Chicago improv icons reunite at iO Fest: What to expect
Why it matters: Improv is one of Chicago's greatest exports, next to deep dish pizza and 16-inch softball.
The latest: Starting Thursday, over 100 acts, featuring several iO alumni return for shows, events, workshops and parties.
Shows include 2 Square with Peter Grosz and John Lutz, 3Peat with Lisa Beasley, alternative comic Neil Hamburger, Chicago legend Susan Messing and a 10th anniversary live taping of the " Bear Down Podcast."
State of play: For the audience, it's a great way to see famous actors like Matt Walsh from "Veep" or Chris Kattan from "SNL" return to their improv roots.
For improvisers, it serves almost like an industry conference, giving useful tips for the trade.
What they're saying: " It's thrilling to see so many different types and styles of improv and for our giant community to come together to celebrate our artform," iO artistic director Katie Caussin tells Axios.
Zoom out: Chicago has been the epicenter of improvisation for decades, thanks to theaters like iO, The Second City and The Annoyance.
Several alumni have gone on to star on stage and screen in Hollywood.
Flashback: Improv festivals have also been a big part of the city's comedy history. The Chicago Improv Festival was the biggest, bringing in huge shows starting in 1998 before folding in 2018.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Tom's Guide
6 days ago
- Tom's Guide
These might be the best sounding headphones I've ever tested — and you won't believe the price
I loved the Dali IO-8. They're far too expensive to land a spot on our best headphones list, but they're easily my favorite wireless headphones around today. Or at least, they were my favorite — until I got to try their bigger brother. Since I first saw them at a HiFi show, I've had my eye on the Dali IO-12. Their massive, plush earcups looked endlessly tempting and the potential for sound that's even more impressive than their cousins had me salivating. Sign. Me. Up. So I procured a pair — and my goodness. I knew they'd be good, but I didn't know just how good something that costs nearly $2,000 would actually be. They're not perfect, but they sound incredible. I've seen "expensive" headphones, but Dali's over-ears take the cake. They're sublimely comfortable, feature solid battery life, and sound unlike anything I've put on my ears. Wireless audio nirvana — with the price to match. Before we can talk about what makes them well-worth their price, we have to cover their less-than-desirable aspects. Pop them on your head and you immediately turn into a robot from a '50s sci-fi animation. The IO-12 are not... small. They're quite large, from their earpads to their headband and the metal armatures that keep them together. Pop them on your head and you immediately turn into a robot from a '50s sci-fi animation, or a more fleshy version of Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet. Even the case is very large, hard and protective. It's not something that's easily going to slip into your backpack, that's for sure. A bit like early laptops, they're more luggable than outwardly easy to transport. Because travel is more of an afterthought than their primary purpose, it makes sense why their noise cancelation performance is good, but not mind-blowing. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Dali has designed and built the ANC in the IO-12 not for out-and-out performance, but to make it easier to hear your music should things get noisy. It's not going to hold a candle to the likes of the AirPods Max or the Sony WH-1000XM6, but it does enough to smother out ambient background noise. Most importantly, the ANC doesn't do anything to the sonic characteristics of the headphones. Your music sounds the same when it's on or off. That's important, because even amongst the top best noise-canceling headphones there is some sound warping that can happen when you turn ANC on. That's because the ANC algorithm is using parts of your music to counteract the noise of the outside world, and it's something that you'll often be able to detect. Well, there's no app for a start, so you can't control the EQ from your phone or adjust the ANC level. Instead, you have to rely on the on-device controls to change the settings. There's an ANC key that changes between ANC on, transparency, or off. There's an EQ key which switches between 'bass' and 'hifi', and then the playback controls on the outer panel of the earcup. You can change the volume and skip tracks with the outer roundel, and play/pause with the middle button. I love the physical controls — but they're certainly not future-facing. That's basically it for features. There's no spatial audio here for extra surround sound. No ANC mode that shifts depending on the noise around you, and no fancy extras