When I tried out for Who Wants to be a Millionaire I sat next to a lady named Marjorie. I made the cut, and she didn't (you can read about my adventures in game shows here) but we exchanged cards and have kept in touch since. She's gone on to pursue her dream of stand-up comedy. As a frustrated comic myself, I'm greatly impressed by her talent and drive.
She's still based in Cleveland, but does a lot of work in Chicago, taking Second City comedy classes out there. She's put together a few YouTube videos of her parody of the Apple "I'm a Mac" ads comparing Cleveland and Chicago. Now, anyone who knows me knows my relationship with Chicago is complicated, and if you don't know, as Constable Benton Fraser used to say "that doesn't need exploring at this juncture." But, I still think Chicago's great. It's one of the few cities I've thought I could leave Ohio for under the right circumstances, and it's the template for Love and Capes' Deco City. Anyway, I think these spots are pretty funny. They're not perfectly executed, but they score a lot of honesty and funniness points.
Her spots remind me of a conversation I had with someone from Chicago a couple of years ago. I was raving about how well Chicago used its lakefront, in a way I wish Cleveland did. "How did you guys design the city so well?" I asked.
"Um, you know we had a fire here, right?"
"Oh, yeah, Cleveland needs one of those!" Frighteningly, if we did, I don't think anyone would get hurt. It's pretty empty these days.
Cleveland's a great place. It's certainly in a downslump, but I don't think those things are necessarily permanent. And Cleveland could do far worse than to use Chicago as an example of what it could be.