Bobcat Goldthwait

Here’s one of the first things comedian and filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait learned when he moved to the western suburbs in 2020 after living in Los Angeles for 35 years: “I’m thin in the Midwest.” Or so he jokes at the beginning of his very funny new comedy album, Soldier for Christ, which he recorded in late 2022 at the Lincoln Lodge in Logan Square. You may know him for his role in the Police Academy movies, or for his (long-retired) screeching voice. But Goldthwait, who moved here with his girlfriend in part to be closer to her parents, has found new energy and material as part of Chicago’s standup scene, particularly at the Lincoln Lodge. “I love going there,” Goldthwait, 61, tells me. “Folks there aren’t there to see my act from the ’80s. And making young people laugh without pandering makes me really happy. It’d be pathetic if I were a 60-year-old guy trying to write Harry Styles jokes.”