Comedy is an essential part of Chicago, and the particular brand of humor fashioned at Second City over the last generation has not only reflected our self-image but also gone a long way toward shaping how the world sees us.
With this week’s cover story, “2nd to none,” Tribune arts critic Sid Smith takes a smart look at how Second City has evolved through various phases and how, recently, it has found its heart, renewed its passion and, yes, returned to urgent relevancy.
Sid, who first attended a Second City revue when he arrived in Chicago from a small Florida town in 1978, draws on his long history following the antics of Second City casts to dramatize the troupe’s renaissance, showing how it has been enriched by embracing the wildly fascinating political scene today and by the divergent new players.
“For a kid fascinated by entertainment and somewhat nonplused by big-city life, at Second City after only a few blackouts, I knew I was going to love it here,” recalls Sid. “They made such delirious hokum out of the urban world I’d just–hesitantly–adopted. I saw folks like George Wendt, Tim Kazurinsky and Mary Gross joking about muggings and super rats (hot city topics then) and, in one bit, taking a camping trip to Wisconsin, freaked out by all the wildlife noises, returning happily to hear on the radio about pollution, crime and every single sports team suffering a loss.”
Some Chicago themes of those days endure–try watching a baseball team these days–but Second City has updated old traditions and reinterpreted them, determined to find a new audience. It’s succeeding, as Sid points out, with a mix of tradition and up-to-the-minute satire.
———–
etaylor@tribune.com
