By: Carlos Acevedo

For those who seek laughs on Valentine’s Day weekend, on Sunday February 12th, Mikey O has brought a great line up of comedians for two shows that will take place at Joe’s Bar in Chicago. The opening show will begin at 6pm and a second show will start at 8:30 p.m. Please be aware that both shows are sold out. If you plan to entertain your significant other with a night of great laughs and are among the lucky ones who already purchased tickets, here’s a little bit about the comedians you will see.

Patti Vasquez
Patti Vasquez is a Chicago native who identifies herself as Latina who is Mexican and Irish. Throughout her life she has lived in Wrigleyville, Norwood Park and now lives in Jefferson Park.

After completing her undergraduate degree, Vasquez started working on a Phd in History at Northwestern University. Unsatisfied with the cutthroat environment of academia, she kept looking something else. Vasquez recalls the day she saw a comedian with a similar background as her and that further peaked her interest in comedy. She stared doing open mics and eventually dropped out of Northwestern University to pursue her interest in comedy. Vazquez said she didn’t let her studies get in the way of her comedy.

When asked what the audience can expect to at the Valentine’s Day comedy show, Vasquez said, “I’ll talk about relationships. I’ll talk about experiences before I got married and how much you change into a relationship, family and kids. My husband is at ‘stay at home dad’, which is what we say now instead of unemployed, it’s just less sad and I’ll talk about how we try to keep the romance going.”

Vasquez’ family that includes, Griffin who is 8 yrs., Declan who is 6 yrs. and her husband Steve. In her comedy, Vasquez usually talks about family, relationships, awkward topics and is not afraid to talk about her experiences she encounters when she is out with her family.

Vasquez openly states that she has a son who is autistic and said that she is amazed at the things that people say to her in public.

“I saw this woman staring and she came up to me and said, ‘does your son talk?…He should really be talking by now. You should have him evaluated for that’. I love the fact that she thought I was wondering around for the last few years thinking that my son just had nothing to say. I then explained to her that my son has speech and physical therapy and that he’s doing very well. I also told her, ‘and just so you know, just because you can talk, doesn’t mean you should’. I’m not saying its wrong to ask, but ask nicely. Nobody deserves that. We all deserve respect,” said Vasquez.

Vasquez said that she always does her best to makes sure that the audience has a great time.

“It is very important because I never want an audience to regret their choice when going to live comedy,” said Vasquez. “I wish everybody joy, peace and happiness.”

Frank Lucero
Frank Lucero is a comedian from Colusa, California who is known for his mariachi routine. He has appeared on the Latin Kings of Comedy tour, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Who’s Got Jokes, Latino Laugh Festival, Latino 101 and Steven Michael Quesada’s After After Party. Lucero has also traveled overseas to entertain members of U.S. armed forces.

To prepare for comedy shows, Lucero said he tweaks and tailors his material depending on the location.
“I likes to bring the audience into my world and explain it. Comedy is instant gratification or failure and you’ll know how you’re doing in the first five minutes that you’re on stage. You can feel it, so its important to know your audience,” said Lucero.

When asked how he got into comedy, Lucero said, “We have a big family and when we would get together, I was always the guy who was putting on a show or would lip sync to a Vicente Fernandez song but I never really thought about doing comedy. It was during college that I got into comedy,” said Lucero.

Although he has done a lot of shows, Lucero said his career is barely starting.

“I would like to work on sitcoms and movies. I haven’t even gotten to that point but that is where I would like to be. I want to make it to where my name is the only one on the marquee,” said Lucero.

Elizardi Castro
Elizardi Castro is a comedian who was born in Puerto Rico and raised in New York. He has participated in over 100 sold out performances across the country.

Castro has Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, a Masters Degree in Communications, is a former prosecutor, who later went on to manage his own law firm. Only after accomplishing the previously mentioned did Castro pursue his career in comedy.

On February 12th, Castro said he will be doing his first all in Spanish comedy set. His shows have been described as “funny, touching and infused with a true sense of self”.

Castro said his material usually talks about his upbringing, family and how that shaped the choices that he’s made.

“My goal is that someone in the audience can relate to my experiences by saying ‘oh, that’s me and that’s what I’m facing.’ Hopefully they can learn from my experience and do something differently or do it the same,” said Castro.