Review: SECOND CITY'S 65TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR at Southern Theatre

Over the last 65 years, The Second City improv and sketch comedy school has built itself into one of the premiere comedic factories of its kind. Lorne Michaels, the creator of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, seems to draw the majority of the show’s talent from three primary sources: Second City (Chicago, New York, and Toronto), the Groundlings (primarily of Los Angeles) and the Upright Citizens Brigade (NYC).

During its Sept. 4 stop at the Southern Theatre (21 E. Main Street in downtown Columbus), Rich Alfonso, Kennedy Baldwin, Anna Bortnik, Deb Duncan, Ross Taylor, and Riley Woolen reminded its audience that Second City is a fertile breeding ground of performers, who are best experienced live and in person. In a two-hour, two-act blitz of blackouts, sketches, and improv, the six found the humor in seemingly mundane situations. The mostly filled theater left laughed out, drained, and satisfied.

Taylor, Baldwin, Bortnik, Woolen, Duncan and Alfonso put their own spin on Second City’s vault of material, honed over the last six decades by the likes of Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Steve Carell, Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Keegan-Michael Key, Eugene Levy, Bill Murray, Michael Myers, Catherine O’Hara, Joan Rivers, Tim Robinson and many, many others. The show was separated into three parts: blackouts (a series of quick set-up then punch line vignettes completed in less than two minutes), sketches (longer, written sketches) and improv (sketches based on audience responses). Each genre comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages.

In the quick-hitting blackouts, actors have only a few seconds to set up the scenario and deliver. The advantage is if it isn’t received well (that didn’t happen Sept. 4), the troupe immediately goes on to the next one. Among the crowd favorites were Baldwin protesting getting ready for the first day of school and at the end, the audience learns she’s the teacher and Woolen meeting his new neighbor Taylor. “State law requires that I tell you I am a registered sex offender,” Taylor said. Horrified, Woolen said, “This is terrible. This was supposed to be a nice neighborhood. I’m going to call my senator.” Taylor smiled and added, “Oh by the way, I am also your senator.”

In the sketches, the group must work to develop scenes and characters. A misfire here is harder to recover from but it has a greater potential to hit a home run. Among the stronger candidates here were Alfonso and Bortnick’s bit about a couple trying to find their car in a parking garage after attending a Shakespeare in the park performance. Bortnick’s character pretends she enjoyed the date but when Alfonso turns his back, she breaks into hilarious Shakespearean soliloquies about why the evening was a dismal failure … until Alfonso catches her mid-rant. “Are you doing an aside on me?” It was mesmerizing to watch Bortnick go from playing a disinterested date and then fully committing to her Shakespearean self.

A little less cerebral but equally fun was Duncan’s take on a Chicago Bears fan complaining about a receiver dropping a pass “my dead grandmother could have caught.” The CBS’ NFL theme blared and Taylor and Baldwin took on sports broadcaster roles dissecting a play where Duncan’s deceased grandparent (Bortnick) makes an equally disappointing drop. “I’ll bet the Bears are really regretting that draft pick,” Baldwin quipped.

Second City is known for its improv, turning acting exercises into comedy routines. With improvisational comedy, sometimes sketches are only as good as the material the performers are given. The Southern Theatre audience threw out some curve balls the performers were able to loop into solid at-bats. When asked what really makes her angry, an audience member said, “an ATM being closed.” “I didn’t realize ATMs closed,” Taylor mused but the group spontaneously composed a Les Miserable worthy musical number about not being able to get money out of a closed automatic teller machine with each member adding his or her voice to the ballad. “On the streets of Columbus, the citizens are filled with woe. They are sick and they are tired of ATMs being closed,” Baldwin sings. The song provides a myriad of solutions to the plight: burning down the city, moving to Canada, and finally using “Apple Pay.” “I can’t use Apple Pay to buy my cocaine,” one laments.

In another sketch, Alfonso and Woolen play two hard-boiled spies who can trace each other’s involvement in certain cataclysmic events – the assassination of El Chapo, plots against Fidel Castro, and Taylor Swift’s engagement to Travis Kelce – through a series of word associations that usually involved the person’s last meal. Woolen asked a member of the audience for their favorite meal and he responded, “Scallops.” Woolen drew in a deep breath and said “Oooooh, that’s a good one.” Yet somehow the two went from scallops to scallop potatoes to David Byrne all the way to Kelce. Drawing the biggest laugh was Woolen, who said “Operator” and Alfonso responded, “Jim Croce.” Woolen then cocked his head to the side and asked, “Who?”

Given the track record of Second City’s ability to move its players on to the major leagues of comedy, it might be a few years before the audience knows how special this group of performers were. But hopefully, the memorable night of performances might make Columbus residents willing to wait to see another Second City troupe when they come to town.