Comedy for Indie Rockers
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Drag City has made comedy part of the mix since its earliest days: the three-day Drag City Invitational festival in 1994 included skits between acts, and the 1996 compilation The Drag City Hour was assembled like a variety-show broadcast. In 2004 the label cosponsored a show in New York that featured stand-ups Todd Barry and Laura Kightlinger, and last year’s Drag City A to Z sampler featured comedian Demetri Martin as a “narrator.” Anti-stand-up Neil Hamburger is Drag City’s biggest comedy star, and this week it released his new DVD, The World’s Funnyman; next year it will release a DVD by Armisen that spoofs music-instruction videos and includes a Kightlinger disc.
Drag City producer and head of staff Rian Murphy says promoting live comedy is a natural next step. “This is an attempt to find a crossover audience for stuff in town that we think is worth people’s attention,” he says. The decision to hold the show at Weed’s, a 100-capacity bar in the Goose Island neighborhood, was part of an effort to avoid traditional brick-wall, two-drink-minimum spots. “We wanted to try and create an event in a place that was totally unexpected, just to further push the fact that it’s not a comedy club atmosphere,” says Empty Bottle booker Pete Toalson.
“People respond to a brand name, and essentially that’s what Drag City and Empty Bottle are,” Miller says. “Hopefully they’ll get people out who haven’t seen us before, and we can take it from there.”
Man Down
Where: Weed’s, 1555 N. Dayton
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Julie Sadowski.
