Zanies launches yearlong 40th anniversary celebration
Local comedy clubs come and go. And then there's Zanies.
The Wells Street Zanies turns 40 this year, making it Chicago's longest-running comedy club. Zanies' St. Charles location, which opened in 1989, has the same distinction in the suburbs.
So what accounts for that longevity?
“We've always had great relationships with the artists,” said Bert Haas, Zanies' executive vice president. “We have always believed that standup comedy is a uniquely American art form that should be performed ... in an intimate environment.”
Zanies started doing just that in 1978. Suburban locations followed, with current spots in St. Charles and Rosemont and now-closed clubs in Mount Prospect and Vernon Hills.
This month, the comedy club kicks off a yearlong 40th anniversary celebration with special shows, contests and giveaways. Many of the events are targeted to the Chicago location, but a number of the shows will carry over to the suburban clubs as well.
Haas, who lives in Mount Prospect, started there as a waiter in 1980 and even met his wife - comedian Sally Edwards - at Zanies. He's just one of many people in show business who share a long history with the club.
Comics who've worked Zanies over the years include Kevin Hart, Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, Roseanne, Jeff Garlin and Arlington Heights native Sebastian Maniscalco.
“Practically every major comedian of the last 40 years has worked the Zanies stage,” Haas said.
Several will be back as part of the club's Legends of Comedy shows over the next year. Richard Lewis starts the series off this week with Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 17 and 18, shows in Chicago and gigs in Rosemont Friday and Saturday, Jan. 19 and 20.
Haas is still lining up other comics for the Legends shows, but Lewis will be followed by Zanies veterans Marsha Warfield and Gilbert Gottfried.
Warfield, a Chicago native best known for playing no-nonsense bailiff Roz on NBC's “Night Court,” began her career at Zanies shortly after the club opened. She's returned many times over the years, until she took a long hiatus that ended about two years ago.
“It was the only club I basically worked in Chicago,” she said.
Warfield said she jumped at the chance to be part of Zanies' anniversary lineup. And she's looking at her Feb. 7-10 Chicago shows as a “comeback.”
“I've been looking forward to it for awhile,” she said.
Likewise, Gottfried's history with Zanies goes back decades.
One of his most memorable Zanies experiences happened at the St. Charles venue. A military convention was at Pheasant Run Resort and Gottfried stopped by - only to have re-enactors in full Nazi regalia want to take selfies with him.
“It looked like a scene of out 'Cabaret,'” Gottfried recalled. “When I showed up at the event, these Nazi officers were so excited and running over to me.”
The scene was so surreal it made it into the documentary “Gottfried.”
The comic will return to play the Chicago Zanies on March 8 and 9, before moving on to the Rosemont location March 10.
“It's a great club,” Gottfried said. “The club business and the restaurant business ... it's pretty near impossible to keep things going. Something that's been going on this long is pretty amazing.”
Zanies locations
1548 N. Wells St., Chicago, (312) 337-4027, chicago.zanies.com
Parkway Bank Park, 5437 Park Place, Rosemont, (847) 813-0484, rosemont.zanies.com
Pheasant Run Resort, 4051 E. Main St., St. Charles, (630) 524-0001, st-charles.zanies.com