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The Second City: Backstage at the World's Greatest Comedy Theatre
Second City, The: Backstage at the World's Greatest Comedy Theate, by Patinkin, Sheldon
200 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 25, 2013
GREAT book for any comedy fan! We have to go to a show this summer, guys! Plus it comes with a bonus CD containing old recordings of Second City comedy shows from the 1950s onward to the present. I especially loved when John Belushi tried to avoid the draft by failing out of college. I highly highly HIGHLY recommend.
Here's some coolish background: Second City was founded by a bunch of theater fans at the University of Chicago. It sounds like they were a group of kids who were kind of "anti-establishment" and awesomely artsy. They didn't even HAVE a theater department at UChicago, so these kids just founded their own club, rented a small space to serve as a theater, and taught themselves to act. And now it's progressed to be the most respected comedy school in the United States, and almost every famous American comedian has taken classes there. John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Tina Fey, you name it.
Here's some coolish background: Second City was founded by a bunch of theater fans at the University of Chicago. It sounds like they were a group of kids who were kind of "anti-establishment" and awesomely artsy. They didn't even HAVE a theater department at UChicago, so these kids just founded their own club, rented a small space to serve as a theater, and taught themselves to act. And now it's progressed to be the most respected comedy school in the United States, and almost every famous American comedian has taken classes there. John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Tina Fey, you name it.
July 16, 2014
A nice history of Chicago's famous improv comedy troupe. The book does a good job delving into Second City's origins, calling up Chicago's theater scene in the early 1950s as well as the acting "games" that inspired the group's original approach.
From there, author (and longtime Second City creative director) Sheldon Patinkin takes us to the present day, pausing to catch up with famous alumni, notably the Murray-Belushi-Ramis core in Chicago and the Akroyd-Candy-Radner glory days in Toronto. There are tons of familiar faces in here, from Alan Arkin to Tina Fey, and it's fun to see how they intersected with Second City (sometimes briefly) before moving on to other things.
The lifers have a presence as well, including original owner (and occasional director) Bernie Sahlins, producer Joyce Sloan and actor/director/madman Del Close. It may just be effective PR, but the book does have a nice familial feel, emphasizing the ties, and the occasional fights, that drew these disparate performers together.
The book is more a history than a humor collection; jokes and bits are interspersed throughout its pages, but it's more a collection of memories. There's often a lot going on--actors coming and going, new playhouses opening in different spots to try to make some money. The narrative sometimes seems reduced to just a sequence of events--"this happened, then this happened, etc." But the performer profiles sprinkled throughout and the clear reverence for what the group accomplished offer a unifying thread.
Hardly a tell-all, this is still a good read for comedy fans interested in the institutional side of things. It probably helps to be a Chicagoan...or at least a Torontonian.
From there, author (and longtime Second City creative director) Sheldon Patinkin takes us to the present day, pausing to catch up with famous alumni, notably the Murray-Belushi-Ramis core in Chicago and the Akroyd-Candy-Radner glory days in Toronto. There are tons of familiar faces in here, from Alan Arkin to Tina Fey, and it's fun to see how they intersected with Second City (sometimes briefly) before moving on to other things.
The lifers have a presence as well, including original owner (and occasional director) Bernie Sahlins, producer Joyce Sloan and actor/director/madman Del Close. It may just be effective PR, but the book does have a nice familial feel, emphasizing the ties, and the occasional fights, that drew these disparate performers together.
The book is more a history than a humor collection; jokes and bits are interspersed throughout its pages, but it's more a collection of memories. There's often a lot going on--actors coming and going, new playhouses opening in different spots to try to make some money. The narrative sometimes seems reduced to just a sequence of events--"this happened, then this happened, etc." But the performer profiles sprinkled throughout and the clear reverence for what the group accomplished offer a unifying thread.
Hardly a tell-all, this is still a good read for comedy fans interested in the institutional side of things. It probably helps to be a Chicagoan...or at least a Torontonian.
February 27, 2017
The copy of the book I bought didn't have the included CDs, so I can't comment on their quality.
