Samantha Irby Joins Paper Machete Cocktail Hour on Wednesday

A surprise celebrity appearance is happening at Paper Machete's Cocktail Hour Wednesday night:

"The one and only SAMANTHA IRBY is headlining tomorrow night's Paper Machete Cocktail Hour at the Green Mill at 6:30.

She's a longtime Machete rock-star—from before our Green Mill days—but this is her first time back in the show in the past year and a half, and the first time since she's become a hotshit NY Times best-selling author. The cast is wonderful and the show should be a blast."

For those who may be unfamiliar with Wednesday night Paper Machete, it is described like this: "The Machete's newest weekly venture, the Paper Machete Cocktail Hour, is a free 90-minute, intermission-less live magazine on Wednesdays at 6:30. The Cocktail Hour will feature the same style and format as our flagship Saturday afternoon salon series, with the goal of putting even more of Chicago’s finest comics, writers and musicians in front of twice as many enthusiastic audiences."

In other words, Fun — Free — Fabulous!

The rest of the cast on Wednesday includes Erin Diamond, Nic Hart, Alex Kumin, Saurabh Pande, Julia Weiss, and Josh Zagoren, with music from Wes Perry.

The Green Mill is located at 4802 North Broadway.

Machete Special Event Alert! Sunday Salon with Christopher Piatt

Many of you already are familiar with the Paper Machete performances at the Green Mill — fun, free, and fabulous! The host and producer, Christopher Piatt, will do a solo show on Sunday, May 22, as a fundraiser to help the Paper Machete continue to entertain us.

Join us as Christopher unveils his new solo work, chronicling nine pioneering women in American media over two centuries — ranging from Dorothy Parker to Ann Miller to Phyllis Schlafly to Jessica Hahn and more. With special musical guests - The Irving Sisters!

This is a fundraiser for the Paper Machete with proceeds going to the show and our artists. Your support helps us continue sharing the latest and greatest content with you, for free, each and every week. 

• May 22, at 3pm
• Green Mill Cocktail Lounge
• $30

Tickets are limited, so head to this link below to snag yours now: https://thepapermachete.org/sunday-salon

AND ... you can read an in-depth interview with Christopher and his take on Chicago theater, how he came up with the concept of a "live magazine" each week, and how the name Paper Machete came to be. The link is here.

We hope you come to the fundraiser, and that Paper Machete continues to be part of Uptown for a long, long time.

Cutting Edge News With Paper Machete

Just a reminder about one of Uptown's most fun hidden gems:  Paper Machete!  It's a live current events magazine, free and weekly, and it all happens at the Green Mill [4804 N Broadway], Saturday afternoons at 3pm.

Founder and host Christopher Piatt says in a recent article he wrote for the Sun-Times:  "Every Saturday, the city’s top stand-up comedians, sketch performers, improvisers, playwrights, spoken-word artists and musicians of every stripe take to the Machete’s microphone, performing variety bits about current events and pop culture. We call it 'a salon in a saloon.' 

Oh, and we also have a very popular talking bird named Chad."

According to the Paper Machete website, today's guests are Lacy Campbell, Chris Hauser, Clark Jones, Tim Sniffen and Brendan Dowling, Rawson Vint, Tara Defrancisco, plus Chad the Bird, music from Dog and Pony’s play Counterfeiters, and special musical guests The Bama Lamas (pictured).

Can't make it this week?  They'll be back next Saturday, and the one after that, and many after that.

You can also catch the podcasts on iTunes or WBEZ.

"The Paper Machete" Now At Green Mill

By Lara Levitan
Gapers Block

When writer/performer Christopher Piatt first conceived of the "live magazine" phenomenon known as The Paper Machete, he envisioned it hosted at the Green Mill, where the nightly jazz, the twinkling green lights, and the ghosts of gangsters past linger in every smoky corner. And beginning Saturday, December 1--after three rigorous years hosting and producing The Paper Machete at various Lincoln Square bars--Piatt's vision is realized as he takes his weekly "salon in a saloon" to the Green Mill with headliner Katie Rich of the Second City mainstage.
"I'm beside myself," said Piatt. "But I have a lot of work ahead of me."
Not that he doesn't already have a lot of work behind him. Piatt's been hosting and producing The Paper Machete, an aptly-described "part spoken-word show, part vaudeville revue" for nearly three years. It's a project he dove into full throttle after leaving his post at TimeOut Chicago, where he worked as a theatre critic and editor for five years. Upon leaving TimeOut, Piatt felt destined to put on a show of his own, but he found himself irrevocably "hard-wired" to the pace of a weekly magazine.Continue Reading at Gapers Block

SNL's Julia Sweeney To Appear At Paper Machete This Saturday

We've mentioned before that one of Uptown's hidden gems takes place every Saturday at the Green Mill at 3pm:  Paper Machete, a live current events magazine that its founder describes as "part spoken-word show, part vaudeville revue."  Free, weekly, and fun!

