Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell all got their starts at The Second City, a comedy theater and school of improvisation based in Chicago.
This weekend, Athens will get a taste of the Windy City’s best comedy with Second City’s Laugh Out Loud Tour.
“Second City does social and political sketch comedy. It’s Saturday Night Live meets The Daily Show,” said Daniel Strauss, a cast member in the touring company.
As part of the Performing Arts Series, Second City will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium. Tickets for the show are $18, and seating is general admission.
Ticket sales have covered the $9,000 it took to bring in the company, said Andrew Holzaepfel, associate director of Ohio University’s Campus Involvement Center and booking agent for the Performing Arts Series.
The show is peppered with the best sketches from the past 50 years, original sketches by the cast, and improvisational comedy games. Though the sketches are pre-written, dialogue in the improv games is made up on the spot.
“Improv is very freeing,” Strauss said. “It really feels like you are putting yourself out there, and when you can make the audience laugh, it’s a wonderful feeling. When they don’t laugh, you feel like burying yourself into the ground.”
Strauss’s interest in working with Second City sparked after seeing a show in Chicago with his parents at age 16. He started as an intern during a summer break from college and worked his way up after graduation.
“It’s just the absolute greatest feeling in the world for me and everyone else in the company to be on stage performing with Second City,” he said. “It’s something that will never get old for me.”
But his interest in comedy came long before improv, when he adopted it as a survival technique as a child.
“It’s easier to stop a bully from beating you up if you can make him laugh,” he said. “He’ll be like, ‘You’re funny, man. I’ll keep you around.’ ”
Strauss and the rest of the five-member cast perfect their comedic art through six hours of weekly rehearsal and performing almost every weekend. At rehearsals, they throw out original content and learn sketches pulled from the archives. These new sketches are added to the show’s ever-changing running order.
Each show is different and geared toward the new audience with musical interludes provided by the company’s musical director.
“What’s great about a Second City show is it’s really just a blast,” Strauss said. “It’s fast-paced, funny and different from anything else that has been brought to campus.”
The company performs at many colleges, but Strauss is particularly excited to come to OU. A Michigan University graduate, he sees Ohio State University as his arch rival.
“When your mascot tackled OSU’s mascot, that was one of the best moments in collegiate football history,” he said. “I love you guys already.”
jc543108@ohiou.edu
