Sexual tension, fighting, drama and…improv? MTV’s “The Real World” usually features plenty of the former three, but this season, they’re bringing in founder of iO Charna Halpern to help teach the cast how to entertain, while at the same time teaching them how to work and live together. “There was a portion of time where I thought it wouldn’t be good,” says Halpern. “I kept thinking ‘What if I fail?’ But I think I pulled it off.” Halpern’s first appearance on “The Real World” will air Wednesday, April 30, and she will be seeing herself on the show for the first time with an audience, as the Chicago iO will host a viewing party at 8pm. Halpern says most of the cast really enjoyed the experience and were “good kids,” but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any drama. “I had to talk to them a few times,” says Halpern. “One guy didn’t show up for a mandatory performance, and I told him that if he wanted to make it, he had to want it crazy-bad like the greats do.” Halpern continues, “I remember that night the director called me and said, ‘I got to hand it to you, that was amazing.’”
Funny Man from Chicago: A Preview of Damon Williams at Riddles Comedy Club Damon Williams has spent the past twenty-eight years building a reputation as one of Chicago’s smoothest funnymen, able to rock the house in top venues with predominantly Black audiences while also earning spots as a frequent guest on shows ranging from radio legend Tom Joyner's to WLS-TV’s long-running, recently cancelled talk show “Windy City Live.” These days, he’s best known…
Communism Can Be Funny: A Review of “Dying For It” at The Artistic Home Adapted from the 1928 satire “The Suicide” by Russian playwright Nikolai Erdman, “Dying For It” tells the story of patriotic proletariats trying to find meaning in an egalitarian, near-secular society where personal value is based on your contribution to the community…but there is plenty of mirth and slapstick.