This Saturday, there's even more reason to attend:  Julia Sweeney, actress/author/comedian, will be the headliner in a Mother's Day Edition of the show.

Founder Christopher Piatt tells us:  "Julia Sweeney is headlining this Saturday's Paper Machete.  It should be a totally hot show; the lineup of non-famous talent is also excellent. And the show is still 100% FREE!"

If you haven't checked out the Machete before, this is a really good opportunity to see what's going on behind the green velvet drapes.

Comedian Beth Stelling Headlines Paper Machete On Saturday

photo via Splitsider

Paper Machete, the always lively, always free, always fab live magazine that takes place at the Green Mill every Saturday, has a special guest this week. Founder/performer Christoper Piatt writes us:

"Thought your readers might want a heads up on this week's Machete, as the comedian Beth Stelling is in town and headlining, along with bitchesgottaeat blogger Sam Irby and an amazing soul/funk band called Fatbook.

Beth started her career in Chicago, and she really blew up nationally this year. This should be a really hot show."

The Paper Machete starts at 3pm, but get there early, since it's probably going to be a full house. If you can't get enough Beth Stelling, you can see her at Zanie's in one of six performances this weekend, but why not see her closer to home, and free?

This week's lineup consists of Sean Flannery, Dave Helem, Patrick Rowland, comedy troupe Team Submarine, and Chad the Bird, in addition to Stelling, Irby and Fatbook. The historic Green Mill is located at 4802 N Broadway.

Paper Machete Celebrates Its Fifth Anniversary This Saturday

Paper Machete, the fun, free and fabulous "live magazine" that struts its stuff every Saturday at the Green Mill (4802 N Broadway), is celebrating its fifth anniversary this Saturday and creator Christopher Piatt (pictured right) says, "This weekend's anniversary show features mostly long-time Machete veterans, and I expect it's going to be very special afternoon."

Stop by at 3pm and enjoy!  More information is here.

The start time gives you an opportunity to be part of the Chili Cookoff at Crew next door, featuring Uptown's own Wayne Johnson, which takes place from noon to 2:30.  Then cool off next door at the Green Mill, helping Paper Machete celebrate their anniversary.

Smoking Popes To Appear At Paper Machete On Saturday

Paper Machete, the live entertainment magazine that plays weekly at the Green Mill, is always fun, free and fabulous. But this week has a little sumthin' extra -- musical guests are the legendary Chicago punk band The Smoking Popes. Paper Machete founder and performer Christopher Piatt says, "It's a huge honor for us to have them on the bill."

Others appearing with Paper Machete this week are JC Aevaliotis, John Patrick Coan, Ali Klingler, Laura McKenzie, and Abbi Rajasehkar. It all begins at 3pm, but if you've been to the Green Mill, you know seating is limited, so you'll want to get there early. The Green Mill is located at 4802 North Broadway. The Facebook event page is here.

Gilbert Gottfried At Paper Machete This Saturday

from www.GilbertGottfried.com

Paper Machete, the always lively, always free, live magazine that takes place at the Green Mill every Saturday, has a special guest.

"Gilbert Gottfried is headlining the Machete this Saturday.

He's flanked by a cast of comedy rock stars and hipster hotshot musicians. Should be a swell afternoon for all involved."

The Paper Machete starts at 3pm.  This week's lineup consists of Jorin Garguilo, Gilbert Gottfried, Greg Hollimon and Marz Timms, Ali Klingler, Edward Thomas Herrera, Julia Weiss, plus Chad The Bird,  cabaret tunes by Ami Saraiya and musical guests The Kickback.  The historic Green Mill is located at 4802 N Broadway.

Gilbert Gottfried is appearing at local Zanies comedy clubs this week, but why pay?  See him locally, and free, close to home.

Daily Show's Jordan Klepper Headlines This Saturday's Paper Machete

The Daily Show's Jordan Klepper

The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper headlines the final installment of the Paper Machete’s FRESH MEAT series, a month-long project featuring exclusively comics and writers making their Machete debuts.

