1. (1.) Improvisation, or improv for short, is defined as a creation spoken or written extemporaneously. We use this particular skill in everyday life. The use of improvisation for the theater was created in 1955, when a company called the Compass Players began using the technique. The two heads of the ensemble, Shepard and Paul Sills, began their revolutionary idea in a bar in Chicago (Coleman). Their idea rocketed off the comedic foundations with endless possibilities for the new American entertainment industry.
------------------The format of improvisational comedy routines was taken up by other theaters such as the now universally known, Second City.
2. (1.) The intentions set by the Compass Players had not originally been to change the face of the comedic industry. At first, David Shepherd who came from a wealthy high society New York family, grew up disliking the bourgeois amusements available on Broadway in the early 1950s (Coleman). Bored with the divisions in comedy, he wished to create something that was relate able to anyone who watched it. This idea of relate able jokes came originally from the 16th century Italy called the
commedia dell'arte. This type of theater went from place to place, performing
scenarios with only key plot events to work off of. That way the actors could have any type of dialogue as long as those plot points were hit. Shepherds idea was exactly that, except using modern situations as the basis of the plots.
3. (1.) Paul Sills at the time of the Compass Players was a student at the University of Chicago. He used the technique created by his mother, Viola Spolin, called the Spolin games. The Spolin game was used to get the shyness out of actors by making them touch the actor they were addressing. This game was helpful to kids and brought out the non-spoken forms of comedy within the Compass theater group. These skits were played out after the evening's scenario had been carried out.
4. (1.) The theater's skits and scenarios blasted through the comedic industry. Sills and Shepherd were overwhelmed with hype and college professors who wanted to make a mark on their idea big. The short skit particularly was considered witty and fun, drawing attention from many acting companies. This skit structure was used up until the 1990s when it was challenged to a reinvention (Coleman). Sills and Shepherd were afraid that their idea would tainted so they continued to explore other comedic changes.
5. (3.) In 1958, the Compass Players ended their bar ("
A Brief History of Second City"). After the closing, the ideology was taken up by the Second Theater on December 16th, 1959. The name was chosen because an unpleasant article written in the New Yorker about Chicago. New Yorkers originally began the nickname because of their loss in the running for the first ever World's Fair held in Chicago,1893. The actors loved the irony in the name and decided to have it be their company title.
6. (4). Eight performers started out on Dec.16, 1959 in a small 125 seat cabaret using only small props & costumes. 1950s were the red scare and people speaking out against political influence could be gained through comedy clubs. “Commerical success has not meant the sacrifice of artistic integrity.” It has influenced the culture by film and tv with : the graduate, mash, young Frankenstein, ghostbusters, cheers. It joined every social status: the workingman and the smart intelligent man. The audience was treated as if they were as smart as the actors, no down playing necessary.
7. (4). The typewriter went against the “fourth wall concept.” It was a hit by Sills. The fourth wall concept was created by Russian Constantine Stanislavsky and brought to America by Stella Adler. You pretend that the stage is the fourth wall of the room, not acting for the audience. It makes everything more serious= harder to make jokes.
8. (3.) James Belushi!—His brother John was in the company and saw the show at 16 in 1970. It played: “the funeral,” “hamlet,’’ and “Brest Litovsk.” He started an improv group in high school, and read Viola Spolin’s Improvisation for the Theatre. He watched each show at least 6 times to absorb the fluidity and essence of the actors and skit. He acted locally, and his brother gave him zero pointers, allowing him to develop his own style. Then he got in and things went smoothly.
9. (21.) Sheldon Patinkin was a director in Second City or helped out doing an odd job when necessary. One of Patinkin's job in Second City was trying to interpret for the cast topical interests of the past. He said it wasn’t easy. Some sketches were seen as “too sentimental and sappy.” As Second City became a national institution through the success of such SC-oriented material as "SCTV" and "Animal House" in movies, the material used in Chicago naturally developed. The comedy became less specifically targeted to a small, "in" local audience and expanded to include general lifestyle material familiar to the increasing numbers of suburbanites and tourists who became an important part of the audience. (Richard Christansen). “The form may have altered, but the product hasn't changed all that much. One of the strengths of Second City is that it always has been a reflection of its audience, and it still holds up that mirror today." (Patinkin)
10. (5. ) The goal of Paul Sills and Sheperd was to stir a riot in the audience. Sheperd wanted the troupe to perform at the stock yards so the workers could see the plays. He wanted the abused classes to have a sense of identity and by able to clearly identify the group’s inequalities (Sweet).
