubs and festivals. Mike answered a few questions for us over e-mail, and because of his knowledge of workplace frustrations, we CC’d his answers to all of the wrong people.

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Comedy

How To Never Get Booked For A Comedy Show, Part 4…

June 14, 2021June 14, 2021by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

With comedy shows starting to open back up, I’ve decided to bring back the one series of articles that is, by far, the most popular thing I’ve ever written for this site. That’s not too surprising. Comedians love to talk shit about each other. We looooooooooooove it. And there are certainly plenty of dudes to trash.

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Comedy, Misc.

One Of My Favorite Comedians

June 6, 2021by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

When people find out I do stand-up comedy, they usually ask me who some of my favorite comedians are. And one name always pops to the front of mind every time, but I never say who it is. It’s too hard to explain to someone how one of the funniest and most original talents I’ve ever been lucky enough to witness is a name they’ve never heard of and a comic they’ll never see.

And it’s too hard to talk about how the brilliant Dan Ronan, a man I considered a friend, passed away.

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politics

Cancer Gets One Right: RIP Rush Limbaugh

February 17, 2021by The Fancy BoysLeave a Comment

In a hilarious turn of events this morning, gluttonous bag of carbon and evil Rush Limbaugh succumbed to lung cancer. His death comes as a culmination of decades of hateful rhetoric and divisive speech that helped to poison the minds of generations, dividing families and our nation as a whole. His advocacy for family values such as intolerance and prejudice were a hallmark of his tenure in the American broadcast community. His affection for overt racism, spousal rape, and the disenfranchisement of LGBTQ Americans were the pillars on which Limbaugh stood. He was an architect of the partisan political landscape that has permeated every molecule of our lives, taking the dissolution of the Fairness Doctrine by the Reagan Administration and nurturing it to its full potential. He leaves a world worse than what he found. His legacy is that of divisiveness, impudence, and the echoes of collateral consternation among those still walking the earth.

Now on his great eternal journey, may he be shown the same kindness and consideration he granted upon the least of those during his seventy hate-fueled years.

He will be mourned only by those who wish his vitriolic views into fruition.

He will not be missed.