The Second City

The famed Second City, which for decades has been performing improvisational comedy in the Old Town neighborhood, spawned spin-off groups and inspired similar companies elsewhere. Meanwhile, dance has become increasingly important in Chicago, with the Hubbard Street Dance Company offering contemporary performances, the River North Chicago Dance…

…the Compass Players and at Second City. Indeed, Second City (both its original Chicago and its Toronto companies) and the Los Angeles improvisation group the Groundlings provided many of the performers who have made up SNL’s ensemble, beginning with its original cast, known as the Not Ready for Primetime Players—Dan…

…in 1973, when Chicago’s famed Second City theatre established a troupe there that became a proving ground for a number of Canadian actors who went on to become motion-picture stars, including Dan Aykroyd, Catherine O’Hara, John Candy, and Martin Short.

…prominent of these is the Second City company in Chicago, whose origins date to the 1950s. Theatresports, a form originated by Keith Johnstone and now practiced around the world, involves improvisation around various competitive “game” pretexts that are judged by the audience. Other major uses of improvisation are in theatrical…

…there he joined the new Second City improv group in Chicago, and it was there that he received his real training in theatre. When Arkin returned to the New York stage, it was in a 1961 Broadway revue, From the Second City. In 1963 he originated the role of David…

…he joined the improvisational troupe Second City in 1989. Two years later he made his film debut in Curley Sue. Other film and television work followed, including various roles on the television sitcom The Dana Carvey Show (1996), for which he also wrote. Carell’s big break came in 1999, when…

…Chicago to take classes at The Second City, a training ground for comedians. After about two years of instruction in improvisational comedy, she joined the Second City cast, first as a touring company understudy and later as a performer on the company’s main stage.

…formed the comic improvisational group The Compass Players. Nichols and May then traveled nationwide with their social-satire routines, and from 1960 to 1961 they performed on Broadway in An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May. The recording of their show won Nichols and May a Grammy Award for best…

…(1961) the Chicago comedy troupe Second City and performed in nightclubs. Her big break came in 1965, when she was a guest on Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show. Her popular performance led to numerous return visits, and from 1983 to 1986 she was a frequent guest host on the show.…

…of the Toronto branch of the Second City improv company, where he developed a persona that would become among the most beloved of his many hilarious characters: the excitable, spastic Ed Grimley, whose hair rises to a gelled point, trouser waist climbs his midriff, and signature catchphrase is “I must…