Chicago Trip 2012 Day 1

     I arrived in Chicago around 11am, PLENTY of time to explore. I thought long and hard, and decided the VERY first thing I needed to do was to go to the Billy Goat Tavern. For the first 4 seasons, SNL had a reoccuring sketch at the Olympia Cafe. John Belushi was the manager, Bill Murray's character spoke no english, and Dan Akroyd was at the grill, grilling SEVERAL burgers at once. "CHEESEBOIGER CHEESE BOIGER, NO FRIES CHEEPS, NO COKE, PEPSI." were the iconic catch phrases. Of course the premise was, Olympia Cafe had a limited menu and everyone visiting the restaurant ordered things not on the menu.
     Well, these sketches were based on a real life restaurant, The Billy Goat Tavern. The ORIGINAL Billy Goat Tavern is 430 N. Michigan Ave., right underneath the building that was Bob Newhart's office building on The Bob Newhart Show. There's a chain of them in Illinois, plus one in Washington DC. The "underground" restaurant is a bit of a dive, go down a set of steps and be greeted with a sign that says "The Billy Goat Tavern, Enter at your Own Risk". There's a guy there that instructs the customer where to go to wait in line, and for the most part, the Billy Goat Tavern is run exactly as it appears in the sketches. The guy taking the orders points at everyone in the line, getting their order. Be careful, if you don't say anything right away, they'll order FOR you. I was tempted to order fries just to hear "no fries, cheeps", but someone already did that. The real Billy Goat Tavern however has "no Pepsi, Coke" and basically ONLY serves burgers and chips. Also, yes, there is one guy at the grill, grilling SEVERAL burgers at once, but with no gloves, so HOPEFULLY he has washed his hands! Billy Goat is COVERED with a lot to see... lots of old pictures, clever sayings, and a sign that says "Billy Goat Tavern says, if you can pronounce the name Bill PAPATHEODORODEMETROKOUMOUDOTOGEORGAKAPOULOS, you get a free drink!" I looked it up, does ANYONE know who this guy supposedly is?
Billy Goat Tavern isn't air conditioned though, so I didn't stay around for TOO much longer.
     After that, I made my way to the Chicago Getaway Hostel to check in, and drop off my luggage. The Chicago Getaway Hostel is nice enough. It has a TV viewing room, computers you can use for free, guitars you can play for free, a full kitchen, freezers, refrigerators. In terms of a room, I opted for my own room, with a small bathroom, but showers were in a separate area. The showers were all private, so that was okay by me. My bed was a bunk bed, so I had to try to remember when I got up that there was a bed directly above me. They also offered free continental breakfast, which is about as "substantial" as you might expect... blueberry bagels, raisin bread, plain bread, bananas, oranges, cereals, and hot oatmeal. Only thing was, this was offered EVERY day, so after a few days of the same thing, I found some nice breakfast places that were not expensive, including the Original Pancake House, not far from the hostel.
     Once I settled in, I made another trip to Navy Pier, and took a picture of the Bob Newhart statue, which features Bob sitting in a chair, and a sofa on the side, but unfortunately my phone had been acting weird all week and erased that picture! Last time I went to Navy Pier, it was a real whirlwind trip and I hardly got to see anything, but this time I walked around the whole area.
     Finally, later that night I went to do a comedy open mike at Northdown Cafe. Someone I met at Second City last year recommended it to me. One thing I learned about Chicago, they have a LOT of diagonal streets, so it's EASY to get confused, thinking the street your on is one street, but you're driving down ANOTHER street. The open mike was okay. Someone I met recently in MARYLAND happened to be, by coincidence, visiting Chicago and actually came out to see my comedy stuff. It would've been better if I wasn't already TIRED, because I nearly fell asleep during the host's set, and of course he pointed me out, and I hadn't done my set yet! I assured him it was because I had a LONG day, not because his material was boring. As for my own material, it got some laughs, and of course I joked that I never have fallen asleep during my set, and to see if that happens tonight! I left after my set, it was late enough. After all, I had 5 days of Improv Level 2 and more to see.