Headliner Rocky Laporte

ACADEMY AFTER HOURS is The Laughing Academy's grown-ups-only late-night performance series, bringing the best of Chicago comedy right to YOU on the first Friday of every month! Join us for a night of laughs with a rotating roster of some of the hottest up and coming comedians in the professional stand-up scene!

Headliner: ROCKY LAPORTE!

Rocky LaPorte’s appeal comes from his everyman, streetwise style of comedy. Delivering laughs in his trademark Brooklyn accent, he has become one of the most sought after comedians in the country, and he was a finalist on season 8 of NBC’s Last Comic Standing! . A former Chicago truck driver and dock worker, Rocky has accumulated a slew of performances throughout his career, including being a featured comic on Showtime‘s The Godfathers of Comedy, a special starring five of America’s most hilarious Italian-American comics. On the big screen, he has been seen in two Tim Allen movies – Crazy on the Outside and The Shaggy Dog.

Rocky traveled with Drew Carey to Iraq to entertain the troops and was seen on the Showtime special Patriot Act: A Jeffrey Ross Home Movie. Rocky has filmed his own Comedy Central Presents special and was voted the network’s second most popular comedian in a nationwide poll. He has performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and appeared on A&E‘s Evening At The Improv and VH1‘s Stand-Up Spotlight, along with sitcom appearances on Cheers and his own NBC pilot called the Rocky LaPorte Show.

Rocky has opened for the likes of Garry Shandling, Drew Carey, Tim Allen, Louie Anderson, Hootie and the Blowfish and the Righteous Brothers, just to name a few. His clean, blue-collar style of comedy continues to increase in popularity as he travels the country.

Featuring: John McCombs - John McCombs is a 13 year veteran of comedy and a 4 year veteran of the Marine Corps. His unique perspective intertwines the absurdity of an aggressive military background with realizing his shortcomings as a man who relies on Youtube to learn how to fix things. John has performed in 15 different countries over three European tours and has opened for Michelle Wolf (Netflix, Comedy Central) Tim Meadows (SNL) and is a regular at clubs in the Chicagoland area.

Hosted by: Chelsea Hood: Seen her on WGN, The CW Network, SXSW and the stages of The Comedy Store, Caroline's on Broadway, The House of Blues, The Improv, Zanie’s, UCB, and a long list of prestigious bar basements across this country. Once on the bed of a tractor trailer, in a field in Texas, in the middle of an ATV park. She’s been selected as a featured performer for festivals nationwide and opened for Christina P, Marc Maron, Sebastian Maniscalco and many more.

This is an adults-only BOYB event! So, ditch the kids and head over to The Laughing Academy to split a side, bust a gut, and get your giggles on for the weekend!