McCarthy brings 'Dirty, Sexy, Funny' home to St. Charles

Staring at her computer a few years ago while at her home in California, Chicago native Jenny McCarthy was homesick and sick of Los Angeles.

"I was on Facebook and my best friend was posting these pictures of her life in Geneva and it was so Norman Rockwell-looking, I envied her life so much more than mine," remembered the former Playboy Playmate, TV host and current comedy show producer. "I called her and told her how I was feeling, and then I packed up my house within two weeks and moved to a neighborhood that I'd never lived in and had never been before. I rented a house for two years down the street from her and I fell in love with Geneva."

She also fell in love with one of the New Kids on the Block, married him in neighboring St. Charles, bought a house there and is bringing her female comedy troupe Dirty, Sexy, Funny to her new hometown's Arcada Theatre Friday and Saturday. Tickets are still available starting at $49 at oshows.com.

"Having this in my hometown, I couldn't be happier," McCarthy said.

She and Donnie Wahlberg married at the Hotel Baker near the theater last August. She said she noticed the Arcada when they were planning the ceremony and started making plans to bring her bawdy show there shortly thereafter.

McCarthy said the show offers something for everyone and the audience usually bears that out.

"It's a healthy mix of everybody," she said of the usual "Dirty, Sexy, Funny" audience. "We're kind of all self-deprecating, and we're real enough that guys can get a kick out of what we're saying. I didn't want the show to be real feminist or a 'Vagina Monologue'-y type of thing."

Since McCarthy bolted to fame as a Playboy playmate in 1993 - and later as Playmate of the Year - she has been in the public eye. She co-hosted a tremendously popular dating show on MTV for several seasons, made some movies, made some headlines for controversial medical opinions, dated some celebrities, co-hosted ABC's popular morning gabfest "The View" for a spell and now is touring the country with the comedy show, hosting a satellite radio show and enjoying being Mrs. Donnie Wahlberg.

"If I wasn't in the business, I think the fame thing would be more of an impact," she said. "But because I've gone through all this and I'm already in the business, I understand the demands on him."

Those demands include an annual cruise where Wahlberg and his bandmates take to the high seas with a ship full of their fans - mostly housewives in their 40s now - for five days. The cruise is filmed for a reality show featuring some of the wackier fans.

"I do want to go! I am going," McCarthy exclaimed. "My sister and dad went on it last year. They had a blast. We've got great video of my dad dancing. They said they had the best time of their lives, and I've brought them to some pretty spectacular places, so that's saying something."

In the meantime, McCarthy is fine living her quasi-suburban life on dry land.

"I don't spend as much time in St. Charles as I'd like, but I'm there usually Wednesday to Monday," she said. "I love it. I went to the grocery store, I go to Target, I'll go to the salon. People will just say 'hi' and that's it. Everyone is sweet. They remind me of what it's like to live with relatives."

Jenny McCarthy's 'Dirty, Sexy, Funny' Comedy Tour

When: 10:30 p.m. Friday, June 12, and 8 p.m. Saturday, June 13

Where: Arcada Theatre, 105 E. Main St., St. Charles,

oshows.com, (630) 962-7000

Tickets: $49