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New Variety
The New Variety is an American cabaret created and produced by Thomas Goodman and Richard O'Donnell. It was a fast-paced, ever-changing volley of acts that included jugglers, fire-eaters, stand-up comics, singers, musicians, and sketch comedy troupes. It was hailed by June Sawyer of the Chicago Tribune as a cabaret for the '90s. History In February 1992, producers Thomas Goodman (founder of CrossCurrents Cabaret) and R. O’Donnell (co-founder of New Age Vaudeville) teamed up to present the New Variety, located at 400 N. Clark, downtown Chicago. Modeled after the vaudeville variety shows of the ‘20s and '30s, the New Variety presented an evening’s worth of acts that included jugglers, fire-eaters, comics, singers, musicians, and sketch comedy troupes. Venues New Variety Cabaret The original location of the New Variety was the upstairs of the Italian restaurant Bellagio. Built specifically for the show, the cabaret was an elegant and intimate 100-seat theater, revealing a s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variety Show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a Master of Ceremonies, compère (master of ceremonies) or Television presenter, host. The variety format made its way from the Victorian era stage in Britain and America to radio and then television. Variety shows were a staple of English language television from the late 1940s into the 1980s. While still widespread in some parts of the world, such as in the United Kingdom with the ''Royal Variety Performance'', and South Korea with ''Running Man (South Korean TV series), Running Man'', the proliferation of multichannel television and evolving viewer tastes have affected the popularity of variety shows in the United States. Despite this, their influence has still had a major effect on late night television whose la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, does not typically dance but usually sits at tables. Performances are usually introduced by a master of ceremonies or MC. The entertainment, as done by an ensemble of actors and according to its European origins, is often (but not always) oriented towards adult audiences and of a clearly underground nature. In the United States, striptease, burlesque, drag shows, or a solo vocalist with a pianist, as well as the venues which offer this entertainment, are often advertised as cabarets. Etymology The term originally came from Picard language or Walloon language words ''camberete'' or ''cambret'' for a small room (12th century). The first printed use of the word ''kaberet'' is found in a document from 1275 in Tournai. The term was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Comedy Troupes
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams Soccer * Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Cappella
''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato musical styles. In the 19th century, a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony, coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were often doubled by instrumentalists, led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music. The term is also used, rarely, as a synonym for ''alla breve''. Early history A cappella could be as old as humanity itself. Research suggests that singing and vocables may have been what early humans used to communicate before the invention of language. The earliest piece of sheet music is thought to have originated from times as early as 2000 B.C. while the earliest that has survived in its entirety is from the first century A.D.: a piece from Greece called the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horatio Sanz
Horacio Sanz (born June 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Horatio Sanz, is a Chilean-born American actor and comedian. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1998 to 2006. Early life Sanz was born on June 4, 1969 in Santiago, Chile, to Sylvia and Carlos Sanz. He is the youngest of three sons and the younger brother of actor Carlos Sanz. He grew up in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. Career Sanz performed at various theaters in Chicago, including The Court Theater and The Second City, where he was a member of their Chicago ETC theater. While in Chicago, Sanz was also one of the founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) sketch comedy and improv troupe. Sanz can still be seen regularly performing with the sketch troupe at their long-running improv show "ASSSSCAT 3000", at both of the UCB's comedy theaters, located in New York City and Los Angeles. ''Saturday Night Live'' Sanz joined the cast of ''Saturday Night Live'' in September 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rick Roman
Richard Roman (August 12, 1966 - April 16, 1992) was an actor and improvisational comedian from Philadelphia. While attending Temple University, Roman began his career in comedy partnering with Paul F. Tompkins in Philadelphia at The Comedy Works. In 1989, Roman moved to Chicago. There, he worked with the ImprovOlympic and was a founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade. His comedic style was described as similar to Andy Kaufman, and noted for always being 'in character'. Roman died at the age 26 on April 16th, 1992, after the taxi he was driving plunged into the Chicago River The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop). Though not especially long, the river is notable because it is one of the reasons for ....Chicago Sun-Times - April 18, 1992. "Cabbie in fatal river plunge an aspiring actor" Notes {{DEFAULTSORT:Roman, Rick 1966 births 1992 death ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ali Farahnakian
