… Yes. It sounds like the opening line of a terrible stand-up, but really, there is no other way to give you the setup for this video. Furniture tycoons, the Walter E. Smithe Brothers, brought together some of the most important, most influential and most popular people in Chicago for One Night Only event to say farewell to the man who made Chicago what it is today.

And they asked Schadenfreude to perform.

Doesn’t matter how that happened, what matters is that we took that honor, and ran with it. For the life of our sketch group, we have ALWAYS had loving adoration for our Mayor, what he is to the city, and how much material he has given us over the years. Like they say, “Mine it, it’s gold.” And we mined like Chinese-Americans brought over to California in the Gold Rush.

It only seemed right that we take this opportunity to not only memorialize Mayor Daley, but also make him laugh. And that’s just what Jason Challenger and Alderman Ed Bus did for 4 1/2 minutes.

If you would like to read Justin’s take on actually sitting up there and performing with the Mayor – click here. If you just want to watch the video – well, you’re in luck. It’s right here.

**Important Note: There’s a jump in the cut (I think there were tapes being changed, or something) but the bit is referring to Alderman Ed Bus telling Daley that we’re renaming Ada between Fulton & Lake Streets after him.**

Finally, special thanks to Bill O’Neill who went above and beyond the call of duty to put this together for us – Thanks Bill!

Don’t worry. Angry White Guy didn’t. And he’s in Chicago. I’m not going to toot our own horn or anything – I’ll save that for Mr. Hall. However, it’s not everyday he recommends a show, and doesn’t piss off the masses when he does. This is one of those rare occasions. The pretention of theatre is stripped away, and you are only left with:

Kaufman and Marshall are genuinely funny guys with Kaufman acting as snarky host and the scarily realistic Alderman Ed Bus and Marshal coming in as everyone from the group’s Grandma to Todd Voorhis, but the standout in any Scheddenfloyne show is the super funny Kate James. Her “Housewife of Bensenville” and “Crazy Lady on Division” and “Cock Noogie Activist” are some of the best laugh out loud moments of a night filled with funny bits and lots of loud drunk people. Kate never lets her character slip and always takes it just an inch too far. I love it.

Now, if you know Don Hall – you know that’s the equivalent to two thumbs up, 7 stars, 2 snaps in Z-formation and any other kind of goodness that comes short of saying, “Don’t fuckin’ miss this show.” Want to read the whole review? It’s here. (But we pulled the best part)

This Friday? Jesus, you better be there. It’s a full lasagna dinner, beatbox sensation Yuri Lane, one of the Walter E. Smithe Bros., stand-up sensation Ken Barnard, and, the biggest surprise? Adam Witt is coming back to town ladies and gentlemen. Oh – and it’s Sandy’s birthday, so don’t be a douche, and bring a present, OK? Pretend it’s Chuck E. Cheese, and your mom is going to pick you up in 3 hours, and you’ll have a tons of coins to play video games, but you need to bring a present and put it on the table. Cool?

See you at the Gallery Cabaret, 2020 N. Oakly, Dinner @ 8PM, Show @ 9PM, $10 Door, $0 Food (Lasagna Dinner!) and $2.50 Drink specials.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You dream it, we post it! About a month ago, I was asked to help write some of the new Walter E. Smithe TV commercials. This is the first one. When Tim Smithe told me that it was going to be shot with the Smithe brothers acting as babies, I was immediately working on two of my favorite genres: popular local commercials and baby humor. As always, these are directed by Schadenfriend Bill O’Neil (the man behind the Schad trailer) and there are more on the way. Enjoy!

Posing after the “Emmy With An E” Shoot. Pictured here with us is Tim Smithe (furniture God) and Bill O’Neil (camera/director God). This was during business hours and there were customers staring. We dreamt it AND built it that day.

Emmy Acceptance Video Shoot w/ Tim Smithe

Walter E. Smithe Furniture – Clybourn Avenue, Chicago

As you may have heard, we’ve been nominated for a 2008 Chicago Emmy for our work on the WTTW pilot IL-Informed!  Well, the awards ceremony is tomorrow night — and because we’re already booked at the Lakeshore (see us at 8 and 11 pm!), we figured it’d be a good idea to pre-record our acceptance speech with none other than Schadenfriend Tim Smithe, a bona fide Walter E. Smithe Brother.  Huge thanks to Tim, to Bill O’Neil for directing, and to everyone at their Lincoln Park Store — you dream it, they build it!

That’s right! Tim Smithe, obviously the smartest, coolest and classiest of the three Walter E. Smithe Brothers, visited the ole’ Schadenfreude Rent Party on Saturday night at the Hideout. No big deal!! He ran into his long lost brother Nathan . . . that’s Nathan with an E . . .