The legendary comics hailing from Chicago's Second City have proved that, in many cases, pure comedy can't be scripted. Since 1959, Second City has showcased improvisational comedy, sketches and songs that range from slapstick to socially pertinent satire, performed by a peerless list of alumni that includes high-wattage names such as John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Mike Myers, John Candy, Chris Farley, Gilda Radner, Martin Short and Shelley Long. (Current Saturday Night Live head writer/performer Tina Fey, as well as cast members Rachel Dratch and Horatio Sanz, are also Second City alums). This Friday, the laughs come to town as THE SECOND CITY NATIONAL TOURING COMPANY performs two shows at Harrah's New Orleans Casino's Mansion Ballroom (512 S. Peters St.). The traveling Second City troupe has just returned stateside from USO shows in Greece and Italy (appearances in Iraq were canceled due to the violence there), and the group is currently performing a show dubbed "The Best of Second City," which in many parts rehashes the highlights from its storied 44-year history, but with original and timely segments added in to honor the group's tradition of cultural and political jabs (the targets this time around aren't too hard to figure out). "We call our performers 'actors,' not 'comedians,'" explains Second City senior associate producer Beth Kligerman by phone from Chicago. "Not only do they have to be fantastic in creating the laughs, but they also have to be actors in the truest sense of the word. They're an incredibly intelligent group with diverse talents because to succeed in this format, you need to be abreast of current events, have a keen knowledge of history, be able to sing, play instruments and dance, if needed." Second City has presented a touring ensemble for the past 35 years, and though Kligerman admits the perception of it being "the farm team to the major leagues" exists, it doesn't apply here, as all members write and perform their own material -- which helps the group accomplish its ultimate goal. "We try to take our audiences to a number of different places," Kligerman says. "Obviously we're there to make you laugh, and we want everyone to have a pleasant evening, but there is a political bent to what we do. We want people to use the comedy to reflect on the times we live in." Friday night's shows are at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Tickets are $15 and available through Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com or 522-5555. -- Frank Etheridge

Cheap Trick, plus Wayne Kramer, the Damnwells 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11 House of Blues, 225 Decatur St., 529-2624 I would put Wayne Kramer up against any guitarist alive. He has a sound that hits you like a buzzsaw mounted on a freight train. He can play rock, blues, jazz, funk and free and can combine them all onstage. His songs are politically aware and true on a real, day-to-day level. He has less BS around his music than 99 percent of artists recording today, just as he has since singer Rob Tyner intoned "Brother Wayne Kramer. Brother Wayne Kramer," before being swallowed up by the feedback wave of Kramer's guitar on the MC5's masterpiece "Kick Out the Jams." Yeah, that Wayne Kramer. He's alive and working the trenches of rock 'n' roll and still playing his butt off. Kramer, and the Damnwells, open up for legendary pop-rockers Cheap Trick. Tickets $25 -- David Kunian

The Jayhawks 9 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12 Tipitina's, 501 Napoleon Ave., 895-TIPS Alt-country stalwarts the Jayhawks folk up Tipitina's on Wednesday. The Jayhawks helped lay the foundation for the alt-country trend that fueled roots music's crossover to mainstream success. Many alt-country fans were upset with the Minneapolis band's own attempt at pop crossover with the 2000 album, Smile. Of course, the Jayhawks never reached Wilco status (frequent personnel changes may have kept the band from gaining enough momentum to make that jump). But longtime fans should be happy with the direction the band has taken lately. The Jayhawks are currently touring to support their latest album, Rainy Day Music, which marks an unmistakable return to their rootsier beginnings. Overseen by the ubiquitous and usually visionary Rick Rubin, the album isn't original and doesn't do much to reinvent the jangly folk-rock that appeared in the late 1960s and early '70s, but it's an honest effort. The Sadies open. Tickets $18. -- Cristina Diettinger

Dick Dale 10 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 13 The Howlin' Wolf, 828 S. Peters., 522-WOLF In the1950s, a young Dick Dale combined ultra-percussive guitar pluck with the exotic scales of Eastern European folk music and created the soundtrack to his favorite pastime -- surfing. Dubbed the King of the Surf Guitar ever since, he's blown away just about every audience he's stood in front of with his instrument. Dale is a master of his own signature breakneck staccato style, exemplified in his recording of "Miserlou," now best known as the theme song from Pulp Fiction. A godfather to speed metal guitarists who emerged three decades after him, Dale is the reason Fender made amps and speakers loud enough for heavy metal. (Legend has it Dale blew up 50 amps before Leo Fender got the message.) Dale is still a showboat of a performer with plenty of fire in his belly -- an act that self-proclaimed rockers ought not miss. Opening act TBA. Tickets $12. -- Diettinger

Titus Andronicus 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Nov. 14-15; through Nov. 21 Contemporary Arts Center, 900 Camp St., 528-3800 Justin Scalise and Ryan Reinike get kabuki on Shakespeare in Dog and Pony Theatre's presentation of Titus Andronicus starting Friday at the CAC. Director John Grimsley's Dog & Pony Theatre Company has repeatedly made excellent use of City Park green space to stage the works of William Shakespeare. Now, as part of the group's residency at the Contemporary Arts Center, Shakespeare's drama Titus Andronicus marks the first time the Dog & Pony has staged one of the Bard's works indoors. A departure from the usual Shakespearean fare, Titus Andronicus is recognized as the playwright's bloodiest drama, filled with cannibalism and carnage that perhaps explains why it is rarely staged in contemporary theater. Yet, in Elizabethan London, the play attracted huge crowds. This production moves settings from Rome to Japan, but themes of revenge, betrayal and violence remain. Grimsley directs and stars in the title role. Tickets $10 advance, $12 at door, $2 discount for CAC members. -- Etheridge

