Comedy Open Mic

January 24

One of the best entertainment values in Central Illinois in the occasional $5 Friday show at Mason City Limits Comedy Club. This night Ryne Thorson hosts. You'll see 10, 12 up to 15 comedians doing 6 - 8 minute sets. Talent ranges from the best up and comers in the Midwest to seasoned professionals trying new material and once in a while, someone trying comedy for the first time. Always unpredictable. Always a blast and just $5!

Kathy Brennan

January 31

One of Springfield's most popular comedian Kathy Brennan closes a showcase show with a variety of new faces like Jesse James, Kody Freeman and Zach Goggins. After retiring from state government, Kathy Brennan started hitting the comedy stage in the Springfield area with her funny and often ridiculous observations. Nobody saw it coming, especially not her husband of 44 years! She and Jim have two thirty-something kids who have moved too far from home to be embarrassed by their mom, and a cat named Roxy who is the star of her Instagram account. athy was a finalist at Peoria's Jukebox Comedy Club's annual contest and was voted Illinois Times Best Local Comedian in 2022. While comedy clubs were shuttered by Covid, Kathy continued writing and performing on Zoom shows, leading to an appearance on the Flappers Comedy Club stage in Berkely, California in October 2021. Kathy's comedy presents a positive view of aging in which every challenging situation results in a win, if only in her nutty mind!

Chris Fonseca

February 7 - 8

What do you do with adversity? Chris Fonseca laughs at it. For almost four decades Chris "Crazy Legs" Fonseca has performed nationwide, headlining colleges, clubs and special events and most recently touring with Dave Chappelle for shows every year. Born with Cerebral Palsy, due to his mother dying during my birth, Chris was adopted by an elderly uncle and aunt. Being from a family of Mexican descent, growing up in the rural setting of Fort Morgan, Colorado, a small farming community, success in entertainment was far from a realistic goal. Chris attended college on a scholarship from Dow Jones, as a result of being one of four national winners in a minority journalist writing contest. The journalism department of Trinidad State Junior College was on the third floor with no elevator. He climbed stairs numerous times a day. "I should have won an award just for climbing the stairs. Upon my graduation, they finally installed an elevator and named it the "Chris Fonseca Elevator." Chris began doing comedy as a sophomore in college and was soon hitting open mics all around Colorado. After a very successful college journalism career, which included a Collegiate Journalist of the Year award, Chris did the logical thing... he started a comedy career. Quickly moving up in the comedy circles, he began touring in 1987, and in the '90s, I began making appearances on cable TV shows, then hit late night. Chris was a guest on The Arsenio Hall Show and The Late Show with David Letterman, eventually performing at the prestigious Montreal International Comedy Festival and the American Comedy Awards on ABC. Oddly enough Chris' greatest credit came from a featured appearance on the hit series, Baywatch in which he handcuffed himself to Pamela Anderson to protest the lack of handicap accessibility to the beach. "They had me riding a customized, motorized wheelchair on the beach, which was great. But they also had me out in the water on a Boogie Board. Considering I don't swim, it was quite an adventure. I was supposed to look like I was having fun, and I guess that's where I did the real acting," recalled Fonseca. Chris has performed at numerous benefits alongside such luminaries as President Jimmy Carter, Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson and more. As a person with a disability, he received recognition from many places, even performing at the Kennedy Center for President George Bush Sr. and George W. Bush for the 15th anniversary of The American with Disabilities Act. Chris performed on the ABC special, "Christopher Reeve, A Celebration of Hope and was honored to have recently been elected to the Colorado Arts and Entertainment Hall of Fame.

Jeff Bailey

February 14 - 15

Jeff Bailey started his comedy career in 2011 at the Jukebox Comedy Club in Peoria. In 2012 he finished 2nd in their annual Comedy Competition. In 2013 he won! Bailey has shared the stage with some of the biggest names in comedy including: Doug Stanhope, Steve-O and Tim Wilson. As part of the Hardly Legal Comedy Tour, he headlines shows at clubs all over the Midwest. Jeff was featured at The Alternating Currents Festival in Davenport, Iowa and performed at the Altercation Comedy Festival in Austin, TX later the same year.