Cook County Social Club

If supporting your fellow performers is key to putting on a solid improv show, than consider the boys that make up the Cook County Social Club (CCSC) the Wonderbra of the Chicago improv scene.

CCSC formed in 2005 when improvisers Greg Hess, Mark Ratterman, Brendan Jennings and Bill Cochran were working in the Loop. “We used to meet for lunch and procrastinate, and somewhere in there decided to do a four-man show,” Hess says.

That four-man show started as a midnight slot at iO, performing for drunk college students, but then earned an open run in iO’s downstairs Cabaret Theater, performing for drunk Cubs fans.

What separates CCSC from the improv pack is their unwavering commitment to one another. The group is quick to make sure no member ever flounders. If one person looks stupid, the rest will take great efforts to look stupider, creating magical vignettes of genius.

“I think I speak for everyone when we first and foremost love play together,” Hess says. “It sounds a little trite, but these are my three closest friends and getting to take the stage together is what we all look forward to during the week.”

The group is also very keen on details. No gesture, no phrase, not even an accidental cough or stutter, escape the watchful eyes of the foursome, who are quick to pounce on even the most subtle element of an initiation and thoroughly tear into it like a pack of starved wolves.

Take for example a bit from a recent show in which the stocky Jennings unknowingly initiated a scene with a graceful movement of his arm. Ratterman quickly exploited this move, heightening his entrance into a John Travolta-like strut. Cochran soon followed, leaping in from the sidelines like a klutzy ballerina. Not wanting to be left out, Hess propelled the scene into absurdity by doing the worm across the stage.

“I think CCSC is really great at game play which isn't necessarily what you find at iO all the time,” Hess says. “We love to play patterns and heighten things to the absurd.”

And whereas many improv teams rely on the old standby sweep edit to end a scene, CCSC takes a nod from the likes of “Mr. Show,” seamlessly morphing from one situation to the next. For example, the four performers were jabbering over one another about Philadelphia, with Jennings coming downstage as the Liberty Bell. Immediately the group transformed the scene into an awkward date at a Taco Bell, a callback to a previous scene, sending the audience into a fit of applause.

To sum it up, the whole fluidity of a CCSC show is like having a dream about going to work that turns into a dream about mountain climbing that turns into a dream about being chased by a monster that turns into a dream about being chased by a monster on your way to work on top of a mountain.

And just how does CCSC get pumped up before one of their high-energy shows? “When we warm up, we say things like, ‘Let's destroy this show,’” Hess says. “Then we all dance like show choir girls behind iO and sing various jock jams. Last week was ‘Wild Wild West’ by William Smith.”

You can check out the hilarious absurdity of the Cook County Social Club every Tuesday at 8 pm in iO’s Cabaret Theater. The show costs $12 (free for iO students). In addition, the boys, in collaboration with Storyboard Productions, just started creating videos inspired by their scenes, which can be viewed on YouTube and Crackle.com.

-Keith Ecker