—I’m Dying Up Here: Actors/comedians Stephen Guarino (The Big Gay Sketch Show) and Judy Gold are part of the cool ensemble in this Showtime dramedy that’s set in a 1970s comedy club. Oscar winner Melissa Leo plays the club’s owner, Goldie. However, be warned: Some of the jokes here are really edgy and blue.
—Fabio’s 30-Minute Italian: No, it’s not the lion-maned romance-book cover model, but chef Fabio Viviani, the former Top Chef contestant who owns Chicago restaurant Siena Tavern. The cookbook tantalizingly covers starters, salads/sides, soups, pasta, pasta, entrees and desserts—and if fixing the fennel-crusted salmon with creamy polenta doesn’t put you back in your significant other’s good graces, nothing will.
—Seven Lions’ Gauguin specials: In conjunction with the Art Institute’s “Paul Gauguin Artist as Alchemist” exhibit, Alpana Singh restaurant Seven Lions (located across the street from the museum) has launched Gauguin- and Polynesian-related items such as the Noa Noa Cocktail (with Tahitian vanilla vodka and ginger liqueur) and the Gauguin Cheeseburger—a tower of beef, pork belly, pineapple, country pate, Polynesian cole slaw and crispy plantains.
—The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell: This book is subtitled “Tales of 6’4”, African American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmatic Black and Proud Blerd, Mama’s Boy, Dad, and Stand-Up Comedian”—but that doesn’t begin to touch upon the adventures and musings of this Chicagoan-turned Angeleno.
—By Andrew Davis
(Andrew@WindyCityTimes.com and @azygous60610)