The Second City, a Chicago based improv comedy group, performed as one of Carolina Production’s Spring 2017 events on Wednesday night. The world’s leader in improvisation, opening in 1959, The Second City is a comedy club, theater and school. The Second City has produced many famous alumni, including Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Stephen Colbert.
Second City has been a starting point and a launchpad for a number of famous comedians and actors who entertained at venues around the U.S. Amy Poehler, famous actress in Parks and Recreation and other comedy endeavors, toured with Second City 20 years ago, trying out sketches in small towns and on college campuses.
The company has toured all around the United States, sometimes doing up to seven shows a week. These tours showcase the actors and their talent, but also mix improvisational comedy with real world issues.
Laurel Krabacher, an actor performing with the tour group, explained, “We use improv to create sketches, and then do a sketch show full of different topical, hopefully funny sketches.”
Another actor, Emily Fightmaster, added to this, saying that the product they are trying to produce is “up-to-date comedy about our world.”
Both Krabacher and Fightmaster have toured before and write some of their own sketches for Second City, performing them across the nation at different venues, their sketches being heard countless times, receiving countless laughs. Along with writing their own sketches, they perform sketches done by alumni like Tina Fey and interact with the audience each time they perform.
“I love that I have a voice in the world, even though maybe it’s a small voice. I love that I get to use my art or comedy and share it with people,” Krabacher said about loving her place in Second City.
Fightmaster commented about being able to perform in front of an audience.
"I really think this job is amazing because we get to meet people and talk to people and make people laugh and traveling through life as a comedian, you collect all of the people that have ever been with you while you performed. You collect all of those laughs, and I feel like truly, every time I do a show, it makes my heart bigger,” Fightmaster said.
Performing at University of South Carolina for the first time, both actors were excited about being able to share their improv with gamecocks because college students seem to just enjoy it more, being able to laugh at themselves and each other. Carolina Productions chose to invite the Second City improv group to add a spin of interactive entertainment to their spring calendar.