Newspaper columnist Mike Royko was an iconic figure in the Chicago press, a neighborhood guy who authored the definitive book on Chicago Machine politics (“Boss“). The broad influence of his irreverent style is still evident today, in the work of pseudo-journalists like Jon Stewart and John Oliver, journalist-screenwriter David Simon, as well as comedian commentator Bill Maher.
Royko’s commentary columns in 3 Chicago newspapers over 29 years often portrayed fictionalized characters to illustrate a point. Conversely, he would also simply quote politicians and other public personalities, letting them illustrate their own incompetence, crookedness, or callousness by giving them the rope to hang themselves with. His wry and mocking commentary confronted hypocrisy, hubris, and ignorance.
“Royko: The Toughest Man in Chicago“, staged by Toughest Man Productions, showcases Royko’s satiric wit as well as his love affair with Chicago’s working class people. The script is drawn from the enormous catalog of Royko’s Pulitzer Prize winning daily columns, as well as his multiple books, including “Boss”, a masterpiece of investigative journalism.
This ambitious production, written and performed by Los Angeles native Mitchell Bisschop, pays tribute to Royko’s trenchant style with a pastiche of short monologues frequently letterboxed by video and audio recordings that provide context, amplifying elements of the script.
Bisschop’s characterization hews closely to Royko’s real-life persona, even though his physical resemblance is slight, but it’s not an impression or strict biographical play. It is an impressive tribute that both celebrates a great writer, and at the same time laments the loss of the newspaper era.
Royko, in addition to being a gifted satirist in the mode of Mark Twain (a comparison which the newspaperman humbly rejects within this script), was also an astute political analyst who understood big-city politics and foresaw many trends. He quit the Sun-Times when Rupert Murdoch bought it, decrying the monetization and politicization of news reporting which is now standard practice. He understood urban working-class voters intuitively, having grown up in several of Chicago’s ethnic neighborhoods, in an era when city politics was driven entirely by ethnic coalitions and a proportional distribution of the proceeds of graft. The ‘Royko’ script, perhaps for entertainment reasons, leans on his humor more than on his keen political knowledge.
This two-act, one-actor play includes audiovisual media projected on 5 screens behind the set. Those media segments are inventively deployed, evocative without being intrusive or gimmicky. Laughter makes the 2 hour running time pass quickly, with a brief intermission between acts. Bisschop’s performance is relaxed and conversational, like talking politics with some random guy in a bar, if that guy actually knew something.
Correspondingly, the set design (by Eric Luchen) utilizes this metaphor, by separating the stage into two scenic areas. This design juxtaposes a prototypical Chicago wobbly-stool bar at stage left (sometimes identified as the Billy Goat by the media projections) with Royko’s messy desk at his newspaper office, at stage right.
Early in the script, Royko intones that people go to the neighborhood bar “to find out what’s happening in the community” and they read the newspaper “to find out everything else”. The staging exemplifies those ideas, enhancing the topics discussed in the script. Bisschop occasionally speaks directly to the audience center-front, typically when discussing elements of Royko’s own life. The desk area is where electoral politics gets discussed, center stage is personal politics, and the bar is where community politics gets discussed.
The romantic part of Royko’s nature is strongly portrayed in a scene where Bisschop recites part of a column written on the sudden death of his first wife, Carol. That eulogy, along with an excerpt from one of his early love letters to Carol (which were published posthumously) are employed to reveal that Royko, the “tough guy” who grew up in a somewhat nefarious environment living above a classic Chicago tavern, is most powerful when he shows vulnerability, empathy, and tenderness. In that respect, the title of the production can be seen as ironic in the same manner as much of its subject’s work.
This staging also includes one hilarious media sequence that uses actual quotes from former Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley, with Bisschop wordlessly reacting in character to them. With a massive image of Boss Daley that mimics those of Soviet iconography projected behind “little guy” Royko , it is visually clear they are archenemies like Batman and The Joker – but the ridiculous quotes make you wonder if it’s instead two different versions of The Joker, since Royko’s laughter and satire are the only reasonable response to the thuggish buffoonery of the Chicago Machine.
