What “granddaddy of all comedy clubs” is found in Chicago at 1616 N. Wells Street?
The Second City is a long-running improvisational comedy troupe based in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago, with offshoot troupes in other cities, most notably Toronto. Due to the increasing popularity of improv, additional Second City clubs have recently opened in other cities, including Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York and Denver. Second City evolved from the Compass Players, a 1950s cabaret-style revue show started by undergraduates at the University of Chicago. The troupe chose the self-mocking name “Second City” from the title of a disdainful article about Chicago by A.J. Liebling that appeared in The New Yorker magazine in 1949. In 1959 the first Second City revue show premiered. The style of comedy has changed with the times, but the format has remained constant. Second City revues feature a mix of semi-improvised and scripted scenes (known as blackouts). New material is developed during unscripted improv sessions, where scenes are created based on audience suggestio
