In the beginning, there was Zanies and Rick Uchwat. After seeing stand-up shows at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles and the Improv in New York in 1978, the then 31-year-old thought, This comedy-club thing could work. So he converted his 1548 North Wells Street property—a former strip club—into Chicago’s first stand-up club. The early days were rough, but the club’s prospects improved in 1982 when TV helped stand-up become a national commodity. New rooms sprang up throughout Chicago—at one point there were 15 stand-up clubs within city limits—and there was plenty of talent to go around.
Thirty years later, a now 61-year-old Uchwat—who has opened sister clubs in St. Charles, Vernon Hills and Nashville, Tennessee—has seen every one of those other Chicago rooms close after the ’80s stand-up boom went bust. Maybe it’s because his club was first; maybe it’s because Uchwat aligned himself with talent like Jay Leno, who introduced him to many of the comics who have graced the stage, including Jerry Seinfeld, Richard Lewis and Dave Chappelle. Regardless of the reason for its three-decade-long run, chances are Zanies is here to stay.
But times change, and many of Zanies’s policies now feel outdated: The lineup repeats itself (Walt Willey! Jackson Montgomery from All My Children! Again!), and there’s still a two-drink—er, item—minimum. Plus, Zanies hasn’t had much competition of late, and there are rumors as to why. We sat down with the candid Uchwat to chat about how he’s managed to stay in the funny business.
Time Out Chicago: What influences the kinds of comics who make it onto the stage?
Rick Uchwat: The key in this business is that the audiences are what make the club. If the public doesn’t buy what the comic is performing or doing, you won’t have a business. You can’t book someone just because you like him.
TOC: Well, what do we want?
Rick Uchwat: It changes constantly. Back in the ’80s, when you had that drug era, they wanted the craziest comics. Right now, it’s a political situation with the election going on. Seinfeld is universal. Leno is universal. America is a big country, and there are a lot of different intelligence levels.
TOC: Are there certain kinds of humor that don’t work in Chicago?
Rick Uchwat: If we book a performer for a week’s gig downtown, we’re gonna know within one or two nights if he’s got it or not. We can make errors in judgment—timing, I mean—where he’s not ready for a room like this. I don’t think there’s anybody we’ve just said, “No, he’ll never work here.”
TOC: What about content, though? Doug Stanhope is a blunt comic who has been known to offend people.
Rick Uchwat: Oh, Doug’ll do crazy things ’cause he’s a little bit insane. You can’t do things on stage here like drop your drawers and moon the audience, and the next night—after I tell him don’t do it—sun the audience with his dick in the air. Some comics will do whatever they want because they think this stage is their soapbox. But I’ve never blackballed anyone…. In comedy, nothing is really offensive. If you’re offended, leave.
TOC: You had a lot of competition in the ’80s—
Rick Uchwat: And it didn’t bother me. Because good competition is good for everybody. But what hurts good rooms is when you have schlock operations opening up. Then the public says, “I’ve never been to a comedy club,” and they go to a bad room and see a terrible show.
TOC: What have you lost during the years without competition?
Rick Uchwat: You lose a little bit of your edge. You get too complacent. But, I’m scared to death every month. I really am. And I don’t have to cry or worry about anything. But my pride is here, my ego. Zanies is my identity.
TOC: The club needs a better name.
Rick Uchwat: Yeah, well, Zanies has been good to us over the years. Zany things have happened here, and there have been a lot of zany people.
TOC: Yeah, but people groan when they hear those kitschy names.
Rick Uchwat: But we were first. They all copied us. That’s my retort to that one. Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And that goes for the size of this room here. I could expand it a million times, but I always come to the same conclusion: The intimacy is what makes it work.
TOC: There have been a number of rumors about you, the most recent being you used clout to muscle the Improv into Schaumburg—
Rick Uchwat: What a ludicrous statement that is. How did I do that? I went to 50 different people? I’d be in bed with Rezko. Who has that kind of power, for God’s sake? Stupid…I hear so much stupidity every day, Rick did this, Rick did that.… The only clout I have is our reputation, and there’s a lot of jealousy in that. I’ve had a thousand people say, “Why don’t you make this place bigger? Why don’t you move?” Why don’t you shut up? I would choose to tell anybody who wants to open another room, “Don’t do it.”
TOC: Isn’t that advice protecting your own interest, keeping people out of the market?
Rick Uchwat: That’s silly, I can’t… [Pause]. I gave the same advice to the Hyatt Regency people many years back, when they tried to open a Catch a Rising Star franchise. I said, “Your customers come to Chicago to see Chicago; do you think they come to the hotel to see a comedy show they can see anywhere?” And they were smart people, do you think they’d get it? No. Their ego was so big they closed once, then remodeled and opened again. People think I’m negative and cynical ’cause I’m protecting my turf. I don’t have to protect it. I have 30 years of protection. You can’t hurt Zanies anymore.
TOC: Why do you still have the two-drink minimum?
Rick Uchwat: To pay the bills. That’s how this whole comedy-club thing started.
TOC: So I guess comedy really wouldn’t exist without alcohol.
Rick Uchwat: It just fits. Whiskey and jokes…. There’s a good name for a comedy club. [Laughs] Don’t steal it from us!
The year-long Zaniest Person in Chicago contest holds its finals November 30, and local favorite Hannibal Buress headlines his first Zanies show Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12.
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Desperate measures
Rick Uchwat shares his club’s bizarre early-’80s marketing gimmicks, some of which even worked. Sort of.
BODY OF LIES No one wants to buy a ticket to an empty comedy show. It’s a problem Uchwat faced just about every night. To combat the problem, he bought six blow-up sex dolls and placed them in the seats, darkened the theater and voilà: A half-dozen rapt audience members were visible from the box office. Once a real person paid for his or her ticket, Uchwat would explain his tactics and assure customers things would pick up. And if not, at least they weren’t technically alone.
BIRD BRAINED Uchwat wanted to capitalize on people being in town for Thanksgiving by giving away free turkeys. To advertise the giveaway, Uchwat sent manager Bert Haas to River North dressed in a tuxedo, with a live bird in tow. Animal-rights activists caught wind, but their protests lost steam when Haas pointed out the turkey was farm-raised specifically for eatin’.
BANANARAMA With a name like Zanies, you can’t sail the yuk-yuk ship at half-mast. So Uchwat literally went bananas, awarding free tickets to anyone who brought the fruit to the show. But people would buy a bunch, then hand them out in line. Some even sold them at a dollar a pop, undercutting Zanies and netting themselves a tidy profit. Bad for Uchwat; good for American ingenuity. —Steve Heisler