Second City's 50th anniversary tour (1st review)

It must be tough to be a member of Chicago's Second City, now on a 50th anniversary national tour. You have the pressure of upholding the company's dazzling reputation while lacking recognizable names that might compare to the troupe's alumni, like Joan Rivers, Robert Klein, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Martin Short, Andrea Martin and Tina Fey.

I wasn't the only audience member who came to the Suzanne Roberts Theatre with a bit of a "show me" attitude. But doubters can rest easy. The troupe still reveals a distinct style of satirical humor that transcends its competitors. Its forte is spontaneous improvisation, but its real distinction is an indescribable weird, dark quality.

A housewife, apparently in a bedroom, hears her husband call out: "Where's my robe? My white robe?" The wife replies that it's in the wash. "Why not wear your red robe?" Husband enters the room, wearing a white Ku Klux Klan hood, and says: "Because this is white robe night." Wife responds: "Who's going to look down on you just because you look different?" Blackout.

Many Second City alumni went on to "Saturday Night Live," but that TV program never managed to make a joke, and make a point, so succinctly.

Another difference is Second City's risk-taking. Two men, apparently dads, are at a children's playground. "Which kid is yours?" one asks. "That blonde one with the curls," the other dad replies. "And yours?" To which the first guy responds: "Well, it was that one, but you got your dibs in first so I'll pick another."

Some Second City creations enter fantasy worlds that recall "The Twilight Zone." Two people walk on stage and one remarks, "It's good to be back in my old home town. Do you notice how everyone treats me differently back here?" Presently, a female local resident approaches the tall white man and says: "Shirley Wentworth! It's good to see you," and we come to realize that she sees him as a middle-aged black lady from her neighborhood. One by one, other locals enter, all recognizing the guy as their old black woman friend.

There's not a single punch line in that scene— just a weird perspective on the world. (That "home town" routine was originated, the audience is told, by Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert when they were part of the cast.)

Elsewhere, the performers ask questions of audience members and build comedy sketches out of the answers. They also grab some folks and put them into the action, as spontaneity is mixed with some awkwardness. The six performers— Rob Belushi (son of Jim), Edgar Blackmon, Abby McEnany, Rachel Miller, Katie Rich and Tim Ryder— are uniformly clever, but the only charismatic personality is the aforementioned tall skinny white guy, Ryder.♦


To read another review by Jim Rutter, click here.