Frank explains that the confidence we gave her just through clapping may have been the reason she felt confident enough to throw in a joke at the end.
Frank then has an icebreaker conversation with a student and encourages us to clap and cheer everything she says – it’s his way of showing us that we’ll celebrate everything that goes on within these four walls. “Here at Second City we embrace failure,” he says, and I prepare for a lovely four-hour embrace. He begins by telling us to leave all criticisms – of ourselves, of each other – outside for the day. Luckily, Second City have various levels of improv courses to offer, and an entry-level one such as this knows that even the budding comedians in attendance today will be overcoming various levels of trepidation.
The list of things I will not do for a byline is shamefully small, but getting my balls out while in blackface is definitely there. Brett Gelman recalled a night he spent tapdancing in blackface. Jessica St Clair remembered numerous male comedians getting naked in the name of improv: “They love to take their balls out on stage,” she said. An article in New York magazine about the Upright Citizen’s Brigade, a New York improv group started by some former Second City members including Amy Poehler, featured a bunch of former alumni reminiscing about the weirdest things they’d witnessed on stage. To calm my nerves, I decided to read up on the subject. love to take their balls out on stage Jessica St Clair
Which is why, before attending this class, I was gripped with dread. Since its theatre first opened its doors in Chicago in 1959, the comedians who have passed through include Tina Fey, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Joan Rivers, Bob Odenkirk. Because if there’s a company worth listening to when it comes to improv then it’s Second City. Rather, you should embrace it, and then try to build on it. And…” What this means is that whenever a new scenario or suggestion is put forward, you should never question it or try to shut it down. Our tutor for today, the Canadian actor, writer and musician Kevin Frank, tells us that the foundation stone of Second City’s improv can be boiled down to just two words: “Yes. Improv comedy – essentially comedy that is unplanned, unscripted and created as it is performed – is all about spontaneity: rolling with whatever is suggested and seeing where it takes you. Just five seconds later, for instance, we’re all sawing off our right legs, or miming piano, or pretending to be terrified children running away from Michael Jackson. An outburst of spontaneous body-hair removal is one of many unexpected places an improv class with the world-renowned Second City troupe might take you.
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