polished and clever productions of the season, a pair of devilishly inventive and challenging shows that won over critics and audiences." Stand-up comedy As a stand-up comic, billed as R. O'Donnell, he headlined numerous comedy clubs throughout the 1980s and 90s, including Zanies (where his headshot still hangs on the wall), the Chicago Improv, and Catch A Rising Star, and the Funny Firm were he was a regular headliner and also featured for such national comics as Brian Regan, Rick Overton and Bill Hicks. New Variety In the 1990s, O'Donnell co-executive produced and hosted the New Variety, which played, among other venues, at the 500-seat Chicago Improv Comedy Club. It ran for over two years, and was responsible for changing a faltering three-ring comedy presentation into a successful variety format. The New Variety, which was hailed by the Chicago Tribune as "a cabaret for the 90's," was a fast-paced, ever-changing volley of acts that included award-winning jugglers, fire-eaters, comics, and sketch comedy groups including the all-girl Nude Coffee, the all-gay The Boys in the Bathroom, and the all-improv Upright Citizens Brigade. Dr. Boom (who literally blew things up on stage) was the highlight of the evening. Fox TV comedy variety shows Twisted O'Donnell produced and directed comedy segments for the 1993 New Year's Eve special Twisted, which aired on Fox TV, Chicago featuring Matt Besser (Comedy Central's Upright Citizens Brigade). He also wrote and directed commercials for McDonald's, Toyota, Jiffy Lube, and Ameritech, starring Besser and stand-up comic Michelle Garb in a stylistic homage to the works of Ernie Kovacs. R. Rated In 1999, as R. O'Donnell, he executive produced, wrote, and hosted R. Rated, which aired late night on Fox TV in Chicago. This comedy variety show included short works by the Annoyance Theatre featuring Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live), Mick Napier (The Second City), Tim Kazurinsky (Saturday Night Live), and Stephnie Weir (MADtv), among many other independent film and video makers. Journalism and blogging Stop Smiling magazine O'Donnell has written for such national publications as Entertainment Weekly and Stop Smiling as well as having served under publisher J. C. Gabel as editor-at-Large for the latter. Static Multimedia E-zine He served as editor-at-large for cultural ezine Static Multimedia and wrote a daily column titled Kreep's Korner under his pen name The Kreep. For Halloween, October 31, 2008, O'Donnell's Kreep Blog on Static Multimedia was the cover story for the