Musician and comedian Al Scorch has embarked on an unusual creative project: reading the entire Chicago municipal code aloud in a podcast delivered with a distinctive Chicago accent. Growing up on the city’s blue-collar Northwest Side during the 1980s and ’90s, Scorch describes his childhood as the "last gasp" of a pre-digital era, characterized by neighborhood play and landline phone calls. This background has deeply influenced his artistic work, which often celebrates Chicago’s culture and quirks.

The city’s municipal code, a sprawling document that stretches over 3,200 pages and includes more than 1,300 words per page, covers everything from parkway plant restrictions to regulations on public structures. Reading the code in full would take approximately 22 days or over 500 hours, and Scorch has so far recorded about two hours. He releases episodes weekly through a podcast titled “Municipal — the code of Chicago,” available both on free streaming platforms and a paid Patreon service.

Scorch’s rendition is marked by an exaggerated local accent, characterized by flattened vowels, nasal intonations, and deliberate phonetic substitutions. He developed this accent as a form of humorous mimicry of adults in his neighborhood and has used it in previous projects, such as comedic reviews of historic Chicago Park District bathrooms. The podcast has attracted a diverse audience who find comfort, nostalgia, or humor in the readings. Some listeners describe the episodes as soothing or reminiscent of familiar Chicago voices, while others appreciate the insight into the city’s legal framework.

One regular listener, Becky Clough, an assistant public defender from the Beverly neighborhood, compares the podcast to the familiar experience of apprenticing under a family member with deep knowledge of a specific subject. “There’s something that’s, as a Chicagoan, so familiar about ‘a guy,’ right?” she said, noting how the podcast evokes a sense of local identity.

However, not all reactions have been uniformly positive. Nick Sposato, the 38th Ward alderman representing part of Scorch’s childhood neighborhood, expressed skepticism about the broader appeal of the project, questioning whether many people would engage with a podcast reciting legal code in full. He also commented on the nature of Chicago accents, identifying his own as distinct from Scorch’s portrayal.

Beyond the podcast, Scorch is an established musician and remains politically active. He regularly performs at venues such as the Hideout and has produced politically charged works supporting local candidates and social causes, including fundraisers for immigrant and refugee rights organizations. His engagement with Chicago politics informs his podcast, where he views the municipal code as both a reflection of systemic challenges—such as graft and patronage—and a living document shaped by civic participation.

Scorch describes the city’s legal framework as “a beautiful, collective document of self-governance” that constantly evolves, embodying the complex interplay between policy, community, and identity in Chicago. Through his podcast, he aims not only to entertain but also to draw attention to how local laws influence everyday life in the city he calls home.