Members of Second City’s touring company. Credit: Dave Rentauskas
By Kim Kalunian, WPRO Arts and Entertainment
Bill Murray, John Belushi, Tina Fey, Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert. Besides immensely successful careers in comedy, what do they all have in common? The Second City.
The Second City is the mecca of improvisational and sketch comedy – if you want to be somebody in the industry, Second City is the place to start.
Located in the heart of Chicago, The Second City has been around since 1959 and has spent the last 53 years cultivating some of the best comedic talent in the country.
The company has also been touring the country since the 1960’s, and this week, a troupe from the company will make their way to Providence’s Trinity Repertory Theatre.
Pat Reidy, who has been with the company for two years, has been touring with Second City for a little more than a year. He and some of his fellow performers have visited Providence before, one time performing with local improve troupe, Improv Jones. Reidy said they’re excited to get back to Rhode Island, especially for the food.
“We love your town and we’re looking forward to coming back,” said Reidy in a telephone interview.
He said he and his cast mates are already planning which restaurants and food trucks they’ll dine at while they’re in town.
Of course, their trip isn’t all about food, it’s about comedy, too.
Reidy said working with Second City was a “life-long dream.” He recalled sending letters to the director of talent five years ago to try to get in. He auditioned for years, but it wasn’t until roughly two years ago that Reidy beat out thousands of other hopefuls for a single performer slot.
“It’s very competitive,” said Reidy, who had about 15 minutes at his initial audition make a positive impression. Reidy said the number of people accepted into the troupe each year varies, but is typically less than 10.
“If you have a bad day it’s like, ‘See you next year!’” said Reidy. “It’s very easy to feel a lot of pressure.”
Reidy said the pressure of the audition ensures the talent in Second City is the best of the best.
“You know the people you’re performing with are fire tested,” he said. “These people were the people that were able to shine.”
Reidy said his touring company cast mates are “insanely talented.” The troupe will perform a bit of short-form improv, which consists of short, unscripted, comedic scenes that require audience suggestions. The second component of their show is sketch comedy, or scripted scenes.
Reidy said the troupe does mostly “archival material,” scripts that are “battle tested” by time and countless audiences.
“All the scripts have the same last names on them,” said Reidy, who said the sketches were penned by people like Steve Carell and Tina Fey.
For Reidy, living, breathing and eating comedy is a dream come true.
“This is our real job, which is insane,” said Reidy with a laugh. “I have a job where I’m sitting around trying to think of what’s the funniest noise to make in a certain sketch.”
When they’re not performing, Reidy said his cast mates spend time rehearsing and travelling.
“We’re all kind of so into the comedy that we don’t want to do anything else,” he said. “We love this job so much that we are very singularly focused on this.”
Reidy said sometimes people have a hard time believing that the improvised portion of their shows is completely unrehearsed, unscripted and off the cuff.
“It’s like accusing a basketball player of using a magnetized ball and hoop,” said Reidy. “We’ve honed this skill and tried to study it.”
For those in the audience, Reidy said watching improv is “as unique a theater experience as you can have.” He said the shows overall are among the funniest things you’ll ever see.
“We feel like, in general, you’ll laugh more so than you have at any other theater experience,” he said.
The Second City will have a limited engagement at Trinity Repertory Company on Washington Street in Providence from March 20 to 23. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $35. For info and tickets, click here.
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Kim Kalunian
