It is a hard fact to soak in, that after many years, the Lakeshore Theater has closed its doors and has formally ceased operations.

Heartbreak is understandable when I have a connection like this:

I went to my first show at the Lakeshore on Thursday September 25th, 2008, my Freshman year at DePaul University, and I know this because I kept every single ticket stub from every single show I've been to and pinned them to my cork board. It was strange how I happened to go because I went to dinner with a few friends and one of the people I was with saw someone else I had never met and got to talking about a comedy show they had tickets for but couldn't go to that night, so I offered to relieve him of his tickets, and we swapped numbers; I picked up the tickets about a half hour later outside his residence hall. There I was, with two tickets to see Christian Finnegan (of VH1 fame) live, and I had nobody to go with even as show time continued to grow closer. I almost gave up going all together because nobody wanted to come but my suitemate finally caved in and came with me; neither of us regretted it.

Note that the same night we went, there was a late show and an early show. The tickets I had were for the early show but at the late show Robin Williams showed up and did stand-up comedy for a crowd of surprised spectators. SO AWESOME!

From that point on I was immersed in a world of underground Chicago comedy. Stand up comedians that hadn't been heard of before in the mainstream had a chance to show what they had there. In all honesty, I took too much advantage of the free tickets that were being given out. It seemed like every single week I was getting an email or call from the venue offering tickets so I always would take them up on it; hey, it was a free show, and it wasn't like I was 21, so I couldn't buy alcohol either way. It was a win-win for me and the friends that I was able to bring along.

I saw Maria Bamford, TJ Miller, Jamie Kilstein, Bo Burnham, Mike DeSefano, and Todd Barry all within my Freshman year at DePaul for free (with the exception of Bo Burnham) but no comic came close to the sheer brilliance of Jim Jeffries, a man I had never heard of up until seeing him live Friday November 21st, 2008. The man was completely drunk on stage (it was the late show) but I honestly can say I have never laughed so hard in my entire life; my chest was burning by the end of it and I was practically keeled over the whole time howling like a banshee, in a good way though. The things that were coming out of Jim's mouth were so new, offensive, and quick I will never ever forget it. The man literally got off the stage and proceeded to walk around the audience making fun of people and breaking people down. Jim was so drunk he brought out the House Manager at the time, sat him down on the stage, made fun of him, and then tea-bagged him onstage; it was fucking amazing and I mean that. The show lasted far longer than anyone anticipated because Jim did probably two to three hours of straight comedy...I just literally can't explain the gargantuan effect it had on me. I had never seen a more honest and true performer in my life and still haven't seen anyone match him, even the likes of Chappelle or Cook.

During the Lakeshore Channel Taping on March 28th, 2009 I actually got up on stage and did some comedy in front of a semi-large crowd with two friends planted in there somewhere...I won't lie since that day it's been a dream of mine to get back on that same platform and do more, unfortunately that dream won't be coming true as far as I can tell with the Lakeshore's closing. I never even got around to writing material for the Lakeshore Open Mics that had been going on for a little bit, no time to practice or write I almost regret it now, even though had I done it I would have been completely ill-prepared.

My Sophomore year I even made an effort to get people to the Lakeshore to experience the same things that I had early in the first quarter. On August 29th, 2009 I took twelve people from my residence hall, after having met them only a few days prior, to see Ted Alexandro, another hilarious dry-humor styled comedian. I followed that up by taking ten of my students from the class that I was teaching to see Jim Jeffries on October 16th, 2009 to similar, yet much more restrained, hilarious comedy that I had seen before.

I constantly was inviting people to see shows at the Lakeshore Theater with me. Pretty much anyone I have ever been close to throughout my college experience has had me offer them a chance to come with me and see a show at the Lakeshore Theater because it truly was a place where comedy thrived and the people were treated with excellent entertainment; I'm happy that I was able to accommodate most of the people who had an interest to go with tickets.

Granted, not every show blew my head away like Jim Jeffries. It's safe to say that I wasn't impressed by Mike DeStefano or Robert Hines but amongst that I still never thought that the owner and lead booker for talent, Christopher Ritter, didn't have my interest in mind because more times than not I was impressed. Ritter booked the big acts like Mystery Science Theater 3000 and the Sklar Brothers among others but he gave comedians like Nick Thune, TJ Miller, and Jamie Kilstein a chance to showcase their comedy and grow their fanbase before they blew up on the national scene. If you're familiar with comedy, you should know that TJ Miller was named to Comedy Central's Hot List and that Nick Thune has been on Leno, both with their own Comedy Central Presents while Jamie Kilstein has his own radio show and tours with Janeane Garofalo.

This last performance at and for the Lakeshore Theater by Jim Jeffries, was again, to say the least, amazing. I am just in love with what he does on stage. I have had so much history with the Lakeshore in so little time that I and even Ritter were surprised when almost a quarter of the audience clapped when the question was posed whether it was their first time at the Lakeshore seeing a show. You see, because of that, it tells me the Lakeshore wasn't dead before they announced their closing on April 1st (fitting, right?) and it isn't dead now even though it's closed; people will remember tonight, the events previous, and what the Lakeshore Theater meant to comedy in Chicago. I am so sad to see the Lakeshore close but I will follow what advice Chris Ritter left the audience with- to never buy into the mainstream and give places like the Lakeshore a chance. All-State arena may get big acts but it's all commercial, while you get real people at smaller venues, that are dedicated to the art of comedy and not the profits (not Zanies). It's funny that the biggest joke pulled over all of us by the Lakeshore was that the thing that it was best at doing lead to its demise. Irony is a bitch.

RIP Lakeshore Theater: April 11th, 2010.