If there’s one thing L.A.-based stand-up comedienne Melinda Hill has mastered, it’s the art of humorous incongruity. Watch her act on TV with the sound off, and you’ll see an attractive blonde, sweetly speaking and constantly smiling. But her outward appearances are deceiving. Her actual material is anything but sweet and innocent—it’s slyly sarcastic, self-deprecating and downright scathing. “I just had a surprise birthday party,” she says in one of her prototypical jokes. “I have to say, it wasn’t much of a party, it was just everyone I know getting together to tell me I drink too much.” Never one to shriek or go “Andrew Dice Clay” on everyone, Hill maintains a steady deadpan delivery style while occasionally including a couple of clever subtle touches. “I never ever have sex on the first date, unless I am raped,” she quips, with a bounce in her voice, as if she was joking about candy and ice cream. (Andy Seifert)
June 4-6 at Lakeshore Theater, 3175 N. Broadway, (773)472-3492. $15.
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