CHICAGO — There have been many — hundreds, thousands — of people who have worked for the Chicago Tribune in my long time here. Some remain but the majority have departed ... gone on to play golf, write books, learn a foreign language and have other varied experiences. Only one has been named America’s funniest reporter.
That man is Carl Kozlowski and the recognition came from a national competition at the Laugh Factory comedy clubs in New York City and Los Angeles in 2006. “There were only six contestants and they were atrocious,” Kozlowski told me. “There was a pretty good woman who won at the New York club but in the finals I was able to pull it out.”
Being named America’s funniest reporter does not get you a TV series, but Kozlowski has fashioned a very interesting comedic career and it was born here during the 1990s. He enrolled in classes at Second City but found that he had no gift for their improvisational work. He was close to quitting when a new friend said, “Try stand-up.”
