Jessica McKenna

But yeah, it's a great, great joke heavy show with some really successful music.

And it does the thing I was talking about, which is like they're trying to find their sound.

Their music in the past is supposed to be kind of bad or at least like pop derivative stuff.

So there's never really...

there's not really a high bar ever for the music.

It's allowed to be like comedic first, which is something that I, you know, recognize and identify with.

But it's still like hooky and fun and you buy it as pop music.

So it's like, it's carved out a really sweet spot for itself of what you're expecting the songs to sound like.

Her husband, a huge, yeah, Jeff Richman, a huge influence in the sound and like, and then composer of the Mean Girls musical.

But yeah, I think there's, there's a, so like the comedy lineage of Second City, the Chicago theater, the Chicago Improv and Sketch Theater is,

It's starting more in like the 50s.

It was every show has an accompanist on stage, which is different than if you see like an Upright Citizens Brigade show or a show at ImprovOlympic or IO where that got like peeled away.

But back when it was like this is and I think they still do.

But like that aesthetic of you're coming here, you're having a drink, you're going to watch a show.

A pianist was on stage as like a pianist.

key member of the comedy.

And so I think that there's like a crossover.

There's a lot of like Chicago comedy that I think overlaps with having like a musical sensibility because literally your sketch would be underscored.

All right, what's your winner here?

I think I saw it after I'd already seen, I mean, the first time he sings in Moulin Rouge, I think is maybe the most significant moment of my life.