Laughter in the time of Giardia: Second city takes JH

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

By Ben Cannon

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-A special one-night-only show this weekend will mark the return to Jackson Hole of one of the world’s best-known comedy improvisational troupes. Second City Touring Company will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Center for the Arts.

The Chicago-based company (the nom de troupe mocked a mid-20th century quote degrading Chicago as second-tier to New York City) has for decades been a proving ground for comedic performers, boasting among its alumni Joan Rivers, John Candy, John Belushi, Bill Murray and, more recently, Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey and Steve Carell.

If there is a certain template to success in comedic performance - which, unfortunately, innumerous fledgling players would say there is not - a stint with Second City is among the most ubiquitous signifiers in the early trajectory of many in the canon of great modern American (and Canadian) comedians.

Katie Rich is one of the six Second City players coming to Jackson Hole.  The native Chicagoan graduated Northwestern University with a degree not in theatre arts, but psychology.

“I always knew I wanted to be in Second City,” said Rich, calling her hometown “the capital of improv comedy.”

Rich, along with the other performers – three women and three men in all  – and a musical director are out on a mini tour that will stop in Park City, Utah; Salmon, Idaho; and Helena, Mont. The day before Saturday night’s Jackson Hole show, Second City will perform for an audience in Pinedale.

The troupe brings with them a bagful of scripted scenes it will intersperse with the improvisational bits fundamental to their classic comedic education. And, of course, audience members will have opportunities to lob whatever irrelevant, irreverent, disjointed ideas and themes it can muster at the players, who then must adeptly – hopefully hilariously – figure them into a scene.

Rich was tight-lipped about what to expect from the performance, but said that while many themes of the night will be constructed of the timeless fodders of laughter, the troupe will also address topically the war in Iraq and the presidential election.
“We get our shots in there,” she said.

Audiences will see a couple of sketches written by early ‘90s alums Colbert (’93) and Carell (’91), whose respective successes (Colbert was nearly able to launch a satirical presidential campaign, Carell scores with “The Office” series and muses a string of top-grossing Judd Apatow films) put them among the famous comedians that passed through hallowed Second City halls decades before them. Their Second City sketches, funny takes on the natural dysfunction of many romantic relationships, have been adopted into the company’s repertoire.

With the brutal Iraq war ongoing, foreign powers emerging, and a sense that everything we thought we knew about America, the world and security is not as it seemed, laughter, Rich said, is more vital now than ever in terms of reexamining, coming to terms and healing.

“If anything, comedy is more important,” she said.  “If we don’t have that, we’ll go crazy.”Tickets for Second City are $25 for adults, $20 for students and seniors.  Call the Center for the Arts box office at 743-8936.
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Laughter in the time of Giardia: Second city takes JH | Planet JH News Article: General Music Arts and Culture

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