11. (6) In March of 1960, only 3 months after the show debuted, it was praised in Time magazine. It was where "the declining skill of satire is kept alive with brilliance and flourish." The beginnings were scary for the group, they were afraid no one would show up to their shows. One empty seat was seen as a bad omen. They realized the audience loved seeing characters appear in many different roles. That is something they continue to do today. Everything was also really cheap too, 2.50 a ticket and the "fixed up" place wasn't exactly a-list material.
12. (6) They had no advertisement budget to speak of when they opened. A man named Irv Seidner was their public realtions guy. He looked very serious and knew the right people. That's how critics came to their shows. By going to the show, it was the new cool thing to do. It also kept up eager college students aware of politics in a fun way.
13. (6.) When no one laughed, actors relied on old tricks and swears to get the crowd going. Since there was no script, the stage manager was the one to decide when the scene ended. He tried to end it using piano or a curtain with the crowd laughing each time, but it was a difficult job.
14. (6.) Cast members are always gracious and give credit where credit is due. The experience taught them humor and the ability to rely upon one another. The support of the bosses was crucial, because even if numbers were down, they never thought to close the club. It didn't matter if a scene even went on for 45 minutes and no one laughed. (did happen). The talent needed the stability that Second City gave them. After people watched, they knew a career could be made with a stable, working theater.
15. (24.)----- Within American society, the boundary lines of humor are very blurred. Many networks, newspapers, etc. have trouble deciding whether their tell tale joke to lighten the mood, imply falsehoods, or concede to a subject crosses a line. The results of a line being crossed can be disastrous, especially when involving political figures. For example when G. Bush joked about searching for WMDs at a dinner for Radio and Television Correspondents' Association in March of 2004, he showed pictures of himself looking around the oval office saying things such as, "No, no weapons over here," and "Maybe under here?" He was blasted by both allies and adversaries(Paul Lewis).This idea of crossing the line is at heart with what the actors at Second City have to deal with every time they perform. They also jeopardize the face of the theater by making a mistake like that.
16. (24.) The idea within a joke can be different depending upon what it is trying to sweep under the rug or draw attention to (Paul Lewis). There are many famous people who desire the help of comedians to put them into a specific light through comedy. Actors also make their own decisions about how to portray a the ideals of a certain person. The idea of a joke stemming from some form of truth allows the audience to decide to laugh or take it seriously. Within the instances that a joke is deemed "not funny" or "too far", the results can be bad for the theater group/actor. Saturday Night Live often has political skits in which the actors act out a role as if they were a political candidate. If a joke is made that the public deemed "too far" then the joke can also reflect poorly on the figure being impersonated.
17. (24) The "prejudiced norm theory" was developed by Thomas E. Ford and Mark A. Furguson. It suggests that when a joke is produced, it has the ability to sway public opinion to discriminate against a specific group of people. Due to the fact that jokes have the ability to put a subject at ease, a person can take a very serious topic, put it into a joke, and allow the line to be crossed. However if the line is crossed on a regular basis, that creates the prejudiced norm theory. In this way humor can be used as an evil tool of the mind, changing the respective ideals within a culture. No actor would ever want to be accused of doing this type of propaganda purposefully.
18. (24.) The American audience in today's culture they can have a tough time distinguishing serious evidence within a joke or the depiction by the comedian (Paul Lewis). When a joke is made about an influential figure, as it often is on Saturday Night Live, in many cases the comedian wants to highlight their policies and/or ideals. If it is a controversial subject, the audience can result in a disgusted outlook on either the figure's policies and/or ideals or the way the comedian says them. The first result is usually the desired outcome, using mass media to empower the public with knowledge in order to change the current status-quo. Examples of this are abundant on Saturday Night Live and Second City during election season when they exploit candidates.
19. (23) The idea of politically sponsored debates as the only way to get political information is long gone. In today's modern age, we can research a political figure simply by turning on the television. Whether that channel is on a news broadcast or is simply a show such as Saturday Night Live or the View, US citizens can hear all about politics. Policy makers have learned to regard these non government programs as a big deal because as Cindy McCain put it in her review of her treatment on the View in 2008, she said "They picked our bones clean (Jeffery Jones)." These comedic hosts of non-government talk or comedy shows have a unique role in the influence they give out to the public audience who watch them daily.
