The Second City


The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise. It is the oldest improvisational theater troupe to be continuously based in Chicago, with training programs and live theaters in Toronto and New York. Since its debut in 1959, it has become one of the most influential and renowned in the English-speaking world. In February 2021, ZMC, a private equity investment firm based in Manhattan, purchased the Second City.
The Second City has produced television programs in both Canada and the United States, including SCTV, Second City Presents, and Next Comedy Legend. It has been a starting point for many comedians, award-winning actors, directors, and others in show business, including Joan Rivers, Alan Alda, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, John Candy, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Stephen Colbert and Jason Sudeikis.

History

The Second City chose its self-mocking name from the title of a series of articles about Chicago by A. J. Liebling, published in The New Yorker in 1952, and published in book form as a collection the same year. In summer 1955, at The Compass bar in Hyde Park, University of Chicago students, led by David Shepherd and Paul Sills, calling themselves Compass Players, began a "commedia dell'arte", based on professional theater games taught by Viola Spolin, who was Sills's mother. They soon began performing occasional shows on the Near North Side. On December 16, 1959, The Second City's first revue show premiered at 1842 North Wells Street, with Sills's former wife and Compass Player Barbara Harris singing "Everybody's in the Know". Admission was $1.50. Sahlins and Sills flipped burgers in the kitchen.
Sahlins, Sills, and Howard Alk had founded the theater, in 1959, as a place where scenes and stories were created with improvisation, using techniques that grew out of Spolin's innovative teachings, later known as Theater Games, with Sills as its director. The cabaret theater comedy style of the Second City tended towards satire and commentary on social norms, and political figures and events.
In 1961, the theater sent a cast to Broadway with the musical revue, From the Second City, directed by Sills and earning Tony Award nominations for ensemble members Severn Darden and Barbara Harris. The company moved a few blocks south, to 1616 North Wells, in 1967. Eventually, the theater expanded to include three touring companies and a second resident company, and now fosters a company devoted to outreach and diversity.
In 2020, during the protests following the murder of George Floyd, The Second City faced several criticisms regarding racism. The CEO, Andrew Alexander, resigned after accusations of institutional racism from former performers and an alumnus were made. Accusations and allegations were also made on social media, triggering further leadership resignations. A notable criticism came from Second City alumnus Dewayne Perkins, who alleged that the institution initially refused to host a benefit show for Black Lives Matter unless half of the proceeds also went to the Chicago Police Department. In response to these issues, The Second City instituted changes, including the formation of a steering committee comprising representatives from BIPOC, Latinx, and LGBTQIA+ communities to foster inclusivity and diversity.
In October 2020, The Second City was put up for sale by Alexander and co-owner D’Arcy Stuart. In January 2021, The Second City and Saturday Night Live paired up to launch a new training scholarship for diverse, upcoming talent. In February 2021, ZMC, a New York City-based private equity investment firm, purchased The Second City.
In 2022, The Second City announced its expansion to New York with its new location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The nearly entertainment complex at 64 N. 9th Street comprises two cabaret-style live theaters, seven Training Center classrooms, and a full-service restaurant and bar. The Second City New York opened to the public on November 16, 2023, marking a significant expansion of the institution into a new geographic region.

''SCTV''

Second City Television, or SCTV, was a Canadian television sketch comedy show offshoot from the Toronto troupe of the Second City and ran from 1976 to 1984. Broadcaster and surgeon Charles A. "Chuck" Allard formed a partnership in 1981 that acquired the fledgling series. Allard then moved the series from Toronto to Edmonton, where he owned television station CITV-TV.
The basic premise of SCTV was based on a television station in the fictional city of Melonville. Rather than broadcast the usual TV rerun fare, the business, run by the greedy Guy Caballero sitting in a wheelchair only "for respect," operates a bizarre and humorously incompetent range of cheap local programming. The range included soap opera "The Days of the Week"; game shows, such as "Shoot at the Stars", in which celebrities literally are shot at in similar fashion to targets in a shooting gallery; and movie parodies, such as "Play it Again, Bob" in which Woody Allen attempts to entice Bob Hope to star in his next film. In-house media melodrama was frequently satirized, including by John Candy, as the vain, bloated variety star character, Johnny La Rue; Thomas's acerbic critic, Bill Needle; Andrea Martin's flamboyant, leopard-skin clad station manager, Mrs. Edith Prickley; Catherine O'Hara's alcoholic, narcissistic, former leading-lady, Lola Heatherton; and Flaherty's effusive talk show host, Sammy Maudlin. Martin Short also originated his dorky Ed Grimley character here, which he later brought to Saturday Night Live.

