Documentary about black Chicago club

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on November 18th, 2009

The article in the Sun-Times, as best as we can tell, is about a documentary called “Phunny Business: A Black Comedy.” The club, All Jokes Aside (a ghastly name for a club!), was, “a haven for black comedians and black comedy mavens alike.” (We wonder: Do the mavens drink for free?)

Anyway, the club opened in 1991, closed in 1998. But, while it was open, it was the place to perform in Chicago for comics such as Bernie Mac, D.L. Hughley, Chris Rock and Sinbad.

Owner Ray Lambert reminisces:

“I wasn’t trying to censor anybody,” the low-key Lambert says in a roomy suite at Astrolab on West Erie, where he and co-writer Davies are editing their documentary along with fellow producer Brian Kallies. “I became a fan of stand-up, so then I went back and studied all the great comics. Or at least good black comedians. So I took pride in the fact that you had to have an act. [A set on TV’s] ‘Def [Comedy] Jam’ is seven minutes long, whereas in a club it’s a completely different animal. Our headliners were going to do 45 minutes or an hour. A feature is going to do 20 to 30. You really had to have something to say and a point of view.

“The idea of just cursing or shock value, it didn’t work because we had a really sophisticated audience. You had a broad range of people, from everyday working guys to a doctor, a lawyer. You covered everything, and you had to navigate those waters.”

When he started the club, he worked for Gardner Rich (Gardner is the man played by Will Smith in “The Pursuit of Happyness.”). The club was profitable, but…

…ultimately fell victim to financial and political circumstances that made its continued existence impossible. The implosion of Chicago’s glutted stand-up comedy scene didn’t help matters.

Say what? Since when do clubs fall prey to “political circumstances?” And what’s all this about a glut in Chicago? If you’re a niche club (even a 300-seat niche club), you should be immune to such economic pressures brought on by any gluts. Oh, well. We suppose it’s not an important enough story to check out such things.

The cryptic ending:

Gardner, too, thinks “a whole new thing” could live again. He’d even help bankroll it.

And location matters not, Gardner says.

“We would come.”

Well… what are you waiting for?

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