You walk into a room full of laughter; The room is illuminated by big posters of Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Elvis Presley and other big stars throughout the years. This is the Laughing Chameleon.

Every night in the Laughing Chameleon, new famous stars from all over the country come in and show their stuff to the local residents of 8 p.m. It’s the North Shore’s only full service comedy, magic and variety club.

The club opened its doors during the last week of December by owners David and Dania Maas, who are nationally known for their magic act, and business partners Gary and Renee Walter.

The opportunity came up when the restaurant next door, Flight, decided to downsize. David knew it was an idea he couldn’t pass up.

“We did our research and there was nothing like this on the North Shore,” David said. “It’s unique to Glenview and it’s kind of a multi purpose venue. It’s not just a comedy club.”

Gary agreed in that the comedy club is truly one of a kind.

“We wanted to go for the New York city style cabaret style club, very intimate, small setting, and we put on entertainment six nights a week,” he said.

The name of the Laughing Chameleon came from the act that the Maas’ are known for called the “Quick-Change” where both partners change their clothes almost instantly. The pair competed on the show America’s Got Talent, where they placed second in the competition.  After the pair finished America’s Got Talent, they continued to do shows around the world but got tired of traveling and wanted to continue performing and entertaining.

“In their act, they change clothes at the blink of an eye, sort of chameleon like,” Gary explained. “It was always a thought of his to open up a chameleon-named club.”

David said that by not traveling all the time, he is able to commit to the club as much as he can. While this is his newest commitment, he and his wife still find time to perform.

“We’ve done a lot of charity events around here and we get very much involved in that,” David explained about his quick change act.  “We’ve done many, many, many television shows, [not just] America’s Got Talent.”

While there’s not enough room to do their quick-change act on the limited stage at the club, the managers still try to entertain in a variety of ways six nights a week. This includes Funday Monday, which is an open mic night, Karaoke Tuesday, improv nights on Wednesday, and for weekends, the owners try to bring in a big star for comedy.

“On the weekends it’s more of a headliner, a regionally bigger name, and that’s mostly standup,” Gary said.

As the club continues to grow, they hope to open it up to a wider variety of people. According to Gary, since they opened in winter, it has been hard attracting an audience, but come summer time, he thinks the club will be more successful.

“I would say the demographic is 30 to 50-year-old couples [as] a date night destination,” Gary said. “[However], we do have our improv school that we just started, that’s for all ages.”

The improv school, or Laughing Academy, is for kids and adults interested in acting. Led by Kim Trieger, the Laughing Academy will kick off soon starting with six eight-week classes.

The managers have big plans for the club and according to David, he is confident that the Laughing Chameleon will be a huge success.

“We’re building,” he said. “We need individuals to spread the word and tell people what we are, what’s going on, and come in.”

Gary agreed and explained the many physical changes they plan to make. Along with the many tables on the floor by the stage, Gary and David hope to add more tables on a second floor and bar stools around the whole club.

“We’re really just getting going here,” Gary said. “We’ll see where it takes us, we just want to make this a success and then see what’s next.”