Comedy clubs combine relaxation and humor in an environment that welcomes people to laugh at their mistakes and realize that they are not alone in their struggles.The Second City in Chicago brings humor to all walks of life through its famous comedy sketches and improvisational skits.
Chicago’s Second City is the pinnacle, or mother ship, of The Second City comedy clubs that are scattered across the United States, according to Senior Associate Producer Beth Kligerman. The club first opened in Chicago, but can now be found in Cleveland, Las Vegas, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Toronto.
The idea of opening an improvisational
comedy club began when a small group of students from the theater department at the University of Chicago opted to open The Playwright’s Theater Club off campus in the early fifties. More than 25 productions were performed on its stage by the time the club closed its doors in 1954.
In the fall of 1959, Paul Sills, Howard Alk, and producer Bernard Sahlins made the idea of creating a permanent home for an improvisationally based theater group a reality when they rented a Chinese laundry building. Upon opening its doors on Dec. 16, the club was an immediate success. Today, The Second City is "a North American Theatrical institution."
The comedy club takes its name from the title of A.J. Liebling’s cynical profile of Chicago in The New Yorker. Soon after its opening, not only were Chicagoans crowding into this small club, but out-of-towners were catching wind of its popularity.
The original cabaret style has remained intact over the years. The atmosphere of the club is, "a little bohemian, a little casual and a little special occasion," Kligerman said. The lobby, bar and stages are upstairs. Pictures of the club’s alumni, which include many famous comedians, adorn the exposed brick walls.
There are two stages at The Second City in Chicago. Every evening there is a performance on each stage. Tuesday through Sunday, tickets are $17. On these nights the resident actors perform skits that they have written themselves. On Mondays, audiences can see The Best of The Second City for only $8.
During a typical show the audience will watch as a group of six or seven actors perform on stage using some props, costumes and live music (usually a piano). Through their skits the actors imitate the audiences’ everyday lives. Ideas for these sketches are taken from the audience, and the actors improvise to create a skit on the spot. The best skits are reviewed and improved upon during rehearsals and become the new acts.
For audiences who cannot travel to a city with a Second City Theater, there is The Second City’s National Touring Company, which began in 1961. This traveling cast performs year-round in New York, London, Boston, New Haven, and St. Louis. An evening with the touring company includes six performers, one musician, a stage manager/technical advisor, two 45-minute sets of comedy, and an optional free improv set following the performance. All the host need provide is an audience.
Aside from being a comedy club, The Second City is also a place where people can come for training in creative presentation or just for fun. More than 2,000 students attend the Second City’s Training Centers located in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Toronto. Actors Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and John Candy are among the many actors who began their careers as comedians at various Second City training centers and then performed on one of The Second City’s various stages.
Kligerman said that even though audition weeks are crazy and long, she enjoys her job. "I have the opportunity to spend time and watch performers who are truly the most talented, fun, quick-witted, intelligent people from their beginning," Kligerman said. "These people are amazing."
The Training Centers accommodate a wide variety of people, according to Kligerman. Trainees can range from a lawyer who wants to hone his skills to the next Tina Faye. Anyone can participate in these training classes. Entry-level students participate in a beginning level class in which they learn the basics of improvisation while honing their creative and presentational skills. Once a student has completed levels A-E, they can begin the conservatory program, which contains five levels. Here they will continue to work on their improvisation, hone their writing skills and act out comedy reviews.
Each of the five sessions per year runs eight weeks. No audition is required for the Beginning Program, aimed at students 19 or older at a cost of $225 for two and one-half hours of classes a week. Students also learn basic theatrical and improvisational concepts through games and exercises based on the work of Viola Spolin.
Other programs include: Improvisational Techniques for Actors, The Conservatory Program, a High School Program, Acting and Scene Study and Writing.
About 30 elite actors and actresses make up The Second City in Chicago. During this weeklong annual general audition process, groups of four actors perform improvisation for 15 minutes at a time. People are weeded out until the end, when maybe one person is hired. Anyone who is hired becomes an understudy for either the touring company or for the resident actors.
As the popularity and success of The Second City has grown over the years its actors have attracted writers and directors from today’s American film, television, and theater industries.
After several years of success on stage, actors from The Second City began to transfer their talent to television. In 1963, a series of specials aired on British television in England. Then, in 1976, Andrew Alexander introduced The Second City into the television scene in Toronto. The Toronto Second City Company began writing a sitcom under the guidance of Alexander, Sahlins, and Len Stuart. What emerged from their brainstorming session was "a show satirizing television." SCTV were the call letters for "the fictional Second City television station." It began broadcasting on Global Television in Canada as well as on NBC and the Cinemax Cable Network. During its seven-year reign, SCTV acquired 13 Emmy Award nominations and two Emmy Awards for best writing. The 185 half-hour SCTV shows can still be viewed in syndication in North America.
The Second City has offered comic relief for audiences across the world for 60 years. It is now a well-known house of comedy with five locations in the United States and one in Toronto, Canada.
The Second City continues to train potential Second City players every year across the United States. It offers people of all walks of life the chance to become more comfortable speaking in front of an audience and tapping into their creative energy. The Second City has something for everyone.
Photos courtesy of The Second City
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