‘Kinda old’ comics sell out Wilmette Theatre and are gearing up for Round 2

Four comedians walk into a community theater …

No, this isn’t the lead-in to a joke, but rather, the lead-in to a sold-out show.

Bill Miller, Peter Lipsey and Bill Gorgo, all veterans of the Chicago standup scene, recently debuted “Leave It to Geezer” on Jan. 15 to a crowd of more than 70 people at the Wilmette Theatre.

Now, with the addition of fellow local comic Spike Manton, they’re gearing up for another comedy-variety show, also at the Wilmette Theatre, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19. Tickets can be purchased online.

“Having people of an age playing to people of an age, is a unique experience, and a lot of fun, too,” Gorgo said of the show during the comedians’ weekly Zoom call, attended by The Record North Shore.

It quickly became more than “just” a Zoom call but rather a comedy show in and of itself as the quartet riffed off one another and tested the timing waters with some improvised jokes.

“We’re gonna discuss Medicare, Social Security, maybe breaking a hip, you know, stuff that is germane to all us senior citizens,” Miller said with a chuckle.

Lipsey added, “And we do a Tupperware exchange halfway through the show, which a lot of the ladies really enjoy.”

Their banter is a strong indication of what showgoers can expect: variety. In addition to four unique standup sets, there is audience interaction with trivia, group comedy as the four riff back and forth, and an inevitable sing-along at the end as they play the Mickey Mouse Club House theme song to bid everyone a farewell for the evening.

“This is what it’s like to sit in McDonald’s at 8 in the morning at the old guy table,” Gorgo joked as the men joshed nostalgically about Route 66 and the Mickey Mouse Club House during their Zoom call.

The hope, Lipsey said, is that there’s a little something for everyone to enjoy. But the crux of the show’s context remains age — a sentiment the men shared in one way or another.

“The comedy, the straight standup portion of the show, is not going to be exclusively about being old, but that’s the context,” Gorgo said. “We’re all kinda old, so our life experience includes being kinda old. And our language is the language of the kinda old. So, there’s gonna be a certain amount of age built in.”

On each man’s bread and butter, Gorgo added, “Whether it’s the foreground or the background changes from comic to comic. I tend to talk about age a little more, because I have a lot more of it. Pete [Lipsey] is a little bit more about current events, not politically, but just what odd stuff is in the news. And Bill [Miller]’s sort of in the middle, with a lot of medical stuff, because he is a doctor, but that’s kind of age appropriate, too. We don’t know what the hell Spike [Manton]’s doing.”

While the language of the show is for the “kinda old,” as Gorgo put it, the quartet also aren’t putting themselves in a box; it’s really a show all audiences can enjoy, they said.

“I love the tagline, [and] I think it is really appropriate: You’re either old enough to laugh with us or young enough to laugh at us,” Manton said. “So, we do think it’s a show for all ages, even though it’s a show about our ages. … If they have fun with their grandparents, they’ll have fun with us.”

All four of the comedians have been around the block on the comedic-scene, with Gorgo and Lipsey having started out together at a club called The Roxy in the 1980s.

At a recent comedy show, Gorgo, Lipsey and Miller noticed a market gap, which led to the formation of “Leave it to Geezer.”

Gorgo explained the format of the subpar show that inspired this newest venture.

“Pete [Lipsey], 35 years [of experience]; comic two, about a month and a half; comic three, about a week and a half,” he said. “It was a very uneven show, and we’re sitting in the back going, they could just give the three of us more time, and the audience wouldn’t have to be going, ‘What’s this part about? We could have just done a comedy show,’ and we looked at each other and went, ‘Hmm. Well, why don’t we?’”

The goal is to keep bringing “Leave It to Geezer” to the Wilmette Theatre and beyond, with Lipsey mentioning his hope to take the show to Central Illinois.

But each comedian has taken away his own win, too, from the experience.

“I don’t care if they enjoyed the rest of the show,” Gorgo laughed. “If they got to sing along with the Mousketeers, and that was the highlight of their evening, God bless, that was a win.”

Nonetheless, in all seriousness, audience satisfaction is key for each comedian.

“You know, I don’t know what the other guys want, but I want anyone who comes to one of these shows to go away feeling great,” Miller said. “I want them to say, ‘That was wonderful.’ I don’t care how we get there, to wonderful. As many roads to get to wonderful, but I want them to go, ‘That was awesome. I can’t wait to see him again.’”

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