Panel

All Jokes

All Jokes Aside Film and Discussion

ABOUT 

  • ABOUT John Davies

    John Davies is a television producer based in Los Angeles. After eleven years at Chicago's WTTW producing everything from the national movie review series Sneak Previews to historical documentaries to the long-running Wild Chicago, Davies moved west to try his luck in commercial television. He is the co-creator and executive producer of the MTV series Run's House and its spinoff series, Daddy's Girls. He also created and executive produced The Rerun Show, Second City Presents, and Movie Club with John Ridley. Profile
  • ABOUT Tim Kazurinsky

    Screenwriter and actor Tim Kazurinsky got his start at The Second City in Chicago. A former cast member of Saturday Night Live, Kazurinsky also co-write such screenplays as My Bodyguard, About Last Night..., The Cherokee Kid, was nominated for a Writers' Guild Award for his screenplay for Strange Relations. Kazurinsky still performs and has guest starred on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Still Standing, According to Jim, and Jeff Garlin's I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With.

    Profile
  • ABOUT Raymond C. Lambert

    Raymond Lambert is the creator of the Monologue Comedy Theater and All Jokes Aside comedy clubs, venues that provided early exposure to top comedians including Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Bernie Mac, Steve Harvey, and Cedric The Entertainer. He served as executive producer of the "All Jokes Aside Comedy Hour" for NBC5 Chicago and as a consultant to NBC, HBO, FOX-TV, Comedy Central, and BET. He is the executive producer of the documentary, A Funny Business: The Rise and Fall of All Jokes Aside, to be released in 2010.

    Profile
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All Jokes Aside was a comedy club in Chicago’s South Loop that primarily featured the work of black stand-up comedians. For most of the 1990s, All Jokes Aside was one of the preeminent comedy clubs in the country, giving early exposure and paychecks to important young comedians like Steve Harvey, Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx, Cedric the Entertainer, D. L. Hughley, Carlos Mencia, and Bernie Mac. Veteran television producer John Davies and Raymond C. Lambert share stories from the glory days of Lambert's former club. They draw from their film Phunny Business: The Rise and Fall of All Jokes Aside (produced by Chicagoan Reid Brody) to show archival footage and interviews with the club's old headliners, chronicling its major contribution to Chicago’s comedic legacy. Veteran screenwriter and comedy maven Tim Kazurinsky moderates the discussion.

Above: Former All Jokes Aside performer Cedric the Entertainer. Photograph by Kimberly Butler.

Dig Deeper

Broader Investigation

Lecture

Barry Sanders: The Subversive Humor of Lenny Bruce

Barry Sanders, a prolific author and professor emeritus of Pitzer College, will discuss Bruce’s outrageous routines and how they forever changed American popular culture.

Lecture

Paul Provenza & Katie Watson: Crossing the Line

Paul Provenza joins Katie Watson for an incisive conversation exploring the volatile side of comedy.

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