Back in May I attended a bachelorette party in Chicago and went to Second City. If you live near one (lots of big cities have them) and you haven’t been, you should go. It’s a rollicking good time! They are an improv and sketch comedy group that has turned out some of the most famous comedians in history including Bill Murray and Tina Fey. In fact, this time around I could’ve sworn Tina Fey was there. One of the comedians playing in Chicago might as well be a clone. Scary thought.
The show this time around was funny but I remember thinking that I wished they did more improv. I think that every time I go actually. They are currently about 80% sketch comedy, which makes sense since they basically exist to supply SNL with their next lineup. And while sketch comedy can be really good, I’ll take Who’s Line Is It Anyway over SNL any day. Seriously, how does Wayne Brady come up with this hilarious songs off the top of his head?? (If it’s all a fraud and it’s not really improve, well, don’t tell me. Ignorance is bliss in this case.)
Anyway, out of my hankering for some more live improv I found out about Comedy Sportz. It’s an all improve comedy troupe in the area. I went the next weekend, with 6 or 8 of my closest pals. The place was packed and the performers were pretty hilarious. They did a normal improv show with several shorter ‘games’ and had an extra show after the main show that was long-form improv. In long-form one performer tells a story about anything he wants, all off the top of his head, and when he’s done the rest of the people do all kinds of funny jokes and skits inspired by the story. This was the really good part. My favorite was a story that mentioned a restaurant called Orchard Green and a skit that ended with “Orchard Green is people!”. ☺
Thank goodness I saw them when I did… they’re currently looking for a new venue and not performing again until they find one.
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