NEWS: Announcing Comedy Notebook, an Homage to Chicago Comedy
Photo Courtesy Amber Drea
NEWS
Bridge Announces Comedy Notebook, an Homage to Chicago Comedy
Comedy Notebook is a new initiative from Bridge that takes comedy seriously—not by stripping it of joy, but by treating it as the rigorous, collaborative art form it actually is. At its center is the comedy notebook: the working space where jokes are tested, discarded, revised, sharpened, and slowly assembled into something that can stand on its own.
Comedy Notebook looks at comedy not just as performance, but as process. From the first sketch of a joke to the architecture of a full stand-up routine, we focus on how humor is built—through writing, repetition, feedback, and risk. It’s a place for comedians, jokesters, and writers of all kinds to show their work in progress and reflect on how material evolves over time.
By foregrounding laugh drafts, fragments, and false starts, Comedy Notebook insists that comedy is serious business: a craft shaped by labor, intelligence, and attention. Laughter may be the outcome, but the work—thoughtful, willing to accept failure, and often communal—deserves to be seen.
We are actively inviting comedians of all kinds—stand-up performers, writers, improvisers, experimental jokesters, and anyone working seriously with humor—to submit their work for consideration in upcoming seasons of Comedy Notebook features. We’re especially interested in comedy in motion: notebooks, drafts, partial routines, joke clusters, annotated bits, and reflections on process, alongside more polished material.
If you’re developing a single joke or shaping a full set and want to share how your comedy gets made, we’d love to see it. Submissions are reviewed on a rolling basis. If you're interested in being featured in this archive project, please fill out this form, or visit bridge-chicago.org/comedynotebook.