CHANDLER GOODMAN

ALISON FLOWERS

JORDAN KLEPPER

TIM MASON

MARK PIEBENGA

NICCOLE THURMAN

Plus CHAD THE BIRD and musical guests WHITE MYSTERY!

3 p.m. Saturday, August 30 at The Green Mill, Broadway & Lawrence and best of all, free!

Live From the Green Mill... It's Saturday Night!

Paper Machete -- the always free, fun, and fabulous "live magazine" that takes place at the Green Mill Jazz Club every Saturday afternoon -- welcomes two of the newest cast members from Saturday Night Live this week, Chris Redd and Luke Null. Both Chris and Luke are Chicago comedy and Machete veterans who are home this weekend for the launch of the new SNL touring exhibit.

Paper Machete founder Christopher Piatt says, "The lineup has some of the best comics and music acts in town at the moment." In addition to Luke and Chris, it features Andrew Bentley, Becca Brown, Erin Diamond, Tom Fell, Melody Kamali, Carly Oishi, Prateek Srivastava, and Julia Weiss, with cabaret tunes from the Abbi Raasekhar Trio and the headlining band Get Up With The Get Downs.

The Green Mill is located at 4802 North Broadway and the show begins at 3pm.

Barricade Situation On Wilson; 900 Block Closed

Update:  A commenter on the UU Facebook page says it is over as of 6:50 and police are starting to clear out.  It looks like no one was hurt, including police and the man making threats.  Thank goodness for a good resolution.

---

Thank you to our reader who submitted these photos.

The 900 block of Wilson is blocked off, with a SWAT team, many police cars, and a helicopter.

The reason is a barricade situation involving a man in the Wilson Windsor Apartments (915 W Wilson).  According to the Tribune, it's possible he has a machete:

Police were called to the scene of a disturbance involving a man holed up inside a North Side apartment building, possibly armed with a machete in Uptown this evening.  The incident is at the Wilson Windsor apartments in the 900 block of West Wilson Avenue.

We'll keep you informed if we find out anything, but feel free to leave comments.

Update:  Sheridan is closed between Clarendon and Broadway, and buses are being rerouted.

Update:  According to a commenter on UU's Facebook page, "It's actually a veteran that has not been taking his medication. When police tried to enter his apartment he threw a machete @ them. He was burning wood in his apartment & refused to stop. He also threatened to blow the building up."

Update:  According to the latest Tribune update, there has been no one injured and the situation is ongoing.

Update:  Ald. Cappleman tweeted his congratulations to the police on a job well done in a stressful situation, and said he would be meeting with building management. 

SNL's Brooks Wheelan To Appear At Paper Machete Tomorrow

The cast of Saturday Night Live continues to pay visits to Chicago's Paper Machete, at the Green Mill (4802 N Broadway) every Saturday afternoon at 3pm, always live, always free!

Check out SNL's Brooks Wheelan tomorrow, along with other New York and L.A.-based comedians who are in town for Comedy Expo.  More details are here.

Paper Machete was featured in the New York Times earlier this year as one of the best ways to spend 36 hours in Chicago.  If you haven't checked it out, tomorrow would be a great time to do it.

Brian Babylon Headlines This Week's Paper Machete

image courtesy of Comedy of Chicago

Paper Machete, the weekly variety show at the Green Mill, is always free, fun and fabulous, but this week's line-up is especially notable. Chicago native Brian Babylon of NPR's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! is the headliner, along with Dominizuela, Katie McVay, Daniel Sharr, Ike Holter, Chad the Bird, burlesque dancing by Sarah O'Dwyer and musical headliners The Wabash Cannonballs.

Paper Machete takes place weekly at 3pm on Saturdays at the Green Mill Jazz Club, located at 4802 N Broadway. Since this week is Uptown Saturday Nights, take a free walking tour of the Uptown Entertainment District after the show. Tours depart at 2pm, 3pm and 4pm from Shake, Rattle, and Read, literally steps away, at 4810 North Broadway.

Brian Babylon is from Bronzeville, and while he no longer lives in Chicago, he has quite a following here, so get to the Green Mill early for a good seat!

Glam-Rock Legend Bobby Conn To Perform At Paper Machete This Saturday

Paper Machete, the weekly "live magazine" show that takes place each Saturday at the Green Mill, has had a busy and celebrity-filled 2017 so far, according to its founder, Christopher Piatt.

photo off Bobby Conn by Paul Kagan,
available through Wikimedia Commons

Lines to get in to the free shows—whose guests this year have included Janeane Garafalo, Daily Show writer Alingon Mitra, and Langston Kerman from HBO's Insecure—have begun stretching out the door and down the block.

