Not long ago, Caitlin Bergh was a self-described “repressed Catholic virgin.” But since diving into the local comedy scene in early 2011, she’s emerged as one of the rawest, raunchiest stand-ups in the city—which, given that “working blue” is a foregone conclusion for many comics, is saying a lot. She also happens to be one of the funniest. This month Bergh presents her one-woman show Chunks, and if you suspect the name implies a sexual awakening miles beyond what Anais Nin scribbled in her diaries, you’re right.
My show runs about 60 minutes, [so] I get to put multiple stories together. This gives me a chance to develop themes across the stories. It also gives me a chance to provide a more thorough context. It’s not that I got an STI from a cat. It’s that I was desperately in love with a quasi-homeless woman who had a dirty cat that she put in her bathtub, where she liked to have sex. Why did I love her? There’s a good eight minutes on that.
In what ways has Chicago’s burgeoning stand-up scene inspired and influenced your material and your performances?
One thing I’m trying to do with the show is to make people question their stereotypes and assumptions. At one point, I assume a girl is gay because she has a Mohawk. Why do I do that? In another story, I feel like I can’t come out because I’ve always “known” that lesbians are ugly. The show points to some scary ideas we have of each other and the world that are more ingrained in us than we may realize. It also tries to prove that we are all disgusting and weird, and that that is really, truly OK. The goal is to get people to hug it out. And to stop cutting each other off when you’re getting on the Clark bus.
Through 2/24: Sun 7:30 PM, Studio BE Theatre, 3110 N. Sheffield, studio-be.org, $7.
