In between acts at his comedy variety show, Caleb Says Things with Friends, Caleb Hearon takes a seat. “Y’know, this is my show. I could just sit here and talk about me for the next hour,” he says. “I won’t though . . . unless?” He takes a pause, raising his eyebrows and theatrically looking around the room, as if hoping someone will let him do it. “Haha, yeah, that’d be crazy,” he continues, “. . . right?” Pausing again, Caleb covers the microphone with his hand, scanning the crowd, waiting for a cheer. “If anyone shouted anything at all, I’d keep going,” he laughs.

Well a lot of people don’t consider Missouri the south. I would consider myself midwestern. My favorite TV show growing up was Roseanne, and I stand by that. I don’t stand by Roseanne herself, she’s lost it. That show growing up was so cool and important to me, they just had queer people in the middle of nowhere, and they were picked on a little bit, but only in a loving way. They were accepted, there were multiple queer characters, and it was the only thing I saw in TV or movies that looked like the life we were living besides Erin Brockovich, and even that was just one movie, and that’s really more a story about how corporations kill people.

People are asking me a lot right now, “Where do you see yourself in five years” or “What do you want, what’s your dream?” And I feel like I’m supposed to say SNL, or supposed to say a sitcom in my name, or a feature film about this one pivotal experience that I had. But I don’t know, I want to make things with people I like. Long term, I’d love to have enough of whatever I need to help people I believe in make their stuff. Money, resources, name recognition, whatever it takes for me to say, “Here are the people I love in Chicago and they want to make this thing.”

There’s a story you told about dating at your show Caleb Says Things with Friends that I loved so much.

I have no plans to convert, but I do believe that

Hosted by Caleb Hearon and Holmes Holmes. Wed 3/11, 9 PM, the Lincoln Lodge, 2040 N. Milwaukee, thelincolnlodge.com, $8.