Photo by Vika Mokhova
The best talk show in town is not broadcast. It’s not even recorded. Every other Monday, Derek Bish transforms the cozy back room of Lincoln Square bar the Getaway into the set of Welcome to the Show, where he hosts talented Chicagoans in all kinds of disciplines. Musicians and comedians are heavily featured, sure, but photographers, crafters, and even taxidermists have sat for chats about their work. Come for Andrew Sa’s country crooning of Chris Isaak covers or Chris Robbin’s neosoul raps, stay for Jackie Smook’s musical puppet comedy. (Disclosure: I was a guest on the show last year and DJed for a show this February.) During intermission, the audience might pass around samples from a local winery, examples of taxidermied wildlife, or even homemade cookies from Bish’s wife and kids.
By day, Bish bartends at the Warbler across the street, and he conceived of the show as a vehicle to combine his background in comedy and music and his ability to share in other people’s passions, which he’s honed with nearly two decades in the hospitality industry. “It’s simply a Chicago-centric old-school talk show that amplifies Chicago voices past and present,” Bish says via email. “Keeping the show free to the public allows the audience to spend their money at a small business where the show is held or to buy some of the artist’s work featured on that night’s show.”
Bish has no desire to put the show out as a podcast, though he may begin releasing filmed segments online later this year. By centering the spontaneity of each night’s program and the intimacy of a crowded room, Welcome to the Show works as an antidote to on-demand short-form algorithmic brain rot. It’s a reminder of all the talent that calls Chicago home.
Originally published on Chicago Reader.