Wild Chicago

Wild Chicago was a television series that aired on Chicago's WTTW (a local PBS affiliate) from 1989 to 2003. The show took viewers on a trip through Chicago's "urban jungle", highlighting hundreds of offbeat and unusual people, places, and events in the metropolitan area. Subjects included the Chicago Herpetological Society; singing taxicab drivers; flotation tanks; an Ancient Astronaut society; the Inkin' Lincoln Tattoo and Piercing Jamboree; an interstate pierogi festival; a squirrel lovers' club; the Playboy Advisor; a cookie jar museum; and the Polka Music Hall of Fame.

Wild Chicago was created by Ben Hollis and John Davies. The series won numerous local Emmy Awards over the course of its run, as did several of the show's hosts.[1][2] Emmy Award winners for their individual work include Hollis, the show's original host, and his replacements upon taking an extended hiatus in 1992, Laura Meagher and Will Clinger.

After two years, Meagher left the show to work for Fox Television, the show continued with host Will Clinger and a number of "Wild Correspondents". They included local actors Mindy Bell, Cassy Harlo, Tava Smiley, Sarah Vetter, Denise La Grassa, Choky Lim, Aaron Shure, and Dick O'Day (portrayed by Richard Knight, Jr.—the show's only correspondent to appear in character). The new slate of correspondents continued to win individual Emmys as did the show itself.

As the program entered its second decade, Wild Chicago-style shows were produced making visits to out-of-town locales that included Tokyo, The Indy 500, The Kentucky Derby, Atlanta, Hong Kong, Branson, Las Vegas, and The Wisconsin Dells. Clinger hosted most of the "road trip" versions of the show. In 2001 Clinger also emceed the "12 on 11," Wild Chicago anniversary special (another Emmy winner).

After being off the air for over 2 years, Wild Chicago made a brief return in spring 2006 with a seven-part special called Wild Chicago's Illinois Road Trip. This final incarnation of the show was hosted Ben Hollis and feature ghost tours in Alton and a Beatles-themed bed and breakfast in Benton, among other Illinois oddities.

In 1990, a segment of the program entitled Dumb Questions features then-Northwestern University student Stephen Colbert and his friend Paul Dinello.[3]