More background on performers at the d.w. eye Reunion Show!
Way back in 1980, Chili Challis came on the scene at d.w. eye and raised the stakes for every comic in the building. There was no more skating by if you were a local seat-of-your-pants, up-and-comer (like I was). Chili – along with John Riggi, Will Durst, and others – were highly talented guys that had solid acts – and their presence gave the eye a legitimacy it didn’t quite have for the first few months. After they arrived, the eye was a club to be reckoned with. And the rest of us had better pay attention, if we wanted to keep up.
Chili went on to write for the Tonight Show, and start his own Comedy Dojo that now trains young comics across the country.
His son, Thaddeus Nathaniel Challis, carries on his dad’s legacy performing constantly across the country. (And frequently opening for his father.) And Thaddeus did, in fact, make an appearance on the d.w. eye stage – back when he was six years old – making him, likely, the youngest eye alumnus!
Both Chili and Thaddeus will be appearing in the d.w. eye Reunion Show Friday June 23 at the 20th Century Theater in Cincinnati.