The Laughing Chameleon Shows True Colors with Humor at The Glen

Joey Van sized up his audience, and knew immediately, unlike the previous night's performance, tonight, he could use his “A” material.

“Last night the house was half full, and it was a 21 to 35 crowd,” the veteran entertainer said of the show at the new Laughing Chameleon club in The Glen Town Center.

“I don’t think they knew who George Burns was. They had no clue who Johnny Mathis was. I have a bunch of actors audition for role of Harold Hill in ‘The Music Man.’ But the audience didn’t know who the actors or Harold Hill was, and most hadn’t seen ‘Music Man.’” 

And, apparently, they barely had a recognition of old-time radio. But on this Friday night, the storm having passed, almost every table and the bar in the “Chameleon” was filled with almost exclusively the 35-and-over crowd. Van, the well-traveled trouper who appeared on “The Joey Bishop Show” and “The Merv Griffin Show” nearly two generations ago, was able to meld performer and audience as one with his celebrity impressions and satire of songs.

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Van’s facial contortions that were trademarks of the celebs carried the night, even above their mimicked voices. And he ensured that club-goers would be part of the act when he ventured into the audience, mike in hand, asking for vintage radio sound effects. Hilarious misfires ensued. When he asked one woman to mimic an antelope, puzzled silence shot back. How do you do an impression of that animal? But that’s why Van held his audience even through a corny joke or two like: “Mick Jagger? His lips are so long he could give Skokie a hickey from here.”

One hour and 15 minutes later, after the last laugh was emoted, Van was a hit and Glenview resident and club owner David Maas, who watched over the entire show from the background like a nervous father, likely figured his enterprise had taken another step forward.

“You have to have patience, if it’s a work in progress as this is,” Van said from his world-wise experience. “Word of mouth is very important.”

Club could corner comedy-variety market

It’s likely many members of his audience put out that word in the days after Van’s show, and Maas likely will host other curious club-goers in weeks to come. Already a hit in show-biz with the “quick change” fashion-magic act he conducts with wife Dania, Maas co-founded The Laughing Chameleon to serve an under-developed market: an entertainment-hungry North Shore that lacks a local comedy-variety club and wants an alternative to driving to downtown Chicago or other far reaches of the metropolitan area.

“We opened that with that exactly in mind (geography),” Maas said. "We did a lot of research. There’s nothing around, we thought we’d be very, very popular to see something in your own backyard and not have to drive all the way downtown. The first week we opened (New Year’s weekend), three out of 10 people said, 'Wow, we can see this right here and not have to drive downtown.’ My mindset was not so far off.”

But Maas also desired to not be typecast as a pure comedy club a la Zanies, which always operated multiple outlets throughout the Chicago area. He likes the word “variety” in branding The Laughing Chameleon, named after the animal that quickly changes colors, like his own David and Dania act.

Van could easily incorporate the audience due to the tight quarters. The club has just 12 tables in addition to bar seats.

“We want a large variety of entertainment in a very intimate setting,” Maas said. “We wanted to start small. I thought to myself if I could figure out the business side, I could draw. We wanted to keep everything within reason. Every week is a different entertainer. Every Monday night is a comedy showcase, like an open mike. It has a small cover charge ($5), six to eight entertainers with a headliner.”

Opening delayed 2 months

Maas originally desired to open around Halloween, when he figured club-goers would be really in the entertainment mood with costumes ablaze in the holiday spirit. But the vetting process of a new entertainment venue pushed back the door-opening two months.

“The building aspect was the tricky part,” he said.  “Dealing with Glenview is not easy at all, especially in the Glen Town Center. They’re very, very strict with every aspect of each and every thing you do. Strict with your liquor licensing, getting insurance in place, even for a small place.

“The timing we opened with was not what we wanted. Everyone’s done spending money after holidays in first week of January. Things drop off dramatically. But we did a pretty good job putting people in the seats. Only time and experience will tell us how well we can do. We’ve already had calls from and Allstate looking to book parties.”

Van, who played long-gone Chicago-area clubs like Contessa Del Mar and Blue Max, met Maas while working cruise ships together. He believes small is better for the club.

“It’s so intimate, people are right on top of you.”

Or as he said upon opening his act — right after a truncated version of signing a “Wonderful Day" — “This is like a living room of sorts … put your slippers on.”

Maas is crossing his fingers his “Laughing Chameleon” will fit just as comfortably in Glenview and beyond.