MATH FOR THE MASSES
Skokie whiz will calculate for cash on new Fox show
Skokie resident Mike Byster may be showcasing his amazing mental calculating skills on the new Fox series “Superhuman” ( debuting at 8 p. m. Monday), but the former Chicago Mercantile Exchange trader insists anyone could do what he does.
“People think, when they see me calculate numbers instantaneously, I was born with this ability. I wasn’t! I trained my brain at a young age, and then learned — many years later — that those skills were transferable,” said the Rogers Park native, who today owns a software company that helps educate kids.”
For 24 years, Byster worked at the Merc and then turned his attention to schoolchildren. “I would trade in the mornings and then go into the school and teach kids how to be smart,” said Byster, admitting that his easy relationship with quick calculations “definitely did help me” as a trader.
Chat with Byster and you quickly realize his passion today is helping kids — particularly those from challenging communities that lack educational resources.
“It’s all about teaching kids how to avoid distractions, totally focus and learn to use their memories.”
Participating on the June 26 episode of “Superhuman” is important to Byster because he’s hopeful that many kids and their parents “will be watching and realize those children don’t have to be stuck where they are.”
The champion on “Superhuman” will take home a $ 50,000 prize. “If I win it,” Byster said, “I would use the bulk of it to travel to more schools around the country and teach my system — which I do for free anyway — to many more schools.”
Bill Zwecker also works as an entertainment reporter for Fox 32 News.
A comic who cuts up
Chicago native Jim O’Heir, best known as hapless Garry Gergich on the long- running NBC sitcom “Parks and Recreation,” stars in a new movie as a stand- up comic who kills — literally.
In the dark comedy “Middle Man” ( opening Friday), Lenny Freeman ( O’Heir) is a seemingly mild- mannered accountant who has had a lifelong dream of becoming a famous nightclub comedian. The only hitch? He’s not the least bit funny.
As he drives to Las Vegas to audition for the “StandUp Stand- Off,” he picks up a mysterious hitchhiker, and then things begin to go seriously homicidal.
“As you know, stand- up comedians say, ‘ I killed’ when their routine really clicks with an audience. The reverse of that: ‘ God! I was dying out there,’ is what they say when they bomb,” noted O’Heir. “While my background really was more doing improv and theater work, I can certainly understand the terminology.”
“Middle Man” was written for O’Heir by the film’s director, Ned Crowley — with whom he attended classes at Second City in Chicago in the mid- 1980s — and the actor admitted he based certain aspects of his character “on a guy in one of our classes. He dreamed of being a stand- up comic and, I’m sorry to say, he was just awful.
It took a decade for “Middle Man” to get made.
“For a long time Ned had a number of people tell him, ‘ This script is solid,’ and other nice stuff, but nothing happened. You have to remember, I was just a journeyman actor for so many years who nobody knew. Then, along came ‘ Parks [ and Recreation]’ and it literally changed my life. I became a name that people in Hollywood actually recog- nized, without having to look me up or Google me.
“Then one day, they said to Ned, ‘ If you can get Jim O’Heir to become attached to this script — we’ll make the film!’
“Isn’t it funny how stuff happens?”
Bates to headline luncheon
Once again, the Lynn Sage Cancer Research Foundation is bringing in a major headliner for its annual fundraising luncheon.
This year “Misery” and “American Horror Story” star Kathy Bates — herself a two- time cancer survivor — will address the Oct. 2 luncheon at the Hilton Chicago, 720 S. Michigan. Proceeds will support contributions to breast cancer research, fellowships and educational programs at Northwestern Medical and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.
For ticket information, go to lynnsage.org or call ( 312) 926- 7133.