This week the special guest will be the famous Chicago glam-rocker Bobby Conn, as well as cabaret artist Anna Stoltys and performers Brandi Denise, Erin Diamond, Nick Hart, Xavier Lamont, Carly Oishi, and Jasbir Signh.

Christopher says, "Famous names aren't always on hand and in fact the main reason to see the show most weeks is that it's usually an entirely Chicago cast—constantly changing from week to week—as the talent base here is significantly fertile."

As always, Paper Machete is fun, free, and fabulous. It takes place each Saturday at 3pm, at the Green Mill Jazz Club, 4802 North Broadway.

Nick Offerman To Appear At This Week's "Paper Machete"

photo courtesy of
Offerman Wood Shop

It happens every Saturday, but not usually with this much star power.  Paper Machete's founder, Christopher Piatt, confirmed tonight that Joliet native Nick Offerman (of Parks & Recreation) will be part of the line-up at this week's show. Paper Machete is the live magazine that takes place each Saturday at 3pm at the Green Mill, 4802 North Broadway. Always fun, and always free!

This week's line-up includes Kim Bellware, Adam Burke, Brad Einstein, Natalie Jose, Bill Larkin, and Nick Offerman, plus Chad the Bird and musical guests The Cell Phones.

The Daily Show's Al Madrigal & WTF's Marc Maron Appearing At Paper Machete Saturday

The good folks at Paper Machete, the weekly live magazine that combines current events, music and comedy, wrote to say:

"We've got the biggest lineup of our year this week:

WTF's Marc Maron, The Daily Show's Al Madrigal and rock legend Bobby Conn, plus a host of local comedy rock stars."  Read more about it here.

Just like every week, it all happens at the Green Mill on Saturday at 3pm.  And as always, it's free!

"Paper Machete Cocktail Hour" Debuts Tonight At Green Mill (Still Fun, Free and Fabulous!)

Founder Christopher Piatt rehearsing one of the opening-night numbers, a soft-shoe with Melania Trump impersonator Erin Diamond.

Tonight the Green Mill is launching its new Wednesday evening series, the Paper Machete Cocktail Hour. It's basically the same as the Saturday series, but just slightly different. The show will be 90 minutes with no intermission, starting at 6:30 sharp. Still free.

Three of the people on the lineup -- SNL writer Katie Rich, the journalist Kim Bellware and the Jeff Award-winning actor Bethany Thomas --have all been with the show from its earliest incarnations 8+ years ago back in our Lincoln Square days. And the overall lineup is frankly pretty killer:

• KIM BELLWARE
• ERIN DIAMOND
• JOE FERNANDEZ
• MIKE MAIMONE
• KATIE RICH
• THE DEFIANT THOMAS BROTHERS
• SAD BRAD SMITH AND BETHANY THOMAS

If you haven't been able to get to the Green Mill on Saturday afternoons, consider Wednesday nights.

Janeane Garafalo To Appear At Paper Machete on Saturday

It's the smartest, funniest, most musical hour in Uptown, it happens every week, and it's free!  Of course we're talking about Paper Machete, the live cabaret comedy news magazine that takes place at the Green Mill at 3pm every Saturday.

This week, the featured guest is Janeane Garafalo, who'll be appearing Friday and Saturday at the Mayne Stage in Rogers Park.  See her instead, for free, close to home.  The rest of the line-up includes Bill Cochran, Ike Holter, Samantha Irby, Katie Rich and Steve Waltien, Julia Weiss, Chad the Bird, cabaret tunes by Bill Larkin, and musical guests Bailey.

Paper Machete Welcomes Julia Sweeney

Paper Machete, the live news magazine that takes places each Saturday at the Green Mill (4802 North Broadway), always puts on a great show.  This week the ensemble welcomes actress/comedian Julia Sweeney to the stage.  It all takes place on Saturday at 3pm, and always, it's free!  Show up for an afternoon of entertainment, featuring JC Aevaliotis, Idris Goodwin, Rebecca Hanson ad Tim Ryder, Matt Clingler, Kristen Studard, and Julia Sweeney. Plus Chad the Bird, cabaret tunes by Abbi Rajasekhar and musical guests Get Up With the Get Downs.