The Lucha Cantina First Friday Comedy Night

Friday, February 2nd, 2024

$10 Cover

Show starts at 7:30pm

Make sure to Call the Lucha Cantina (815-977-4319) during Business Hours or E-mail Josh (joshua@lucharockford.com) to get a Reservation of a Table. The Show Cover will be added to your Table Check for the Night.

Comics for the Night:

Host: Chris Bongat

Features: Erica Switzer & Sonal Aggarwal

Headliner: Vikram Balaji

Comedian Bio's for the Night:

Host Chris Bongat is a Filipino comedian/musician based around the Chicagoland area. He lives in the absurd and observational and has been featuring and hosting in bars and clubs for over 5 years. His laid back but sharp humor makes him versatile in any environment. When he's not on stage you can catch him writing and composing for comedy short films. Follow him on Tiktok @Chrisbangthat and on Instagram @Chrisbot5000.

Feature Erica Switzer, as showcased on Roast Battle Chicago, Las Locas Comedy, and Hot 5, Erica is "your bougie jet-setting auntie who twerks to NPR." Co-founder of Shanghai’s Blackout Comedy and the founder of Hei Now Comedy, Erica became the first Black comedian (and future Gen-A Jeopardy answer) to perform in Mongolia at the 2019 Silk Road International Comedy Festival. Erica's talent has graced stages alongside renowned comedians such as The Comedy Cellar's Simeon Goodson, Laugh Factory's Mateen Stewart, and America's Got Talent's Justin Rivera. Notably, she secured victory as the 2020 Flappers Comedy Club Soup-or-Bowl winner. Her festival credits include the World Series of Comedy, Laugh Riot Grrrl Festival, and the Burbank Comedy Festival's Best of Fest. Other festival appearances include Chicago's World Comedy Expo ('22) and NYC’s Black Women in Comedy Laff Fest ('22 & '23), producing "Erica Switzer & Friends" at the latter in 2023.

Feature Sonal Aggarwal is a former international street performer turned emcee. Sonal has brought her talents to Chicago as an actor, comedian, producer and movement artist. Her one woman show The Alchemy of Bliss played for a sold-out weekend at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater and you can see her on Netflix’s Easy as well as the short A Period Piece which debuted at SXSW 2020.

Headliner Vikram Balaji is an international touring comedian that has been featured in 2019 World Series of Comedy festival, Chatanooga Lookout Comedy Festival and Magner's International Comedy Festival at Philippines. He won the 2nd place in the 2019 World Series Comedy Festival at Zanies satellite. He brings a comedic style which involves finding humor in painful experiences but still very relatable to all kinds of audiences. He is based out of Chicago and regular in all local Chicago comedy clubs like Zanies, Laugh Factory and Comedy Bar. He recently featured in Comedians You Should Know show in Chicago and has performed in six foreign countries.