Court Theatre
April 10, 1992 – May 17, 1992
As Mick Connor, a fellow aspiring comedian with Karol Kent as Jenny Murray and Juan Ramirez as Sammy Santiago (PHOTO: Chicago Tribune)
Critical Response
“Johnny Lee Davenport is convincing as a black man who makes comedy out of his Southern roots.”
—Tom Valeo, Daily Herald (April 18, 1992)
Preview
“Ramirez is followed by Johnny Lee Davenport, a tall black actor who plays Mick Connors—an Irishman in the original, now a transplanted southerner. Davenport’s routine is an autobiographical reminiscence about his father, an amateur boxer who toured the Illinois prison system. It isn’t particularly funny, nor is it meant to be; Ramirez, still in sleazy character as the program’s MC, describes the downbeat nature of Davenport’s monologue as ‘watermeloncholy.’
[E]veryone agrees that the process has proved at least one thing: comedy is damned difficult. ‘It’s really scary,’ says Davenport. ‘It’s more than knowing the lines. The immediacy of being in front of people, the direct eye contact and the visceral contact—you can’t hide behind a character. . . . I learned that it takes a lot of guts.’”
—Albert Williams, Chicago Reader (April 2, 1992)