James Blood Ulmer's Harmolodic Express Funk Trio 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15 Tipitina's, 501 Napoleon Ave., 895-TIPS After years of defining the place where funk and downtown jazz meet, guitarist James Blood Ulmer has moved to the blues. His last two records feature great workouts on standards such as "Spoonful" and "Bright Lights, Big City" as well as a loose version of Earl King's "Come On." At this gig, the third in the Mystic Knights of the Mau Mau "Congo Mambo" series, Ulmer do a set of acoustic blues and then another of jazz/funk. He'll play with Jamaladeen Tacuma on bass and G. Calvin Weston on drums. When this band played here during Jazz Fest, its scorching set was one of the best of the year. Blood himself said this gig "is gonna take it way out and mess up people's heads." Before his gig at Mid City Lanes, Ulmer will participate in Tipitina's Master's Seminar Series, presenting a master class Saturday afternoon. Music students are encouraged to bring their instruments. Tickets $5 general admission for master class (free for students), $10 for Mid City Lanes performances. -- Kunian

COPS 8 fundraiser 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15 Harrah's New Orleans Casino, Mansion Ballroom, 512 S. Peters St., 523-2332 Recognizing the unique needs (and stresses) of policing the French Quarter, CBD and Faubourg Marigny, citizens and business owners in the area founded the Citizens' Organization for Police Support in the Eighth District (COPS 8) last year. A nonprofit group, COPS 8 has since provided officers with new uniforms and a horse for the Mounted Division and served meals during major events such as New Year's Eve, Bayou Classic and Southern Decadence. COPS 8 also hosts a holiday party and post-Mardi Gras crawfish boil. District Commander Louis Dabdoub has credited COPS 8 with being effective in helping morale and working conditions. Saturday's fundraiser features an open bar, live music, charitable gambling, an auction, and food catered by top restaurants in the district, including Antoine's, Herbsaint, NOLA, Marigny Brasserie and Wasabi. Tickets $30 per person, $50 per couple COPS 8 members, $35 and $60 for nonmembers. For more info, visit www.cops8.org. -- Etheridge

Rob Cambre's Dry Bones Trio 10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15 Hi-Ho Lounge, 2213 St. Claude Ave., 947-9344 If you have had the mind-blowing pleasure to hear an avant-garde jazz concert in New Orleans in the past eight years, Rob Cambre is generally one of the men behind it. He's brought heavyweights such as Peter Brotzmann, William Parker, Hamid Drake, Ken Vandermark and many others. Tonight he and his guitar team up with drummer Eric Landsnes (who played with both Egg Yolk Jubilee and Ernie K-Doe), and Baton Rouge bassist Bill Hunsinger to bring that combination of rock, jazz and joyful noise to the Hi-Ho. Influenced equally by Ike Turner and Albert Ayler, this is more than a free-for-all squall-fest (although there is nothing wrong with that.) This improvisational band has songs played with feeling and a backbeat that is more than just textures and crashes. Admission $5. -- Kunian

Mondo Generator 11 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15 El Matador, 504 Esplanade Ave., 569-8361 Locally legendary for playing a show at El Matador the night Hurricane Lili hit Louisiana last fall, Mondo Generator is a retrospective version of stoner-rock band Queens of the Stone Age. The crucial link between early-1990s band Kyuss and QOTSA, Mondo Generator arose from a series of shelved mid-90s, pre-QOTSA recordings by guitarist/vocalist Josh Homme and bassist Nick Oliveri. Currently, the pair are enjoying Red Hot Chili Peppers-style eccentric rock-star status. Oliveri, in fact, is curiously Flea-like, ripping in-your-face bass lines while wearing few clothes and the expression of a maniac in surreal videos. Joined by former Kyuss bandmate Brant Bjork on drums, Oliveri and Homme make sure that Mondo Generator's material is much harder and more raw than their more popular band's material. But they do hold fast to their drugs-and-destruction rock formula, hence albums such as 2000's Cocaine Rodeo, and, their latest, Drug Problem That Never Existed, which opens with the track "Meth, I Hear You Callin'." Call for cover. -- Diettinger

Richard Mayhem: Forty Acres Through Nov. 16 Stella Jones Gallery, 201 St. Charles Ave., 568-9095 "Poetic landscapes, idyllic views and mythical places in time are the 'innerscapes,' the mind's eye of Richard Mayhew. Colors float on the surfaces, bleeding hues such as thalo blues, ceruleans, cobalts, pinks and greens that transgress into other hues stimulate our senses with euphoric pleasure." So wrote art historian Eloise Johnson of Mayhew's ethereal canvases, which do indeed inspire rhapsodic adjectives for their uncanny blending of mystical, 19th-century landscapes with a subtly psychedelic sense of color and near-abstract expressionist composition. Born on Long Island to parents of Native American, African-American and Portuguese ancestry in 1925, Mayhew has for decades melded his otherworldly spirituality and craftsmanship into a painting style that is uniquely his own. Exhibited with the work of renowned African-American sculptress Barbara Chase Riboud, the result is one of the strongest shows at Stella Jones in recent times. -- D. Eric Bookhardt