Second City - Profile

By Patrick Bromley, About.com Guide

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Opened:

December 16, 1959 (Chicago)

Location:

Chicago, Illinois
Cleveland, Ohio
Detroit, Michigan
Edmunton,
Las Vegas, Nevada
London, England
Toronto, Canada

Overview:

The Second City comedy club is a Chicago-based club that has become the premiere spot for improv and sketch comedy. The club has given rise to a host of famous comedians and stars of Saturday Night Live, and the Canadian branch of the club had its own series, SCTV, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

History:

Second City began life in the 1950s as a revue performed by a group of University of Chicago students calling themselves the Compass Players. The group changed its name to The Second City after a New Yorker article referred to Chicago by that title, and the name has stuck for over 50 years.

The first Second City show premiered in 1959 at a space in Chicago, where the theater remained until 1967 when it took up its permanent residence in Chicago's Piper's Alley. In 1960, the theater held its first improvisational workshop -- a feature which has since become a staple of Second City.

In 1967, the Second City Touring Company was started to help bring improvisational comedy to cities across the country.

Live From New York:

In October of 1975, Second City became forever entrenched in the cultural zeitgeist with the debut of the late night sketch show Saturday Night Live. A number of cast members, including Bill Murray, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner had come up through Second City, and the theater company remained a training ground and sort of "farm team" for SNL cast members over the next 30 years. Future cast members Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Tim Meadows, Mike Myers and more got their start on stage at Second City.

The Move Up North:

In 1973, a second club opened. The Second City Toronto gave rise to future comedy stars like John Candy, Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner and inspired its own TV spin-off.

In 1976, the Second City Toronto debuted SCTV, a Saturday Night Live-style sketch comedy featuring Toroto performers John Candy and Eugene Levy, as well as Catherine O'Hara and Joe Flaherty and, eventually, Rick Moranis and Martin Short. The show ran for six years and won two Emmy Awards.

Training Centers:

Having offered its first improv workshop in the 1960s, the Second City continued to teach and train students in comedy disciplines over the next several decades. Training centers were opened in Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. In the 1980s, the Second City Conservatory was opened in Chicago, offering classes to nearly 2,000 students in everything from improvisation to comedy writing.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Second City continued to expand. Clubs were opened across the country from Las Vegas to Detroit to cleveland, and companies performed all over the globe. Film and television divisions were started to develop projects. In 2005, WCKG in Chicago began broadcasting the weekly radio series "Second City Radio," featuring comedy sketches and interviews with cast members.