Best Stand-Up Comedian
The Reader’s Choice: Robert Buscemi
It’s been a banner year for surreal comic Robert Buscemi. He’s done national festivals, appeared in commercials and short films, and this month released his second live DVD. But he also remains a local fixture, performing frequently at showcases like Chicago Underground Comedy and the Lincoln Lodge. Trained in improv and theater, Buscemi says he enjoys the mental challenges of stand-up—a form he’s been experimenting with since at least 2004, when I first saw him hosting an open mike.
Buscemi walks a thin line onstage: his persona is genial yet macabre, his style conversational yet sophisticatedly self-reflexive, his material accessible yet eccentric. (His subjects include the innards of penguins, sponges that have given up on life, and using the classic Prague phalanx chess stratagem on Jesus.) Buscemi earns his audience’s trust with serious charisma and a command of performance cliches to which he never fully submits. He likes to play the part—wearing a fedora, an ill-fitting suit, and a wisecracking grin—while playing with the part. 
Buscemi shares the bill with five other comics at Chicago Underground Comedy, Tue 3/31, 9:30 PM, Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont, 773-281-4444, chicagoundergroundcomedy.com, $5. —Ryan Hubbard
Our readers’ choice: Joe Shelby
Performing with Endangered Comics, Mon 3/30, 8 PM, the Zoo, 3369 N. Clark, 773-697-4511, thezoochicago.com. 