like you'll find on the likes of the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones. They're refreshingly simple. In terms of battery life, you're only getting about 35 hours per charge, which is about the same as the leading models that cost a whole $1,200 less. So far, apart from their incredible build and sumptuous leather padding (sorry vegans), there's little to show you where your money has gone. And then you press 'play.' Even if you use them wirelessly as opposed to their wired mode, the Dali IO-12 sound heavenly. There's a massive 50mm driver made in the same way as the brand's speaker drivers, using similar materials, that delivers some of the best bass weight of any headphones I've ever sampled. The record scratches of Limp Bizkit's My Way give way to the massive bass impact and Durst's bravado. The drums hit hard and fast, the distorted guitars get angry and edgy. There's detail for days in the top end, never being overpowered by the powerful bass. It's a sight to behold (or a sound to hear, although that perhaps lacks the gravitas we're looking for here) — and almost certainly not the kind of audio gear the boys were expecting their music to be played with. It's saddening to think you have to spend so much to get music to sound this good. The soundstage, a spatial representation of the audio, is something to be envied by just about every other headphone maker on the planet: The soundstage does excellent work with orchestras and jazz bands, making sure you can place each instrument accurately. It's a masterwork of sound engineering — and it's saddening to think you have to spend so much to get music to sound this good. The piano that emerges in the right earcup about mid-way through Paradise by the Dashboard light as Meat Loaf slams his fingers on the keyboard particularly shines. In perfectly audible layers you'll hear the incredible vocal clarity as Ellen and Meat Loaf discuss the various merits of their teenage love affair, the drums that clash and the bass guitar that lays down its devious groove. Plug them into a good audio source, and things get even better. The detail is dialed up to eleven, the mids widened, and the bass even more powerful. There's something massive about the way that the IO-12 sound. It certainly shows where the money goes when you spend this much money on a pair of headphones. There's zero distortion at higher volumes, making it all too easy for the dial to creep further towards hearing-damaging levels. Sure, there are expensive (and even slightly cheaper) wired options that sound better than the Dali IO-12. But here you're paying for the whole package — a pair of headphones that sound like audiophile cans without the need for a cable. Are they worth $1,750? No, there's not very much that is. Are they a sublime showing of the kind of performance you can get out of a pair of wireless headphones? Absolutely — and I adore them. If you want headphones that will allow you to hear your music in an entirely new way and have over a grand in disposable income, I'd make the case for them. But if decent sound quality is simply another feature to be ticked off in a long list, there are much cheaper options on our list of the best cheap headphones that will suffice.
UPI
06-08-2025
- UPI
'Sketch' characters are close to real Tony Hale, D'Arcy Carden
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Tony Hale and D'Arcy Carden say their characters in Sketch, in theaters Wednesday, are close to themselves in real life. Hale plays Taylor, a father to two children, with Carden as his sister and the kids' aunt, Liz. The movie centers on Taylor's daughter, Amber (Bianca Belle), who draws pictures of monsters to deal with her emotions. When the sketches fall into a lake, the monsters come to life. In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Hale, 54, and Carden, 45, shared how their characters were similar to their real selves. "I am kind of a cool aunt," Carden said. "Sorry to brag. I just took my nieces to Disneyland. That's pretty freakin' cool." Hale, who has played absurd characters like Buster Bluth in Arrested Development and the vice president's personal assistant on Veep, said Taylor felt closer to himself than such roles. Though not a widower like Taylor, Hale is also a parent. "He felt grounded and that was fun," Hale said. Liz is also a realtor and Carden said they used one of her actual headshots as her character's realtor photo on the sign in front of a house. "That was definitely an actor photo that we thought looked the most realtor-esque, taken by the great Luke Fontana," Carden said. The characters in Sketch experience magical moments when the drawings come to life but also navigate real-life issues, like grieving the death of Taylor's wife and the children's mother. Taylor copes with the loss