Chicago Nerd Comedy Festival

For the second year in a row, Stage 773 mounted a three-day festival celebrating the best of nerd comedy in the second city. The first "Chicago Nerd Comedy Festival" grew out of the venue's popular monthly fan fiction event, "Hey, I'm a Big Fan." The second annual festival ran from March 19-22 and featured everything from stand up to puppets, as well as nerd-centric cocktails, some stellar art for sale, and a variety of after party events, including gaming and costume contests. The Friday night's improv-focused line up featured "Improvised Star Trek," "Who Prov," and performances by THOR and The Hot Karl.

"Improvised Star Trek" kicked off the evening with a packed house. In addition to occasional live shows in and around Chicago, the group of eight regulars and two "irregulars" produces a twice-monthly podcast recounting the listener-prompted voyages of the USS Sisyphus.

Friday's performance, based on the audience prompt "Twins," started off a bit rocky, with cast members stepping, which likely reflects that they're more at ease in their usual audio-only format. They hit their stride before too long, though, and soon had the audience roaring as they explored Dark Doppelg�nger space, embarked on an existential scavenger hunt, and all learned a valuable lesson after a vegetarian crew member got his first taste of the flesh of a living creature. Griffen Eckstein and Christopher Rathjen were particular standouts in terms of keeping the premise on its feet.

"Who Prov" followed with a show in the same vein and another packed house. The show set up involved a more extended getting-to-know-you segment with an audience member, who eventually chose a cast member to play her companion avatar on a journey to the end of the universe.

Although the very first scene was stilted it was swiftly forgotten in the tight, beautifully paced remainder of the show. Courtney Fontaine, the chosen companion for the evening, led the way with a perfectly executed running "Once Upon a Time" fan fiction gag that her fellow cast members ran with every time. Brit Belsheim also killed it as "Madam" (Finally! A female antagonist!).

THOR and The Hot Karl, more traditional improv troupes, closed the evening with a split hour and a smaller house. THOR, a group that performs weekly, seemed at first glance to be more obviously geared toward the nerd theme of the festival.

Various cast members sported Mario hats, Boba Fett hoodies, Batman t-shirts, and the like. The audience offered up Harry Potter in response to their request for an epic, nerdy story, which the short scenes rarely called back to as the first pair up took a swerve into "Silence of the Lambs" territory. Although most members of the cast scored a genuine laugh or two, the group struggled through most of the set.

The Hot Karl, a ComedySportz-based troupe that also performs weekly, finished out the night. This group wandered farthest from the nerd theme. They briefly fumbled around the audience-provided MegaMan theme before wisely pursing one another down some wildly funny, if not entirely consistently so, filthy garden paths and kept true to their name.

Although this year's Chicago Nerd Comedy Festival is done, you can catch THOR on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at the Horseshoe Tavern, 4115 N. Lincoln. The Hot Karl's weekly show runs Saturdays at midnight at ComedySportz Theatre, 929 W. Belmont. Visit http://www.theimprovisedstartrek.com/ for podcasts and performances and follow Who Prov on Facebook.