Second City, First Love: 8 Things I Learned

This past summer, I had the incredible experience of studying comedy at The Second City, and boy howdy was it amazing. For those of you who have not heard the Good News of the Promised Land, The Second City is an improv-based comedy theatre founded in Chicago. Their long list of alumni includes Tina Fey, Steve Carrell, Stephen Colbert, Key and Peele, Chris Farley, Gilda Radner, and so many more that when you’re in the building you feel the way Tom-Holland-Spiderman felt in Civil War when he got to fight to the death with the other Avengers. While I was there, I participated in their college courses through the Comedy Studies Program (of which, Aidy Bryant is an alum). For two months, I lived in Chicago and took class in Improvisation, Comedy Writing, Comedic Voice and Movement, and Comedy History. If I were to go off on every fantastic thing I learned and experienced while I was there, this article would be a 23,842 min read and no one would get this far. So I’ll be brief, here are 8 awesome things I learned:

1. Live Your Own Life: While The Second City does boast a lot about their alumni, (I mean, why wouldn’t they?) a big take away from my time there was to take my own path rather than attempt to replicate the path of someone I admire. For instance, Tina Fey got her start at Second City after she was cast as an understudy in one of their e.t.c. Shows. While this worked for her, the way for me to create my own voice is not to try and use her journey as a How-To guide for mine. The way Second City alumni were successful was by doing what was best for them at the time, and then going from there. Going forward in my career, I know to think more on what I want to accomplish than what I should do next based on what Tina Fey did.
2. If You Sit At The Harold Washington Library By Yourself For Too Long Some Guy Might Come Up To You And Rap About How You Should Live On The Edge More And How You Will Also Call Him ‘Daddy’: He also offered to protect me from gangs.
3. Everyone Starts Somewhere: Before starting classes at Second City, working in comedy seemed like an unrealistic dream. But after seeing what living in the city and taking classes was like, it was easier to see that pursuing comedy, writing, and performance really was something doable. The people working in comedy in the city work inanely hard, and it’s by no means as glamorous as I want to pretend it is, but it is feasible, and that’s pretty stinkin incredible.
4. The Guy Who Voices ‘Jimmy Pesto’ On “Bob’s Burgers” Is Really Nice: My improv professor told us to swing by his friend’s estate sale, and then followed it by casually mentioning his friend was the voice of Jimmy Pesto. And that’s how I met him and bought a hat from him.
5. I’m a Jan: At the end of our semester, our improv professor (the infamous Norm Holly) gave each of us nicknames he came up with over his time working with us. My nickname was ‘Jan’, after the Brady Bunch character. His reasoning for this was that on a classic sitcom, I wouldn’t be the main character, but I’d be everyone’s favorite. Over the past year, I’ve been trying to figure out what my voice is, especially in writing. However, a problem I continually run into is when I try too hard to be “intellectual” or “groundbreaking”. When Norm put what he thought my strengths were this way, I realized it sums up so much of my style. I naturally lean toward more off-beat, weird ideas. Instead trying to morph them into a Rachel Greene, I should just let them be a Phoebe Buffay, or more honestly, a Janice. It doesn’t need to be the star, it just needs to be its own thing.
6. Cheesy’s is Too Good For This World: A big perk of living in Chicago was eating in Chicago. If you ever find yourself right off the Sedgewick stop, do yourself a favor and eat at this grilled cheese restaurant. It’s amazing.
7. Make the Most of Experiences: When I started the program, I was incredibly intimidated. Being alone in a big city, taking classes at “the Broadway of comedy”, living with people who later destroyed my toothbrush and tried to con me into paying for all their plumbing problems (that’s a story for another time). It was only after I let myself open up to the situation and embrace the enormity of it that I felt comfortable. Taking opportunities to go out, spend time with new people, and let myself be vulnerable helped me to enjoy and learn from my experiences rather than shy away from them.
8. How to Keep Creating: My Voice and Movement professor (the incredible Liz Joint-Samburg) put it like this: There is no getting rid of the scared little voice in your head thats worries you’ll die before you get to do that one great thing you’re supposed to do. All you can do is learn how to cultivate that voice to your advantage. Being creative is not always inspiration driven, a lot of times its just working hard. Learning how to harness creativity, stay vulnerable, and remain patient is a big part of what we want to do as comedians and writers. The concept of cultivating this desire to create rather than interpret it as fear is extremely empowering, and it’s helped me to reframe my thinking into one of growth rather than dread.

Thanks for reading, my pals! If you made it this far, leave me your favorite joke in the comments!