“Royko” demonstrates that its subject’s cynical, mocking persona is the OG of that journalistic archetype. It was later cloned by Chicago TV journalist Walter Jacobson, and numerous Chicago sportswriters such as Jay Mariotti.
The influence on comedian activists such as Stewart is also clearly presaged in sequences drawing from Royko’s famous diatribe against Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza, and a similar column decrying putting ketchup on hot dogs. These mix the sublime with the mundane, and exemplify his ‘barstool humor’. Another sequence decrying the Veterans Administration’s treatment of a severely wounded vet calls to mind Stewart’s similar testimony to Congress on behalf of first responders. Both lobbying efforts resulted in provision of government assistance that had long been denied.
The Chopin Theater, where this world premiere is staged, is a cozy home for such tribute. It is located in a neighborhood that was once one of the ethnic enclaves that Royko both celebrated and satirized, and even has a small lounge with a bar that he would have enjoyed.
This play casts Royko in a heroic light, as a warrior for journalistic integrity and a plain spoken satirist (he is quoted saying “I never used a thesarus”). It also credits him for being an early advocate for civil rights and racial justice in a very segregated city.
The script includes a recitation from his damning column after the assassination of Martin Luther King, in which he held up a mirror to haughty northerners who thought racism was only the province of the southern states, elucidating his fervent support of racial justice.
It’s therefore surprising that the play seems to skip over the fact that Royko was among the few Chicago political analysts who believed that Harold Washington could be elected mayor after winning the Democratic primary of 1983. (Royko correctly inferred that there were enough lifelong Democrats in Chicago who would rather vote for a black man they had not supported in the primary than vote for a Republican).
One can quibble with the vignettes selected for the script, but obviously Bisschop, a Los Angeles native, conducted a gargantuan research project, for which Royko’s family provided invaluable assistance, since he had no first-hand experience of his subject’s life. This is an entertaining two hours with a fascinating subject, and a vibrant portrayal of Royko’s legacy.
Royko’s era valued context, and its citizens were willing to pay money for investigative journalism, analysis, and a depth of daily reporting on the mundane elements of government. That engaged the average person to demand more of their government.
The politically divisive, narrowcasting news era initiated by Murdoch has few equivalent eye-pokers with such mass reach as Royko had, and our politics is worse for it. Bisschop has performed a great service. He reminds us how powerful laughter is in political discourse, and how true journalists with integrity are an indisposable asset to a functioning democracy.
Special panel discussions after several performances at the Chopin Theater will add context for the audience, and are included in the price of admission. An exhibit at Newberry Library also coincides with the run of the play.
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Royko: The Toughest Man in Chicago, written and performed by Mitchell Bisschop, directed by Steve Scott
Running:
September 5th to 29th, 2024-Thursday through Saturday, 7:30 p.m., Sundays, 3:30 p.m.
Location: The Chopin Theater, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago, IL
Tickets: https://royko.brownpapertickets.com
Scenic Design: Eric Luchen
Projection Design: Smooch Medina
Related:
POST-SHOW PANEL DISCUSSIONS:
Location: The Chopin Theater
1543 W. Division St
Chicago, IL
Thursday, September 12:
“Royko on Satire” with Justin Kaufman, (Axios Chicago & Schadenfrude Sketch Comedy), and others TBD
Sunday, September 15: “Royko As A Journalist – Writing in the Gray” with:
- Tim Franklin (Senior Associate Dean, Professor and John H. Mutz Chair in Local News, Medill School of Journalism)
- Jim Warren (Executive Editor of NewsGuard)
- Carol Marin (Faculty Fellow, Center for Journalism Integrity and Excellence DePaul University)
Thursday, September 26:
“Celebration of Royko’s Leg Creatures” with:
- Henriette Gratteau
- Ellen Warren
- John Fennell
- Paul Sullivan
ART EXHIBITION:
Exhibition on View until September 28, 2024
Location: The Newberry Library 60 W. Walton, Chicago, IL 60610
“Chicago Style Mike Royko and Windy City Journalism”
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