‘THE TAM & KEVIN SHOW’ REFLECTS LIFE, WITH LAUGHTER

Husband and wife, Kevin Douglas and Tamberla Perry-Douglas, are the stars of “The Tam & Kevin Show,” a sketch comedy series they created. PHOTO PROVIDED BY TAMBERLA PERRY-DOUGLAS. ( Photo credit Jamie Blanks)
Husband and wife, Kevin Douglas and Tamberla Perry-Douglas, are the stars of “The Tam & Kevin Show,” a sketch comedy series they created. PHOTO PROVIDED BY TAMBERLA PERRY-DOUGLAS. ( Photo credit Jamie Blanks)

 ‘The Tam & Kevin Show’ reflects life, with laughter

Tamberla Perry and Kevin Douglas have been married for 11 years. Their house is full of laughter. Their whole life is like one big improvisational conversation. They decided to make a show about situations they found themselves in, and they created “The Tam & Kevin Show.”

Perry, a Chicago native who graduated from University of Rochester, decided she wanted to be an actor. She has plans to go to medical school. She was working a corporate job when she did an internet search about being an actor in Chicago.

Douglas, who lived a lot of his life in Texas, always knew he wanted to be an actor. He was doing theater in high school and did theater in junior college. He auditioned at DePaul University and got accepted. He started doing theater in Chicago after graduating from DePaul.

Kevin and Tamberla met at Second City, in the sketch groups. Kevin was in a sketch duo called kevINda, with a woman named Inda Craig-Galvan, and Tamberla was in a sketch group called Soul Fools. Kevin was one of the original members of Second City’s BrownCo.

The first iteration of “The Tam & Kevin Show” was a sketch comedy show, shot on a phone in less than a minute. The name of the show was “Tam & Kevin Under 60,” each show was 59 seconds or less.

“We decided we were funnier and we wanted to go longer with our sketches,” Tamberla said.

Second City didn’t get involved with the show until the pandemic. The show is executive produced by second City and features four episodes.

The first two seasons were 10-12 episodes. Kevin was offered a position at Second City, but they lived in Los Angeles, so he told them about the sketch comedy show they created. He sent the first episode and the person at Second City liked it.

Kevin and Tamberla did a lot of theater in Chicago before they moved to Los Angeles. They decided it was time to expand, broaden their horizons, and Kevin also is a screenwriter. Most of the writers’ rooms were in Los Angeles at the time.

“We love Chicago, we love Chicago theater, and know that it’s home, we can always go home,” Kevin said.

The show stays true to Tamberla and Kevin’s Chicago roots. Most of the actors on the shows are also from Chicago.

They want people to laugh and have a good time. The show is a husband and wife and their two kids. The goal is to provide some levity at a time when there is a lot going on. One of the topics they cover is Karens and how they were really having a moment during the pandemic. The goal is to bring a little bit of levity to some serious topics.

On June 7, there was a screening of the show. There are still people talking about it and Kevin and Tamberla could hear raucous laughter. People are sending them messages about how much they love the show and are pointing out their favorite parts.

“We think it’s smart humor,” Tamberla said.

To watch “The Tam & Kevin Show,” visit The Second City YouTube channel.

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