AUGUSTA, GA. - The red stage lights at the cozy Maxwell Theater on Augusta State’s campus illuminated the four chairs and aged grand piano that occupied the otherwise empty set. The Second City Touring Company, performing their brand of the sketch and improvisational comedy (which was irrelevantly titled One Nation Under Blog) made use of all four of those chairs and the piano right away as they opened with a musical number exploring the nature of casual truth, even though there were six actors – three men and three women. This first routine said what we all are thinking when asked if we can help a friend move, if we want to see vacation pictures, or how cute the baby is – except in rhyming song.
The Second City is one of the chief proving grounds for talent that Saturday Night Live regularly poached. It is marketed as a school for learning comedy, acting and writing, and such comedic titans as John Belushi, Gilda Radner and Mike Myers are alumni of the club, and the Second City Touring Company is the traveling arm. The main location is in Chicago, but there are others in Toronto, Detroit, Los Vegas and Los Angeles.
The act began at 7 and lasted until 9:30, including a stop for a 15-minute intermission. Considering the $5 price of admission for the public and the continuous laughs that the audience provided, you will be hard pressed to find a better comedic payoff anywhere.
The style of sketches were all largely similar (and familiar to those who have watched sketch shows like SNL, Kids in the Hall or SCTV on television), where there was no setup and very few props. The topics covered ranged from teenagers driving with their parents, the competitive nature of party games, a strange but extraordinary game involving spies and word association, and a good deal of humor that needed to be relegated to a college campus. While some of the sketches would be funny and accessible to any audience, many of them were adult in nature and language.
The Chicago home theater of The Second City and its touring company.
In addition to the prepared sketch comedy, there were various breaks of improvisational games that included audience participation. The members who shouted out things like “igloo” and “Baby Got Back” as suggestions for topics were rewarded when one of the players would laugh with along with it. These also were familiar in style to those sorts of performances that you would see on other improve style shows on television.
The most important thing to note of this act was that it was extremely consistent. It was very funny and almost continuously so; there was not a time during the show where there was a lull in the audience laughter. For a two and a half hour performance, that is pretty remarkable.
The Second City Touring Company plays in all sorts of small and unusual venues. With their comedy pedigree, you will not be disappointed if you take one of their shows in one of those places, so long as you do not mind the occasional sexual overtones in the sketches and the liberal use of language. You never know, one of the six performers you see might even be a future member of the SNL cast, and you can say you saw them when, right?
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