Every job is somewhat unpleasant; that’s why you’re paid to do it. But keep this in mind — no matter what crap end of the stick you drew at the office this week, whatever chore you were assigned as some corporate version of waterboarding, at least you didn’t have to interview 11 comedians in a coffee shop.
OK, before anybody gets their Underoos in a Moebius twist, that was a joke. In fact, it sounds like the set-up for a better joke (“Eleven comedians are hanging out in a coffee shop when they see an ad for a talking dog …”). One of my occupational hazards is inspiration — when you hang around with musicians, you want to play guitar. And if you do a story on funny-ass people, you want to be funny.
Underbelly is loaded with funny-ass people.
For the blithely unaware, Underbelly has been entertaining in-the-know audiences since 2009 and has managed to spark sketch comedy’s resurgence in Greater Cincinnati and comedy in general at the Southgate House. Underbelly’s anniversary will be celebrated on May 3 at the group’s monthly first-Tuesday show in the venue’s Parlour.
Underbelly began when Mike Cody returned to the area after a two-year comedy walkabout and started brainstorming with colleagues about how to rejuvenate the local scene, possibly by replicating things he’d witnessed in Chicago and Minneapolis.
Underbelly presents its second anniversary show at Southgate House’s Parlour Tuesday. Go here for show details.
This article appears in Apr 20-26, 2011.
