Finally somebody found a use for all those Celebrity Autobiography Books , Barnes & Noble leave @ the backdoor of all those Chicago Dollar Stores, A couple years ago in L.A. @ the Comedy Store
I saw the Celebrity Autobiography Show in its infancy, its a comedy version of "Love Letters" But in this version, instead of Hollywood & Stage actors reading something meaningful & thought provoking.
Comic Actors we know from TV read out of self absorb Hollywood stars & music icons autobiography's. And without changing a word  get laughs by just thier vocal inflections and twist of a phrase.

                When Eugene Pack, creator of the popular stage show "Celebrity Autobiography," reads from Tiger Woods' 2001 book How I Play Golf, the philandering linksman's musings are hilariously rife with carnal and psychological subtext. "I Love holding my shaft behind my balls holding it firm, but soft & gently" "I love golf," Pack-as-Woods declares in one version posted online. "It is pure, honest and immune to sweet talk. You must court it slowly and patiently. Golf is a great mirror, often revealing things about you that you didn't even know." And this: "I don't need a lot of hand action, so I hold the club as I would my putter, my left hand in a weak position and both thumbs down the top of the shaft."
(snicker.) He said "shaft."

Aside from his knowing pauses and subtle facial expressions, Pack recites the passages straight and lets Woods' words speak -- unintended volumes -- for themselves. That tack is a secret to his show's success.

Of course, there's also the slew of rotating and often highly recognizable cast members (past participants have included Fred Willard, Richard Kind, Rita Wilson and Rachel Dratch) who agree to be featured readers for nominal compensation and almost guaranteed audience adulation.

                                 Following L.A. stagings that began nearly 10 years ago, a small-screen adaptation on Bravo (in 2005) and more than two successful years in New York, "Celebrity Autobiography"     (developed with Dayle Reyfel) has its Chicago debut Friday and Saturday at the Royal George Theatre on Halsted across the street from Stepenwolf  Theatre, the Pipers Alley Neighborhood

Among those scheduled to appear are "Sex and the City's" Mario Cantone, 80's former "Saturday Night Live" player Tim Kazurinsky, "30 Rock" standout Scott Adsit and, on Saturday only, comedy writer-director,actor,  Harold Ramis(Ghostbusters,Stripes) The latter three are alumni of another theater located just down the street, Second City.

"Nobody gets paid for this, really," says Tony Award winner and former "SCTV" favorite Andrea Martin, whose renderings of Touch Me: The Poems of Suzanne Somers have split many sides. "Honestly, it's just to hang out and have fun."

Besides her Somers verse, Martin has done portions of Elaine Blake Hall's Burt And Me: My Days and Nights With Burt Reynolds in a trio jam session that combines the literary masterpieces of Reynolds, his ex-wife Loni Anderson and his onetime secretary Hall.

"It didn't take much convincing," Ramis says of his almost immediate willingness to join the venture. He's slated to read The Dirt, by raucous rockers Motley Crue (a section from drummer Tommy Lee, in particular), and channel pop sensation Justin Timberlake during an ensemble version of 'N SYNC -- The Official Book. Both selections, he suspects, play on cognitive dissonance (he looks and sounds nothing like Lee or Timberlake) for comedic effect.

"When I heard the concept, I thought, 'Oh, yeah,' " Ramis says. "I think I'd read a review of [former tennis star] Tracy Austin's biography, and it's very funny in an obviously unintentional way. And I've always thought about this: If I was going to write a book about myself, [among] any of the things that stop me would be people like me sitting around and going, 'Can you believe this s---? This is what he thinks about himself? This is how he perceived these events?' "

Pack, an Emmy-nominated television writer, notes that much of the (largely inadvertent) humor lies in what details authors reveal and how they choose to reveal them. As an example, he cites Zsa Zsa Gabor's memoir, One Lifetime is Not Enough, wherein she recounts hardships from a short stint in the clink. The Hungarian actress was, for instance, forced to use a blunt eyeliner pencil. "That's how bad it got," Pack says flatly. "And she had to wash herself with Evian water. ... You don't need to do that much with that material. The idea of getting up there with a book and saying, "Hello, I'm going to be reading from Mr. T.: The Man With the Gold, by Mr. T. [a duty that falls to Kazurinsky this time around] -- I mean, that just gets a laugh. Already it's fun."

Martin says the collegial atmosphere is swell, too.

"It harkens back to the days when we were all starting out. We're all in one dressing room together, and nobody's pulling any hierarchy."

And from an artistic standpoint, as Adsit attests, "It's easy."

• "They really have a great time doing it, and it doesn't require that much rehearsal," says Pack, who claims that no authors have sent cease-and-desist letters crying copyright infringement. "We definitely go over the material with everyone, but there's no pressure. You don't have to sing, you don't have to come up with your own material, you don't have to memorize anything and everyone knows each other. In New York when we do it, people get to work with each other that normally don't get to work with each other, or they're working with friends. It's really comfortable. And honestly, the audiences go so crazy. They love it and it's so enjoyable that you want to do it. It's just such a fun night to be a part of."

For Adsit, at least, the "Celebrity Autobiography" experience has been educational as well. Having merrily mocked the life stories of so many others, he'll never pen his own self-centered saga.

"If you're in a bad movie or something and they say, 'Boy, he was terrible in that,' you can always say, 'Well, it was the editing.' Or, 'Well, the director didn't connect.' But if you put out an autobiography, you're your own worst enemy."      

                                                                  Hey See It This Weekend!
'CELEBRITY AUTOBIOGRAPHY'

• 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday

• Royal George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted

• $32.50-$39.50

• (312) 988-9000