When I first heard about the newish comedy series CHAD Chats, I didn't get it. It sounded weird and vaguely interesting, but I totally missed that it was a takeoff on the hugely popular and totally parody-able TED Talks.

So, yeah. CHAD Chats is a takeoff on the hugely popular and totally parody-able TED Talks.

Orchestrated by Mykle Hansen and the omnipresent Whitney Streed, CHAD stands for The Center for Humorism and Amusement Dynamics, "a not-yet-profitable organization committed to the expansion of global unconsciousness."

Knowing that it's a send-up of TED helps give the weirdness a little bit of a frame to try to understand it. Oh, it's still super weird—but it's a knowable weird. If you're looking for straight-up stand-up comedy or comedic sketches, CHAD won't be your thing. But if you're not married to receiving your comedy in a prescribed format, give it a try. It's actually pretty exciting that our local comedians and performers continue to innovate, finding new ways to entertain audiences who are willing to give them a shot. Sure, it might be a little inconsistent. But hell, so are the damn TED Talks.

In this month's show, "Safety Third," the CHAD presenters will cover life skills, religion, child slavery, death, and medicine. There will also be a guest appearance by none other than famed cosmologist Carl Sagan. Performers include Lance Banks, Stephanie Purtle, Philip Schallberger, Mark Russel, Mykle Hansen, and Christian Ricketts, hosted by Whitney Streed.

The show is tonight at 8:30 (doors at 8), in the Jack London Bar in the nice, cool basement of the Rialto.