The Best of The Second City
Residency at Berkeley Rep for Storied Improv Troupe
By: Victor Cordell - Jul 19, 2024
Sketch comedy’s history began in vaudeville and was later revived by early television shows like Milton Berle’s “Texaco Star Theater” and Sid Caesar’s “Show of Shows.” Today, it is most associated with the nearly 50-year history of NBC’s nationally broadcast “Saturday Night Live.”
If SNL owes a debt to a predecessor, it would be Chicago’s improvisation and sketch theater “The Second City” which not only preceded it by 16 years but has been a font for SNL players including original cast members Gilda Radner, John Belushi, and Dan Ackroyd as well as many later additions from Mike Myers to Tina Fey and Cecily Strong. Other Second City veterans include Alan Alda, Alan Arkin, Eugene Levy, Jordan Peele, Steve Carell, and Stephen Colbert.
One of the challenges and risks of live comedy that hasn’t been tested before an audience is that jokes or skits or improv fall flat. In contrast, “The Best of Second City” has the advantage of performing sketches that are among the best produced over the years, and that the tour has tested them before other audiences already. Thus, expectations are high that every piece will work. Of course, the litmus test is whether they’re funny, and happily, each one is – not roaring belly laugh funny, but each works well and promotes laughter.
At their Berkeley Rep residency, the six talented comedians under The Second City banner deliver, and all in pretty much equal measure. In addition to full sketches, which are shorter than on SNL (my only frame of reference), they provide numerous quick hitters, usually acted by twosomes on a darkened stage under spotlights. Plus, there is just enough improv to show that they are quick when put on the spot. The improv engages the audience by having attendees provide starters for the pieces. The program plays as a black box. Only several chairs adorn the stage, and the performers use extensive and effective mime to simulate props.
The sketches are so balanced and equal that it’s hard to select favorites, but one that worked especially well was the search for the missing Doritos, which is a combo sketch with improv. The piece centers on Annie Sullivan, who excels at making emcee or facilitator-type roles funny. She selects an audience participant who has unusually long involvement trying to help solve the mystery. Though the audience member on opening night was deadpan and appeared disinterested, he improvised often to keep the piece spontaneous and Sullivan on her toes.
Two of the cast seemed very much like early SNL members. Chas (pronounced Chase) Lilly is cut in the mold of Dan Ackroyd. Of his several great interpretations, perhaps the best is playing the archtypical high energy CEO making a product introduction at a Las Vegas trade show. After running the audience aisles, followed by furious fist pumping and leg kicking on stage, he repeatedly bends over on stage trying to recover from his overwrought display.
George Elrod has the look of Jay Mohr. In one skit, he plays that one guy in a backyard volleyball game who actually takes it seriously and makes it miserable for those who just want to have fun. With each point, he endures a new injury but insists on playing on as he becomes increasingly disabled. What is remarkable is Elrod’s contortion humor with his body parts. He twists his fingers into elongated gnarls and then his arms into positions that seem unreal. Gruesome, but funny.
It is interesting to note that many of the skits have pretty explicit sexual references, from simulated sexual activities to discussion of vaginal scent, so it is by no means prim and proper. Yet the language is prime time television except for one sketch without sexual innuendo in which Max Thomas plays the driving instructor from hell with two new students in his charge. During the lesson, he first drops off a bag on a drug deal and returns to the car wailing that his toes were cut off. Next stop is a convenience store which he robs and returns to the car having been shot. Meanwhile, the scared students act as his unintended “wheelmen.”
Successful sketches from the past have been updated, and a thoughtful aspect is that several have been adapted to include local references from the Castro to Berkeley culture. Phylicia McLeod, who in another sketch portrays a malaprop-spinning detective like a female Colombo, plays a guide giving new students a tour of UC Berkeley with references to numerous landmarks on campus. Of course, there is always a know-it-all in the student group with a need to embellish the guide’s patter. In this case, it is Cat Savage, who often plays frenzied characters. This time, she constantly interrupts in crazed, wide-eyed fashion to welcome the others with secret horror stories about each place the guide points out.
This production marks a departure from Berkeley Rep’s traditional fare. But for those who enjoy short form comedy routines, this is an opportunity to see some of the best around from the country’s most storied improvisational comedy troupe.
“The Best of The Second City” is produced by Berkeley Repertory Company and plays on its stage at 2025 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA through July 28, 2024.