Ali Reza Farahnakian (born October 26, 1967) is an American actor, writer, and improvisational comedian. He is the founder of The Peoples Improv Theater (The PIT) in NYC and co-starred in the Adult Swim comedy series ''Delocated''. Life and career Farahnakian was born in Iran but grew up in North Carolina and graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1990. After college he moved to Chicago in 1990. While in Chicago he became involved in improvisational comedy and was a performer at Chicago's Second City, ImprovOlympic and was one of the original founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) along with other original UCB members such as Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Rick Roman, Horatio Sanz, and Adam McKay. In 2002 he founded The Peoples Improv Theater (The PIT) in New York City in honor of his mentor Del Close. In 2001, his one-man show "Word of Mouth" was featured at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. Farahnakian wrote for ''Saturday Night Live'' in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ian Roberts (American Actor)
Ian Michael Roberts (born July 29, 1965) is an American actor, comedian and writer. Roberts is a founding member of the famed Upright Citizens Brigade improv and sketch comedy troupe. Life and career Roberts was born in Queens, New York (state), New York, to parents Don and Penny Roberts, but spent the majority of his childhood in Secaucus, New Jersey, where he moved at age four. Roberts is a 1987 graduate of Grinnell College in Iowa, where he majored in theater. After graduating from college, Roberts moved to Milwaukee and eventually to Chicago where he became involved in improvisational comedy, studying improv under comedy legend Del Close. In the early 1990s, Roberts and Matt Besser (along with several other Chicago improv comics) would eventually form the Upright Citizens Brigade The Upright Citizens Brigade is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Matt Besser, Amy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matt Besser
Matthew Gregory Besser (born September 22, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, director, producer, and writer, best known as one of the four founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe, who had their own show on Comedy Central from 1998 to 2000. He currently hosts the improvisation-based podcast ''Improv4humans'' on the Earwolf podcasting network. Early life Besser was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, to parents Diane and Sandy Besser. His father was Jewish, whereas his mother was Christian. Besser is an atheist. He is a quarter German and a quarter French from his mother's side. Besser's grandfather's cousin was Joe Besser of The Three Stooges. He was recruited to play soccer after starting on his high school team, but instead attended Amherst College with a major in American Studies. There, he started doing stand-up comedy and competed in a contest at UMass that was judged by Judd Apatow. After graduating, he briefly moved to Denver in an at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Upright Citizens Brigade
The Upright Citizens Brigade is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, Adam McKay, Rick Roman, Horatio Sanz and Drew Franklin. Other early members included Neil Flynn, Armando Diaz, Ali Farahnakian and Rich Fulcher. In 2013, Besser, Roberts and Walsh wrote ''The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual''. History The Upright Citizens Brigade began performing improv and sketch comedy at Kill the Poet in Chicago. Their first show was called ''Virtual Reality''. The group followed with shows titled ''UCBTV'', ''Conference on the Future of Happiness'', ''Thunderball'', ''Bucket of Truth'', ''Big Dirty Hands'', ''The Real Real World'', and ''Punch Your Friend in the Face''. In 1993, the Upright Citizens Brigade (Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Amy Poehler, Adam McKay, Rick Roman, and Horatio Sanz) were regular guests o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dinner And A Movie
''Dinner and a Movie'' is an American cooking and entertainment television program aired on TBS Superstation, TBS from 1995 in television, 1995 to 2011 in television, 2011. Each episode included a movie and the preparation of a creative dinner to go with its theme, generally via a pun. For example, an episode showing ''Drumline (movie), Drumline'' features a recipe titled "The Beets Go On", referencing the Sonny & Cher single "The Beat Goes On (Sonny & Cher song), The Beat Goes On", as well as the plot of the movie about a drummer who tries to fit in with a new marching band. The show was hosted by chef Claud Mann and comedian Paul Gilmartin throughout its run, as well as Annabelle Gurwitch from 1996–2002, Lisa Arch, Lisa Kushell from 2002–2005 and Janet Varney from 2005 to the show's end in 2011. The show's cancellation was announced by Gilmartin on the May 6 edition of his podcast, ''The Mental Illness Happy Hour''. See also * ''Casino Cinema'' (similar movie program on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