Second City: Backstage is an interesting, but badly dated, primer on the comedy troupe's history from its inception in Chicago in the 1950s to its "present" incarnation in Toronto and relevance to the world of film and television. That's coming from someone who loves SCTV and considered it better than Saturday Night Live's output in the same time frame.
Reading through this book was a very strange experience. Because the book was written in the late 90s, there are lots of references to then-current events (Chris Farley's death, the troupe's then-recent move to a new building in Toront0) and short biographies of performers who became famous years after the fact. It's quite amusing to see pages of space given to glorified second-stringers, while people like Steve Carell, Bob Odenkirk and Tina Fey get at best a blurb on one page.
The history of the troupe is interesting and the anecdotes are good, albeit a bit too breezy and "in-the-know" for comedy aficionados. The book also has a habit of referencing skits and specific lines of dialogue from the aforementioned CDs. I get the sense that you were supposed to listen along with the CD and read the book at the same time.
Worth a read for comedy fans or those who like Second City, but a pass otherwise.
Second City: Backstage is an interesting, but badly dated, primer on the comedy troupe's history from its inception in Chicago in the 1950s to its "present" incarnation in Toronto and relevance to the world of film and television. That's coming from someone who loves SCTV and considered it better than Saturday Night Live's output in the same time frame.
Reading through this book was a very strange experience. Because the book was written in the late 90s, there are lots of references to then-current events (Chris Farley's death, the troupe's then-recent move to a new building in Toront0) and short biographies of performers who became famous years after the fact. It's quite amusing to see pages of space given to glorified second-stringers, while people like Steve Carell, Bob Odenkirk and Tina Fey get at best a blurb on one page.
The history of the troupe is interesting and the anecdotes are good, albeit a bit too breezy and "in-the-know" for comedy aficionados. The book also has a habit of referencing skits and specific lines of dialogue from the aforementioned CDs. I get the sense that you were supposed to listen along with the CD and read the book at the same time.
Worth a read for comedy fans or those who like Second City, but a pass otherwise.
July 12, 2015
As a big fan of improv and The Second City/ Whose Line?, I am disappointed to say that this book did not live up to my expectations. It often feels like a series of Hollywood style bios with credits instead of a inside look into this very influential club. I was amazed at the amount of talent SC has produced in the last 50 years and the influence on American (and Canadian) comedy is undeniably deep. The book should have been structured differently. The two CDs, however, are worth the price of the text themselves.
Read
October 28, 2010The start of this book is the history of the beginning of Second City in Chicago. Not only are memories of the comedians familiar the book tells of current history of the times and how reality and news influence comedy. The two CD's are a thrill to laugh at!
January 9, 2008
I loved SCTV and this is a very different animal. Most of the SCTV and SNL performers got their start here and TSC has quite a history.
January 17, 2010
An excellent coffee table book, especially for anyone who has seen anything Second City has produced. Especially good with the included CDs.
Read
November 8, 2010A great history of the troupe. A must read for any comedy fan.
June 13, 2023
Was surprised by the number of famous people that have been through Second City plus all the different places and ways it expanded over the years. The book was published in 2000 and it definitely felt dated. My favorite quote was found on page 174 in the spotlight section about Jeff Richmond and Tina Fey. It said “Great things lie ahead for this pair”. Ha, no kidding looking at this 23 years later and great foresight by the author! I didn’t listen to the 2 CD set of comedic material that came with the book. Got enough info from reading plus some reviewers said it didn’t necessarily translate to modern times. Might be my loss but oh well. Hard to rate this one because if someone didn’t already have an interest in the topic they might not enjoy. Settling on 3.5.
February 23, 2019
3.5 stars
September 10, 2024
This could've (and should've) been really, really good. But--despite the many amusing anecdotes--it ends up reading like somebody's press release kit. There's far too much schmoosing and well-wishing throughout (and those italicized era intros could've easily been dispensed with). Oh yeah, and the listing of every single credit of each and every performer (no matter how famous or obscure) got to be rather numbing after a while.
November 9, 2014
It's amazing how many funny, talented people have come through Second City.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews