The Second City: Second to None in Training Legions of Satirists

Birth of a Satiric Nation

Since its birth in Chicago in 1959, “The Second City” has been a breeding ground, catalyst, and inspiration for some of America’s greatest comedy improvisation, sketch comedy, comedians, and comedy/satire writers. Second City not only laid the foundation for “Saturday Night Live” and its success, but helped launch the careers of Alan Arkin, Dan Akyroyd, John Belushi, John Candy, Stephen Colbert, Chris Farley, Robert Klein, Shelly Long, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Joan Rivers, Fred Willard, and the list of alumni goes on and on?

In response to the early beginnings of the Cold War, McCarthyism, and the public’s fear of speaking out or expressing societal truths, the concept of Second City was hatched and opened by a group of University of Chicago students. From the early days of Jonathan Swift and Mark Twain, satire has always been a tool for exposing societal flaws while expressing concealed truths as a means of informing and reforming public conscience. The same holds true in political satire, and this can be seen by the popularity of Comedy Central’s “fake news’” shows “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report.” Ironically, these “fake news” shows are becoming primary news outlets for television viewers under 30.In a poll released by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that:

21 percent of people aged 18 to 29 cited “The Daily Show” and “Saturday Night Live” as a place where they regularly learned presidential campaign news. By contrast, 23 percent of the young people mentioned ABC, CBS or NBC’s nightly news broadcasts as a source. Even more startling is the change from just four years ago. When the same question was asked in 2000, Pew found only 9 percent of young people pointing to the comedy shows and 39 percent to the network news shows.

Second City not only served as the satiric muse for the “fake news” boom, but helped push sketch comedy to the networks with “Saturday Night Live,” which debuted in October of 1975 with alums Belushi, Akyroyd, and Gilda Radner as the core foundation of its “not-ready-for-prime-players.” The following October, Second City followed suit by moving its sketch comedy from the stage to a television format with its debut of “Second City Television (SCTV)” in Toronto. The show initially used existing sketches form Second City, but inevitably found its own style in trying to adapt to a 90-minute television format.

John Belushi’s presence looms above one of the mainstage entrances at The Second City

Trickle-Down Training & Political Satire

For enthusiasts and aspiring comedians, actors and satirists, Second City offers several sessions at its training centers across the nation and in Toronto. These sessions and courses range form weekend intensive workshops for the weekend warriors to eight-week courses for the serious minded. Falling into the former category, I signed up for an Adult-Intensive Weekend Workshop, which is a hybrid of beginning improvisation in the mornings and comedy sketch writing in the afternoons. I had taken the course with the intent of improving my political satire acumen while writing “Political Fallout.” But secretly, I was harboring the notion that maybe I would be somehow discovered and pegged as the next Stephen Colbert.

Furthermore, I was hoping the aura of Second City’s legendary status would somehow rub off on me. In my head, several idolatry-based scenarios played out in my mind. These scenes usually involved the likes of Stephen Colbert begging me to drop everything and come write for his show or John Belushi asking for some pointers on physical comedy.

Classmates had come from all over the country to take the same course for a myriad of reasons. Josh Whitcomb, a recent graduate of Arkansas Tech, came all the way form his hometown of Russleville, Arkansas with the much bigger dream of becoming a company player at Second City. Josh plans on relocating to Chicago for an indefinite stint. Jamie Jackson from Pennsylvania harbors the same dream of someday breaking into the comedy improvisation field as well. Others, like Eric Starkey from Pittsburgh, came to the workshop to improve his stage presence and improvisational skills as a professional magician with his company, Creative Conjuring.

The Second City comedy writing teacher, Anne Marie Saviano, anticipates future television shows will move to a more satirical point-of-view on politics. “In the world of satire, George Bush is beyond the point of being made fun of,” said Saviano. “Maybe last year when Americans and audiences were angrier, but today Americans are more frustrated than angry.” Satire is an effective tool for expressing anger and what people feel, but it gets at and exposes the truth. “All of us are ready for a change, including satirists. The next President who walks through the door, I’m dating. I don’t care who it is,” said Saviano.

Current Shows at Second City in Chicago

The current shows running as part of Second’s City’s 94th revue are the mainstage production, “Between Barack and a Hard Place” and the e.t.c. production of the “Dipsosable Nation.” Our class had the opportunity to catch the latter show, which “takes a look at what – and who – is disposable in America today. “The Machine” sketch exposes ‘08 presidential hopefuls and they’re willingness to use a sci-fi machine to alter their personalities and/or changes their ideologies as a means of winning the popular vote. “The Christian Coalition” reveals the hypocrisies and contrasts between the Christian Right’s ideologies and the teaching of Jesus. And the set ends with a satiric portrayal of contemporary American families in the “Traditional Family.” In the sketch, a young girl is ironically teased for having dysfunctional parents who have been happily married for over 15 years.

Meanwhile “Between Barack and a Hard Place” has been having a successful run on the mainstage. Playing off Chicago’s very own Senator, Barack Obama, and his speech at the Democrat National Convention in ‘04, the show “takes a look at a nation divided. Red state versus blue. Smokers versus non-smokers. Art lovers versus philistines. Dozens of potential presidential candidates versus each other. And the terrorists versus?well, everybody.”