The Irish Mutts return for The Chicago Improv Festival

 

It is finally nice to come home for good reason, smiles 42 year old Shaun Landry.
 
The last time she was in Chicago was January of last year to bury her grandmother. The time before found her saying goodbye the November before.  
 
I went to IO Chicago to see Tim (Kazurinsky) do Armando in November and to say hello to him and his son who I had not seen since I performed for his elementary school as part of Second City Children's Company. The suggestion for the Armando was 'All you need is Love' Tim gets up there (god love him) and starts off with 'There is a young lady here from San Francisco who has made the pilgrimage home to say goodbye to her grandma'.  It was beautiful. It was heartbreaking. The improv was funny. I don't know what made me cry, laughs Landry, the fact of knowing my grandma was dying…or the fact that I really miss Chicago Improv.
 
Landry, a native South Side Chicagoan who created the African American improv ensemble, Oui Be Negroes, along with a brief stint at The Second City is now a resident of San Francisco and runs the San Francisco Improv Alliance and The San Francisco Improv Festival. She returns back to Chicago with Los Angeles' Kevin McShane as part of the improvisational duo "The Irish Mutts" at The Playground Theater as part of The Chicago Improv Festival Friday, June 6th.
 
There is something about Chicago Improv that will always be very distinctive from the rest of the country, says Landry. The great thing is when we as natives move away, we take some of those sensibilities with us, and blend them into other very distinctive forms around the country. San Francisco is very Genre-comedy based style format. So the melding of Johnstone with Close is actually joyous to watch. Of course Del started the committee in San Francisco…so I guess Chicago has always been in the city by the Bay in some wonderful way. The Sourdough Bread of Improvisation.
 
The Irish Mutts carries on Chicago's Longform tradition in its improvisation. Both Landry and McShane (who is part of IOwest Los Angeles) takes audiences to the surreal and unknown and always in a comedic way. Sometimes to the very poignant and topical.
 
I would not say we are Elaine May and Mike Nichols, says 29-year-old McShane, but it is odd in the last year how we are compared to them. It's probably because of how Shaun plays onstage. Did I mention how OLD she is?
 
I hate you, retorts Landry.  
 
In reality, the duo has huge respect for each other since their first performance in San Francisco turning into whirlwind trips back and forth along the West Coast and now Chicago, Minneapolis and Ohio. I got shoes older than McShane. My cat is seven years younger, but age has never been a factor in Improv Comedy. The man is incredibly talented and he makes one hell of a great improv partner. He makes the improv fun for me.
 
How does Landry feel about coming home and doing a performance at The Chicago Improv Festival after almost 6 years?
 
Excited. Nervous. Happy. I mean it's home. It's Chicago. It's where I have gotten everything I ever learned about theater and improv from. I owe this town a huge debt. I hope I do Cook County some good for a week.

 
When: Friday June 6th 2008 7:30PM
What: The Irish Mutts at The San Francisco Improv Festival
Who: Shaun Landry and Kevin McShane
Where: The Playground Theater 3209 North Halsted, Chicago, IL 60657
Ticket Price: $10.00 - $20.00
Information: (773) 935-9810 or www.chicagoimprovfestival.org

The Irish Mutts at The Chicago Improv Festival • The Playground Theater 3209 N. Halsted Street • Friday June 6th 7:30PM (along with Those American Bastard from Toronto Canada). For tickets and reservations go to www.chicagoimprovfestival.org

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