t.J. SHANOFF
Creative direction
MUSICAL comedy
HOST & EMCEE
T.J. Shanoff is a Chicago-based musical entertainer, producer, and creative director. T.J. wrote, directed, and musically directed for over 20 years at The Second City, including creating the music and lyrics for the hit musical, Rod Blagojevich, Superstar.
A piano player "by ear" since age 5, T.J. has musically directed at The Second City, iO, Annoyance Theater, annually for the Chicago Emmy Awards, and for projects across the country. You can often find T.J. behind the Hammond organ as a musical director at Chicago's acclaimed new venue, the Chicago Magic Lounge. In 2019, T.J. was a featured performer at City Winery Chicago's Downtown Passover Seder, performing an original song called "The Ballad Of Stephen Miller". (It's not a nice song.)
T.J. is represented Off-Broadway as co-creator/director of Blank! The Musical, reopening in October at NYC's The Green Room 42. Blank! is an app-based, interactive improvised musical comedy that opened at New World Stages in 2014. And, hey, Perez Hilton loved it!
T.J. is a trusted musical emcee, host, and auctioneer for corporate and fundraising events, notably Gilda’s Club Chicago’s annual “Night Of A Thousand Noogies” at the historic Park West theater. On the air, T.J. has co-hosted talk shows on Sporting News Radio, and Chicago's legendary WLUP-FM, and WCKG-FM; none of which are around anymore, and that’s not *legally* T.J.’s fault, ok? T.J. did not single-handedly bring down three radio stations, are we cool about this? What are you, a lawyer?
T.J. has a real gift for starting paragraphs with his own name, and is a proud alum of the Latin School of Chicago, Emerson College, and Harand Camp Of The Theatre Arts.
A piano player "by ear" since age 5, T.J. has musically directed at The Second City, iO, Annoyance Theater, annually for the Chicago Emmy Awards, and for projects across the country. You can often find T.J. behind the Hammond organ as a musical director at Chicago's acclaimed new venue, the Chicago Magic Lounge. In 2019, T.J. was a featured performer at City Winery Chicago's Downtown Passover Seder, performing an original song called "The Ballad Of Stephen Miller". (It's not a nice song.)
T.J. is represented Off-Broadway as co-creator/director of Blank! The Musical, reopening in October at NYC's The Green Room 42. Blank! is an app-based, interactive improvised musical comedy that opened at New World Stages in 2014. And, hey, Perez Hilton loved it!
T.J. is a trusted musical emcee, host, and auctioneer for corporate and fundraising events, notably Gilda’s Club Chicago’s annual “Night Of A Thousand Noogies” at the historic Park West theater. On the air, T.J. has co-hosted talk shows on Sporting News Radio, and Chicago's legendary WLUP-FM, and WCKG-FM; none of which are around anymore, and that’s not *legally* T.J.’s fault, ok? T.J. did not single-handedly bring down three radio stations, are we cool about this? What are you, a lawyer?
T.J. has a real gift for starting paragraphs with his own name, and is a proud alum of the Latin School of Chicago, Emerson College, and Harand Camp Of The Theatre Arts.