Just for Laughs Chicago Festival: Day 4

Day four of the Just for Laughs Chicago Festival was the first without any shows I was really looking forward to. I like Lisa Lampanelli and I think she's funny, but I wasn't as excited to see her as I was "The Nasty Show" or "Bob & David and Friends." And while I will always enjoy seeing live comedy, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that some amount of comedy fatigue was beginning to set in. After four days and eight shows, things were starting to run together a little.

My first show of the night was a taping of TBS' The Very Funny Show at Zanies comedy club. There were five total "Very Funny Shows" at Zanies, but due to scheduling restrictions I was really only able to make the 7 p.m. Saturday show. That meant missing all of the shows with the comics I really wanted to see, including John Mulaney, Nick Thune, Hannibal Buress, Whitney Cummings and T.J. Miller. That's not to take anything away from the comedians I was able to see perform -- John Roy, Wendy Liebman, Rocky LaPorte, Godfrey, Andrew Kennedy, Dwayne Perkins and Dale Jones -- but they had harder jobs to do, because I wasn't walking in already a fan.

I got to see two episodes of The Very Funny Show taped (it's scheduled to begin airing in the Fall), and it reminded me a lot of every other stand-up showcase series I've ever watched -- fairly generic club comedy with a standout comic or two. It was fun to see host Tim Meadows, because he seems very nice and carries some star power, but the comedians were mixed. Read my full review of "The Very Funny Show" for more on what to expect when the show finally debuts on TBS.

After the show, it was a quick drive over the Chicago Theater for the second of two shows by insult comedian Lisa Lampanelli. Of all the shows I attended during the festival, this one had the most diverse crowd, from the dressed-up beautiful people to the guy in the sleeveless t-shirt (I mean, at least my t-shirt had sleeves). The thing they had in common is that they were all incredibly pumped up and ready to be insulted, which Lampanelli (after a pretty funny set by opener Joe Bartnick) was more than happy to do. I took some pride in the fact that Lampanelli said more than once that the Chicago crowds were some of her most responsive and the only ones who never moaned at her material. I don't know why that's a badge of honor, but I felt proud of my city. I didn't love Lampanelli's set, having the same response to it that I had to her last HBO special, but she certainly got off her share of funny one-liners. I just can't shake the feeling that she's spinning her wheels these days, and I'm ready for her to evolve as a comic. The trouble is that I don't imagine the rest of her audience would agree with me. For more, read my full review of the Lisa Lampanelli show.

Four days and eight shows down. Only one more to go.

• Just for Laughs Chicago Festival: Day 1
• Just for Laughs Chicago Festival: Day 2
• Just for Laughs Chicago Festival: Day 3
• 10 Shows to See at the Just for Laughs Festival
• 2009 Just for Laughs Schedule

Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images