Comedy Training Grounds: The Second City

Welcome to the first in my ongoing series of profiles of Comedy Training Grounds: the theatres, institutions, and shows across the world that have given rise to the Comedy Movie Stars of today. Our first stop, the 500-pound gorilla: The Second City.

If you look back on American comedy films of the past 40-50 years, an invisible trend runs through them. Animal House, Young Frankenstein, Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Tommy Boy, Austin Powers, Mean Girls, The 40-Year-Old Virgin – aside from being hugely successful comedies, these may seem to not have much in common. The link is that each of these films starred, or was written by, an alumnus of Chicago’s fabled Second City Theater.

In 1950’s, American comedy was at a low point. Stand-up was the main holdover form the days of vaudeville, and most of it was Catskills-comics slinging tired mother-in-law jokes. That is until a group of performers at the University of Chicago created The Compass Players, a troupe dedicated to creating comedic shows based on loose outlines and performed through improvisation (much like the Italian Renaissance form of commedia dell’arte). The group quickly discovered that audiences responded enthusiastically to just the improvisation, specifically the games they would use to warm up. These games had been taught to the group by director Paul Sills, and developed by his mother Viola Spolin to teach children better social skills.

In 1959 The Compass Players decided to start their own cabaret theatre, and self-mockingly named it The Second City (after a comment in the New Yorker referred to Chicago as a “second city” to New York). These original shows at The Second City were revolutionary: using improvisation to develop comedy sketches about politics, religion, sex and many other topics that the TV-approved comics of the day wouldn’t touch. The theater boasted some early alumni who would go on to major fame: Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine), Fred Willard (Best in Show), and Barbara Harris (Peggy Sue Got Married).

Over the years the roster changed continually, but the Second City retained it’s basic format of cabaret sketch revues and improvisation. A new wave of performers would take over in the 70’s, including Bill Murray, John Belushi, and Joe Flaherty. This resurgence of popularity led to a sister theatre in Toronto, which almost immediately produced talents such as Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, John Candy, and (later) Mike Myers.

The Second City has remained a comedy juggernaut through the next several decades, recently celebrating it’s 50^th anniversary. Offshoot theaters have opened (and sometimes, closed) in several cities, namely Detroit, Las Vegas, and Denver. You can also see one of the many touring companies traveling all across the US and Canada, featuring many of the companies up-and-coming talents. Perhaps the most notable spin-off of Second City has been SCTV (literally “Second City Tele-Vision”); created in 1976 to prevent all of Second City’s talent being poached by Saturday Night Live.

A recent wave of alumni have achieved superstar status: chief among them Tina Fey, Steve Carrell, and Stephen Colbert. It is no exaggeration to say that without The Second City’s influence, the modern comedy landscape would look very different. The Second City’s focus has always been on improvisation leading to natural laughs, tight ensemble, and biting satire. These days you can still catch a new Second City revue, 8 shows a week, in either Chicago or Toronto. If you do, give it a few years – you will almost certainly be able to lean to your friends and say, “yeah, that guy’s movie is funny; but you should have seen him back then...”

By Ian MacIntyre

© Showflicks Inc. 2010

0 Comments