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Second City celebrates its history
By John Benson
If “Saturday Night Live” had a minor league affiliate, Chicago’s legendary comedy theater, The Second City would qualify.
Over the past four decades, the names of former members who have made the jump to Lorne Michael’s iconic show include Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Jason Sudeikis, as well as current cast member Cecily Strong. Furthermore, the list of The Second City alums who have taken other paths to comedy greatness include David Letterman’s replacement Stephen Colbert as well as Steve Carell and Keegan Michael Key.
Now the troupe is celebrating its history with the touring entity “Happily Ever Laughter,” which is billed as a hilarious revue featuring some of the best sketches, songs and improvisation from Second City’s more than 50-year history. The show comes to Northeast Ohio for five performances Thursday through Saturday at the Hard Rock Rocksino in Northfield.
“All of the scripts have characters that are named after actors, so that’s the coolest thing,” said Second City cast member John Sabine, calling from Dallas. “You’ll get a script to do and it’ll say ‘Stephen’ and you’ll go, ‘Oh, that’s Stephen Colbert. He wrote that script.’ Or another one says ‘Tina’ and that’s Tina Fey. So it’s kind of cool you get to do the original scripts they wrote.”
Speaking of the scripts, Sabine said the group is currently performing a wide variety of scenes from its many eras — the oldest of which is from 1961 and involves a guy talking to a vinyl record.
In fact, the troupe did update the bit, which was written by original Second City member Paul Sills, to include the character talking to a podcast instead. Sabine said the results are hilarious and also indicative of the human spirit.
Getting work in Second City is a highly sought-after gig. For most aspiring comedic actors, it requires repeated auditions and honing of one’s improv skills before acceptance.
After graduating college with a degree in theater and dance, Sabine moved to Chicago five years ago to start improv training classes at Second City. At that point, he was unsure of his future but confident it involved comedy in some fashion.
“I tried stand-up when I first got to Chicago and I was so bad,” Sabine said. “I realized I liked working with others. Stand-up is like you against the world and in improv, you get a group of people. So it’s like us against the world.”
As for “Happily Ever Laughter,” Sabine promises it’s more than just sketch comedy.
“There will be quick improv scenes, more grounded theatrical scenes, song, improvised song and audience interaction. I feel like it’s a smorgasbord,” he said.
“The show won’t be boring.”