20. (23) The influence held by these non-government talk shows can change the way an audience accepts or doesn't accept a figure. For example, when Tina Fey (from second city) portrayed Sarah Palin in 2008 on Saturday Night Live, the effects were truly devastating for the vice president candidate. Palin was picked to pieces as lines from her interviews were recited in sketches and her humbleness from Alaska was shown. The truth within these "playful" jokes on the show led the readers to understand what the republican campaign had tried to hide through charm; she was too inexperienced for the job (Jones). This ideology spread through the media was made by the comedian from Second City, Tina Fey.
21. (23) For a long time, there was a definite separateness between politics, which was carried out by news networks, and pop culture, through different divisions, by television networks. Segregation allowed the networks to display an unchallengeable view of politics. By having widely accepted political views on shows, it helped network executives gain the most views for their advertisers. This was a form of oligarchy that was not challenged until cable greed reigned in the 1990s.(Jones).
22. (23) The separateness came to together in the 1992 elections when candidates began to appear on talk shows. There the audience was allowed to ask the questions, gaining popularity with public. This boosted views so much that it eventually became the norm like it is today. (Jones). With the audience being allowed to make a decision based upon their own knowledge,they turned to the faces they saw everyday: the hosts on their pop culture tv shows. These hosts realizes the importance of comedy in relaying these facts about important persons.
23. (22) Second City has always been a different approach to the norms of comedy. When the dominant style was a stand-up, individual, joker-teller performance, the second city was an ensemble of improvisation with sketches and intellectual humor (Rohter). The environment and the reasons to become a part of the group had changed because "comedy was not an economic commodity like it is now," according to David Steinburg, who was part of the cast in the 1960s. It was about coming together as a group to do something they loved, not about the money it would make. The Second City alumni now have many precedents who created an outstanding career such as Alan Arkin, Joan Rivers, Bill Murray, Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Tina Fey, and Stephan Colbert (Rohter).
24. (25) Sigmund Freud has a philosophy about a term called "gallows humor." It is saying how in times of upcoming sorrow or bad situations, people resort to comedy as a sense of relief. However, the problem with using it is that the effects are only temporary, and the "gallows" still await. The public wants distraction in times of great sorrow and therefore use gallows humor. We rarely see big comedians make it on television, and would probably be more inept to use it on a second city stage sketch because the setting is more personal.
25. (7.) There are universal moments in humor, which usually involve some sort of physical response. However, each place normally has their own particular form of humor. This is why some shows that Second City performed such as "
Pinata Full of Bees," were a hit in some cities like Chicago and were a flop in others like Washington D.C. It helps to create a show based upon where the group is touring, so that the show will be a success. (Bent.) However, the group will always have the nationally accepted satire that is Second City famous.
26. (9.) In the 1950's comedy was centered around mother-in-law jokes for the older generation (secondcity.com). Comedy was centered around the conformities that surrounded the typical "american family." Once second city came around, people no longer had to use the acceptable, tasteful jokes but instead joked about the issues. These issues were about what important events were happening in the early sixties. By cracking a joke, many people could know more about the government's affairs. The spring for rebellion in the 1960s was fueled by second city.
27. (8.) The Second City covers a wide range of subjects whether it’s making a joke about Starbucks or the United States’ reasoning behind the Iraq War. As Kelly Leonard, the executive vice president of second city, stated in a television interview, “Timing for everything has to be as current as possible.” One way the second city gains their information is from looking at online news articles. They have cooperation with the Chicago Tribune, and use their website as a feed source for new materials. To see what really has drawn the public’s attention, the theater checks the amount of hits on a single article.
28. (8.) Leonard also stated that, “All media should adopt the internet.” The second city has posted sketches online which accesses a network of 29 million people. The Second City does mention the “dark sides” to adopting the internet is the need for revenue and the fact that it eats up a lot of material (Leonard). The idea of the need for revenue makes the ideals of the second city a bit hard to follow. Since the state has no influence on the show, the comedy is pure. However, they must choose topics that link to many different types of people. Posting material on the internet creates a very hard job for the writers. They have to constantly create new material in order to satisfy the growing demand for new jokes and sketches.
29. (8.) The Second City not only stays relevant through their material, but also from their actors. Many other comedy theatres keep on the same actors for years and years. However, the second city philosophy is much different. “We get to build up the generation, then let them go,” (Leonard). This cycle has allowed new faces to appear that each bring something new to the table. The actors don’t worry about a job loss though, because second city has gained such a fabulous reputation from its alumni that they’ll be hired somewhere else in an instant.