Executive producers

Andrew Alexander

In 1974, Andrew Alexander took the reins of The Second City Toronto, which had opened in 1972, then formed a partnership with Len Stuart, in 1976, starting The Second City Entertainment Company. Its inaugural television production was SCTV that year. Alexander co-developed and executive produced over 185 half-hour shows for the series.
In 1985, Alexander and Stuart acquired Chicago's Second City. He later founded SCTV, thereby expanding The Second City TV & Film Division. He has produced or executive-produced hundreds of Second City revues in Canada and the United States.
On June 6, 2020, during the Black Lives Matter protests, various Second City comedians signed an open letter stating that "erasure, racial discrimination, manipulation, pay inequity, tokenism, monetization of Black culture, and trauma-inducing experiences of Black artists at The Second City will no longer be tolerated". prompting Alexander to apologize and resign, pledging that "The next person to fill the Executive Producer position will be a member of the BIPOC community". Interim executive producer Anthony LeBlanc was appointed to replace him.

Jon Carr

On November 25, 2020, The Second City announced that former Dad's Garage Theatre Company artistic director Jon Carr had been hired as executive producer. He stepped down in early 2022, and a successor has yet to be named.

Awards

, the Second City has been awarded thirty-seven Equity Joseph Jefferson Awards, which have recognized them for Best Revue five times, the first being Paradigm Lost. The revue's director, Mick Napier, is one of several directors recognized by the Jeffs, a list that includes founder Bernard Sahlins and improv guru Del Close. Sixteen alumni have received Jeff Awards for their performances in Second City revues, including David Pasquesi, Scott Adsit, Jackie Hoffman, Shelley Long, and Nia Vardalos, with Rachel Dratch and Keegan-Michael Key each being honored twice.
In 2009, as the company was celebrating its 50th year, the Second City was awarded an honorary Jeff for the milestone, as well as three awards for the e.t.c.' s 33rd revue Studs Terkel's Not Working, recognizing director Matt Hovde and actress Amanda Blake Davis and naming it Best Revue. In 2011, the e.t.c.'s 35th revue Sky's the Limit won the Jeff for Best New Work, as well Best Revue and Best Actor, for ensemble member Tim Baltz. The following year, the e.t.c.'s 36th revue We're All In This Room Together won for Best Revue and Best Director of a Revue - Ryan Bernier, while ensemble member Edgar Blackman took home the Jeff for Best Actor/Actress in a Revue for his work in Who Do We Think We Are? on the Second City mainstage. In 2013, the Jeff Awards awarded Best Production: Revue to a Second City show not housed at the venue on Wells Street, The Second City Guide to Opera, a collaboration with the Lyric Opera of Chicago that had been initiated by soprano and Lyric creative consultant Renée Fleming, with Best Director: Revue going to Billy Bungeroth.
Toronto's Second City mainstage troupe has won ten Canadian Comedy Awards: Best Improv Troupe, Best Sketch Troupe, and Best Comedic Play winners Family Circus Maximus, Psychedelicatessen, Facebook of Revelations, Barack to the Future, 0% Down, 100% Screwed and Something Wicked Awesome This Way Comes.

On film

  • Goldstein – The directing debut of Philip Kaufman featured several members including Severn Darden, Jack Burns, and Del Close, as well as teacher Viola Spolin. A modern-day interpretation of the story of Elijah, it won the Prix de la Nouvelle Critique at the Cannes Film Festival, and Jean Renoir called it the best American film he had seen in twenty years.
  • The Monitors – A satirical alien invasion film in which earth's invaders run the planet as though they were 1950s hallway monitors, featuring members Avery Schreiber, Alan Arkin, Fred Kaz, and Peter Boyle.
  • Second to None – A documentary by Matt Hoffman and Scott Silberstein about the process of writing Paradigm Lost, following the cast and director Napier from the initial rehearsal through opening night. Originally narrated by alum Jim Belushi, the film was reworked, with rehearsal footage added, ten years after its initial release.
  • The Second City: First Family of Comedy – A documentary by Sharon Bartlett and alum Dave Thomas in three parts, focusing on the origins of The Second City in Chicago, the life of SCTV, and the success of notable alumni, including Tina Fey, Mike Myers, Ryan Stiles, Patrick McKenna, and Martin Short.
  • I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With – An independent film starring, written, directed and produced by Jeff Garlin, himself a former Second City actor, features scenes shot within The Second City's Chicago theater, and features several of its alumni, including Mina Kolb, David Pasquesi, Amy Sedaris, Richard Kind, Dan Castellaneta, Tim Kazurinsky, and Bonnie Hunt.
  • Don't Think Twice – A film written and directed by Mike Birbiglia centered around an improv troupe dealing with the effects of one member's success. It stars Second City alumni Tami Sagher, Steve Waltien and Keegan-Michael Key. The film features archival footage and photographs of Second City ensembles in the course of establishing the roots of improv comedy in Chicago.
  • For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close – A documentary on the life and career of Second City director Del Close who mentored and trained up-and-coming comedians including John Belushi, Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Harold Ramis, Dave Thomas, George Wendt, and countless others.