The Second City: Chicago's First Place for Comedy
They call themselves The Second City, but this award-winning improvisational venue has produced many first-rate names in comedy. Tina Fey, Steven Colbert, Amy Sedaris, Bill Murray, Steve Carell and Mike Myers are just a few alumni who cut their teeth in The Second City located in Chicago’s Old Town.
The award-winning Second City players specialize in improvisation — or as one member explained, “the art of making things up.” Comedy revues take place every day of the week on one of two resident stages, each having their own troupe. Two main stage shows are scheduled on weekends.
After each revue, the troupe asks the audience to offer up the first word that comes to mind. Choosing one, the troupe whirls into a skit.
Patrons sit at tables or a long bar at the small, informal theatre. A roving wait staff is always on hand for drink and light munchie orders (nachos, cheese plates) during performances.
This is one of Chicago’s most popular nightspots, so purchase tickets ($20 to $25) in advance. Seating is open, and a line forms before performances. To help make the wait enjoyable, there’s a bar in the lobby and black-and-white photos of troupes past line the brick walls.
Founded in 1959 as a cabaret review by witty graduates from the University of Chicago, the troupe was originally known as the Compass Players. They later renamed themselves after a 1952 New Yorker article by journalist A.J. Liebling, who found Chicago charming but lacking the intellectual sophistication of Paris and New York. By the 1960s, the troupe began gaining national and international attention for their edgy political and social satire.
Incredibly prolific in both script and improvisation, the players set the bar for comedy. By the 1970s, Second City became the source for members of television’s Saturday Night Live out of New York City.
Posted on Mar 1, 2011 by Lori Rotenberk