30. (5.) Originally in the early 60's, the Second city had two troupes. They were placed in different theaters so that one was for the playwrights and one was for the improvisational actors. However, due to the growing popularity in Chicago, the playwrights were moved into a smaller theater, swapping with the improvisational actors, and then finally removed from the theater all together (Sweet, xxxii). Second City went with its gut instincts to remove the norm and trust in the new age thinking of improv they developed. This idea was probably the most influential decision the theater could ever make because it completely separated itself from other comedy theaters in its time.
31. (15.) The life of an improv actor was not all fun and glamorous, as the second city comedian Steve Martin explains in his bibliography; "Born Standing Up." He said that the only thing he focused on in a comedy act was that his "mouth was in the present and his mind in the future." This ideology suggests the rigorous quick thinking necessary to be an improv actor. He also stated that his emotions were like a roller coaster, falling up and down depending upon how his show went that day. The life of an improvisational comedian needs knowledge that will light up an audience, or in the case of television, make the world laugh.
32. (26.) Satire is defined as always having a, "corrective purpose, expressed through a critical mode which ridicules or otherwise attacks those conditions needing reformation in the opinion of the satirist (Harris)." This idea of having a limit unreached by the issue in question has shown through in many political satire networks such as Second City and Saturday Night Live. By using a joke as a context to inform the public of government issues or problems, it allows the audience to react not only laughter, but inquiry as well. In many cases, irony is a typical format for a satiric joke, which allows the audience to see two extremes of an issue. The comedians who perform this satire have created a non-bias to their material when they highlight multiple sides' ideas.
33. (26.) Harris states that, "the satirist's goals can be effected only to the extent that the audience responds to the attack." I agree with this conclusion because although a satirist ridicules a current ideology, they make no claim as to how to fix the problem at hand. If a comedian were to make jokes about a solving mechanism, the material would no longer be funny. Instead, it would be some unqualified person speaking about politics. Comedy likes the idea of power in big numbers for this reason.
34. (26. ) Harris also states that a, "satirist has always aligned himself with the timeless, traditional notions of virtue and morality." By using these virtues as a guide line, a comedian will almost always be agreed with. Every person grows up with a basic set of morals that defines something as: right or wrong. A comedian highlights the "wrongness" within an idea by making a joke about it. The comedian then will use the general virtues of what is wrong to display a flaw in an issue they bring up.
35. (26.) Another key element political satire has according to Harris, is that the audience should not be specifically addressed. When a comedian does this, it erases the element of a witty, non-bias comment into a well thought out plan to change a person's personal view. Every person likes the be the one who discovers something. If a thought is formulated by the person themselves about a subject, they are more likely to believe it if it was spoken to them.
36. (27.) The show aired on October 11th, 1975 on NBC (Hammil). SNL was created by Dick Ebersol with producer Lorne Michaels in 1975 because NBC needed a filler for that time slot. Before, it was filled with the late talk shows but with Johnny Carson’s word, Ebersol and Micheals debuted SNL. It was originally targeted for the 18-34 demographic because young people stayed up late and it was focused on what the new age would deem funny. The show employed people from the second city from the very beginning, imcluding Jim Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. It had a different musical act and host each week, allowing for more new age material to enter the show. The show used satire in its comedy.
37. (27.) The time slot was for 90 minutes, which was very difficult for the writers and actors on the show. The long running program caused both great skits and dull humor (Hammil). Since the show was improvisational comedy, it excited the audience. It gave the generations who never experienced live television programming in the 1950s with the on edge sense of theater missing from pre-recorded programming (Hammil).
38. (27.) The Second City and SNL were very alike in their actor choices. Not only were many of SNL’s actors from second city, there was also a cycle with the show. That means that many actors left and new ones came on, creating new faces for people to like and laugh with. The only problem was that when a leader in the production left, it created instability for the show (Hammil). From the beginning,
Saturday Night Live provided America with some of its most popular characters and catch-phrases. The program's regular news spot provided sharp witty observations on current events through satire (Hammil).
39. (27.) SNL and the second city both have their cast members move on after working with the shows. SNL has always been seen as a precedent for political satire within America. The show is a way for people to view new ideas and digest them with a grain of salt. Due to its endurance,
SNL has crossed generational lines and made the culture of a younger audience available to their elders and vice versa (Hammil).
40. (28.) The earliest form of satire humans have discovered is from ancient Egypt.
"The teaching of Duaf's son Khety," was a text found that was told by a father who wants his young son to become a scribe. In order to affirm that desire, his father tells his son of all of the negatives other professions must endure. The words were meant to be comical, not literal. This text may have been used as a story to keep young scribes motivated or entertained.