LGBTQ Comedian John Loos to Shamelessly Attempt the SNL Dream at Annoyance Theatre

Every improviser in Chicago has the same dream: to be on Saturday Night Live. This one dreams almost single-handedly powers the great Chicago comedy industry.

John Loos, an LGBTQ improviser, teacher and writer in Chicago for nearly 10 years, known primarily for tragi-comic lady characters (such as in the original Annoyance plays Lady Balls and A Woman's Path), has been around long enough to know he's never going to be picked by the powers that be to audition for SNL. Yet, he refuses to let his irrational, misguided and unrealistic childhood SNL dream of background dancing during a boring ingénue's milquetoast opening monologue die.

In one last, mighty roar, Loos is producing two shows in August to shamelessly court bigwig producers/his mom, gently lampoon the entire Chicago comedy machine, and, at last, become the next SNL superstar/Laura Kitelinger.

The first of Loos' shows, "Hang In There, Carol! (John Loos' Unwanted & Unauthorized SNL Writing Packet)" opens at Donny's Skybox on Saturday, Aug. 1st at 9pm.

Hang In There, Carol! is a greatest hits album of sorts of Loos' favorite and most successful sketch material over the past 10 years. This includes scenes from various GayCo Productions shows, his heralded sketch duo Pinque Pony, and his under-appreciated sketch duo JODY (with Katy Colloton, now star of TV Land's Teachers).

The second show is Loos' epic solo play John Loos' SNL Showcase, a blitzkrieg of tragic-comic lady characters and oblivious schemers, dissecting why Saturday Night Live has such inordinate power over our Windy City comedians, why the most irrational dreams are the hardest to let die, and why the comedy world still demands its gay comedians to behave in a certain, non-threatening way.

John Loos' SNL Showcase previews Sunday Aug. 16th at 8pm at the Annoyance Theatre.

"You usually have to play by the rules to get ahead in the Chicago comedy scene, and after 10 years, I've done everything correctly and as told, yet I'm no closer to getting an SNL audition than I was on my first day of class," says Loos. "So, I decided 'f**k it'. I'll make my own rules. There has been one gay man on SNL: Terry Sweeney, in the mid-80s. I want to change that. And let's face it, America needs my Elaine Stritch impression."

Hang In There, Carol! (John Loos' Unwanted & Unauthorized SNL Writing Packet) stars Cory David Williamson, Becca Levine, Kayla Pulley, Christina Lawson, Jason Newsom and Jonah Saesan. Loos directs, and it runs at Donny's Skybox Saturdays at 9pm from Aug. 1 to Aug. 22. Tickets are $13 ($8 for Second City Training Center Students)

John Loos' SNL Showcase previews Sunday Aug. 16 at 8pm and opens Sunday Aug. 23 at 8pm. It runs Sundays through Sept. 20th. It is directed by current Second City Touring Company director Anneliese Toft (Tammy T-Rex) and musically directed by Seth Kannof (Lady Balls). Tickets are $10.

Loos is writing teacher at the Second City Training Center and a corporate facilitator for Second City Works. He has been a member of the sketch troupe GayCo Productions since 2007, and has performed in countless sketch shows with them and with his multiple sketch duos around the city. He can currently be seen in the all-gay improv super-troop Baby Wine Fridays at the iO Chicago. In 2012, his pilot "Mr. Mayor" was a finalist for the New York Television Festival's FOX Comedy Script Contest, but no one really cared. In 2013, his viral video Help Kickstart World War III was viewed nearly 3 million times and he was featured on The Daily Beast, Russia Today, Hannity, The O'Reilly Factor, Glenn Beck's radio show, Michael Moore's Facebook page and yes, Infowars.

He compulsively references Mary Steenburgen.

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