in a believable, if misguided way. "Beginning with thinking, 'Hey, this is too much for my kids to handle. I'm gonna compartmentalize these emotions. We gotta move forward. Let me keep them happy,'" Hale said. "Then his daughter teaching them we gotta process this. To me, that is an authentic journey. It's not just a set formula." Sketch reminded Carden of movies that made her feel empowered as a young child. "It reminds me of movies in the '80s that I watched as a kid, Goonies and E.T., movies I felt seen watching and didn't feel like it was an adult talking down to me," she said. Hale added that he had asthma like Sean Astin's character in The Goonies, so also felt seen by Astin's use of an inhaler on screen. Bianca, 14, said she related to Amber as well. Amber expresses her emotions in her sketches as she struggles to talk to her father, her brother (Kue Lawrence) and classmates. "I feel like I could either be not trusting enough or too trusting with telling people how I feel," Bianca said. "So I feel like I could relate, trying to seek comfort in people." Seth Worley, 41, wrote and directed Sketch. He believes art is a healthy way to express reactions to life's turmoil, and wanted the movie to appeal to viewers of all ages. "We wanted kids to walk out of the film feeling empowered to process their more complex and darker emotions through art and creative self-expression," Worley said. "We wanted parents to feel empowered to create a safe space for that to happen and we wanted people who aren't parents to walk out and feel empowered to create that space for themselves and for others in their life." Sketch made real-life friends of the young cast, too. 12-year-old Kalon Cox, who plays classmate Bowman, still communicates with Kue daily via messages, in person or via their video games. "We play some Marvel Rivals, Roblox and a new game that just came out, Grounded 2," Kalon said. "Not sponsored by the way, but great game. I love it." Worley said early drafts of his script attempted to correlate each of Amber's drawings with a specific emotion, but that felt too contrived. Some of the creatures reflect Amber's struggles, such as eyeball monsters who steal things because Amber is afraid of people looking in her notebook. "In real life, our kids draw weird stuff or we draw weird stuff and it's not immediately traceable to a specific emotion or a place or a feeling," Worley said. Bianca said she also relates to Amber because she likes to draw herself. Her artwork is not featured in the film, however. "I feel like mine aren't as cartoony and death-y," Bianca said. "I mostly just doodle stuff." Worley credits his visual effects team for bringing the creatures to life. He said it took trial and error to present the effect of childlike pictures in the real world. "Our goal was to make monsters that felt simultaneously threatening and goofy looking as hell," Worley said. "We wanted them to be somehow both scary and funny." Hale will return to the family movie genre in Toy Story 5, which he said he recorded some lines for last month. He said he does not want to see too much of the film in advance so he can enjoy it when it is finished. His character, Forky, was introduced in Toy Story 4 and continues to evolve. "He's asking so many questions all the time," Hale said of Forky. "He's just a sponge."
Axios
23-07-2025
- Axios
Chicago improv icons reunite at iO Fest: What to expect
The iO Fest, the largest improv comedy festival in Chicago, returns to the Lincoln Park theater this weekend. Why it matters: Improv is one of Chicago's greatest exports, next to deep dish pizza and 16-inch softball. The latest: Starting Thursday, over 100 acts, featuring several iO alumni return for shows, events, workshops and parties. Shows include 2 Square with Peter Grosz and John Lutz, 3Peat with Lisa Beasley, alternative comic Neil Hamburger, Chicago legend Susan Messing and a 10th anniversary live taping of the " Bear Down Podcast." State of play: For the audience, it's a great way to see famous actors like Matt Walsh from "Veep" or Chris Kattan from "SNL" return to their improv roots. For improvisers, it serves almost like an industry conference, giving useful tips for the trade. What they're saying: " It's thrilling to see so many different types and styles of improv and for our giant community to come together to celebrate our artform," iO artistic director Katie Caussin tells Axios. Zoom out: Chicago has been the epicenter of improvisation for decades, thanks to theaters like iO, The Second City and The Annoyance. Several alumni have gone on to star on stage and screen in Hollywood. Flashback: Improv festivals have also been a big part of the city's comedy history. The Chicago Improv Festival was the biggest, bringing in huge shows starting in 1998 before folding in 2018.
